“At our core, we are a social enterprise, founded on the principle that local farmers should get paid a fair wage for the food they produce, and as such, be financially sustainable in the important role they play in our lives, our health and our economy. Equal access to this clean, fair and healthy food is an entirely different issue. We are proud partners of the Grow for the Stop program of the Stop Food Community Centre in the Davenport community of Toronto, where we help in fundraisers, community events and delivering local organic fresh produce from participating farms free of charge.” – Paul Sawtell, Co-Founder ×

“We offer needed jobs in a rural community that pay a living wage. Twenty-four percent of our employees live in low incomeʼ areas. We hire employees with barriers to employment (immigrants) in both full- and part-time jobs. Twenty-eight of our 59 employees (47 percent) are women. We have a formal volunteer policy with 16 hours of paid time off per employee. The majority of the company ownership is local and engaged in civic and charitable works.” – Katie Quinn, Marketing Manager ×

“Our purpose is to create consciousness in our society and build a movement in order to help people share the good things with others. We are looking to bring them all closer and make connections to create well-being. Thatʼs why we have different initiatives to accomplish this, beginning with our product packaging and extending all the way to our model designed around sharing and our volunteer activities. Things taste better when they are shared; we are convinced this is how we will build a better world.” – Pedro Mejia, Co-founder ×

“We really believe that the voice of the small farmer is important. We say Don't get mad, get involved.ʼ This is the way to be the change you want to see in the world. We also work with military bases all over the U.S. to support transitioning service members becoming agribusiness entrepreneurs, and are striving to work with other disadvantaged communities as well.” – Karen Archipley, Co-Founder ×

“We pledge a minimum of 5 percent of our revenue in pro bono and/or cash donations to environmentally and socially responsible businesses, profit-for-purpose or not-for-profit businesses. This is important to us because we believe that our world can only be a better place through a collective effort across all elements of society.” – Bronwyn Baird, Director ×

“Through our BEST (Beyond English School Talleres) program, we have worked since 2014 with more than 500 children between prekinder and 6th grade in local communities. Unlike the methodology often used in public schools in Chile, we celebrate errors and use them as a platform to springboard students to jump over their barriers of insecurity and into conversation. This supports their confidence and fluidity. With these positive, practical and fun English experiences, students can more enthusiastically dedicate themselves to the development and practice of English to fuel their future dreams and goals.” – Courtney Yarsley, Founder and CEO ×

“We are becoming more and more pro-active, requesting from vendors that they meet Fair Trade Standards. What would be the point of caring for those who work with us and not care how other workers are treated?” – Isabel Garret“n, President ×

“Our founder and owner is very involved in local philanthropy, donating many hours on local projects benefiting women and girls. We donate many products to local groups to support their fundraising efforts. Ten percent of all web sales are donated to our nonprofit foundation. These funds are distributed as grants to women locally and globally to assist them in eliminating barriers to business and family success.” – Kari Hughes, Owner & Business Manger ×

“Codethic supports young social entrepreneurs. Eight to ten social entrepreneurs are part of our pro-bono program every year. We help them to harness the power of social change. Impact-driven business practices are our humble part to see the change we seek become globally possible. Codethic employees participate in many volunteer programs and activities, as we believe that our open innovation organization model came from our capacity to be part of a large ecosystem.” – Jonathan Normand, CEO ×

“One of the key core values we share with the participants in our supply chain is striving to add value to the product as it makes it way to the final consumer. We support the local and global community through information sharing and transparency. We benefit the global community via our alternative trading model, which brings producers to the negotiation table. As well, we benefit the final consumer who is searching for reliable, transparently traded products.” – Mark Glenn, Co-Owner ×

“Croqqer creates well-being and improves peopleʼs lives by fostering trust-based neighborhoods and allowing people to dedicate their time to what they love the most. Croqqer is always local for local, while all its communities remain open, inclusive, interdependent and interconnected. Its business ideal is the Benefit Corporation and its preferred currencies are trust, and mutual respect.” – Rob van de Star, Founder ×

“As a benefit corporation, Dr. Bronnerʼs has the imperative to utilize its business resources to fight for just causes in our society. All profits that are not necessary for business growth and development are donated to the community through charity and advocacy. Dr. Bronnerʼs charitable donations exceed 2 percent of sales every year and benefit communities in both the local San Diego and national geographical areas. In addition, organizational, financial and staffing resources are engaged to support progressive causes and to advocate for positive institutional, industry and regulatory reforms on a state, national, and international level.” – Ryan Fletcher, Public Affairs and Media Relations Director (on behalf of Kris Lin Bronner) ×

“The community is without a doubt the most important element at Ecosia. It is thanks to their support and enthusiasm that we have planted close to 5 million trees. We are in constant contact with our community. Ecosia publishes monthly business reports and donation receipts to assure 100 percent transparency in our effort to plant trees. We are equally committed to make our tree-planting programs more tangible to our users with audiovisual material that we spread to them through our various communication channels.” – Fötima Gonzölez-Torres, Head of Community Outreach ×

“Where community involvement is concerned, we think of Flatter:Me almost like her own person. She's got responsibilities to make the world a kinder, more connected place. We were one of the first members of Fashion Takes Action, Canada's only fashion-industry non-profit devoted to social and environmental sustainability, and we also regularly donate belts to Suit Yourself and Dress For Success. As a team, we spend quarterly Community Days with local non-profits who need helping hands. Figuring out where and how we can contribute the most is a work in progress, but we're hoping to learn by doing.” – Claire Theaker-Brown, Owner & Founder ×

“As a first-recognized social enterprise, our company is helping small social companies that require support in terms of technology and business strategy in our nation. This activity is being done regularly by continuing to share business ideas and how to give profits back to society. Furthermore, along with the related social enterprises, we keep on studying how to preserve the environment and protect the socially weak through business, which means our company acts to resolve the concerns arising from our country and from the world.” – Jung-Min Kim, International Sales Manager ×

“Our company directly supports specific nonprofit partners that are congruent with our games. By giving 50 percent of net proceeds of in-app transactions to nonprofits, we are offering nonprofits an additional channel for both revenue generation and marketing, while in turn providing our users a way to play exciting mobile games and do good in the process.” – Elizabeth Sarquis, CEO ×

“We give back 1 percent of our gross sales to local and national nonprofits, as well as supporting the Cafe Femenino Foundation in Peru. We feel that businesses should give back to the Earth and the communities that provide for the business.” – Kelsey Marshall, Co-Founder ×

“Imajine That offers free community nights to all neighboring communities at its discovery museum as well as free field trips to our classrooms within the Boston Public Schools. We work to partner with local school systems and libraries to share our resource of the museum space and our partnerships. Imajine That retains curated experts to bring information and resources to the community. Additionally, Imajine That partners with First Book, bringing books to families in need for a drastically reduced price as well as supplies tip sheets for modeling family engagement as the book is being read.” – Susan Leger-Ferraro, CEO and Founder ×

“In 2015, Impact Makers gifted its ownership to the community. Our company mission is directly linked to community impact: Impact Makers is driven to create meaningful change for our clients, our community partners, and ourselves. We will utilize our innovative business model to transform the business value of our work into social value for the community through partnerships with local nonprofits that include financial contributions as well as pro-bono engagements.ʼ Our non-profit charitable partners receive a recurring, sustainable income and can focus more energy on services to the community rather than fundraising.” – Eve Gravely, Marketing Lead ×

“Our company began with an opportunity to sell our products at the local co-op. These roots have never left us and we are grateful to give back to our community. Inesscents is proud to provide meaningful jobs in our town, keeping diversity a priority with all new hires. Over the years we have supported local organizations, schools and youth programs by donating product or funds for fundraising events. We also enjoy volunteering our time to things we are collectively passionate about. When it comes to business, our foundation lies on our fair trade principals.” – Heather Brunetti, Operations Manager ×

“We present the company as a project built by all communities related to us. As the company doesnʼt have ownersʼ in a regular way because its owner is a nonprofit organization, we consider all stakeholders as owners in a way.” – Eduardo Castillo, CEO ×

“Our community includes the people and environments affected by the five areas in our product lifecycle: raw ingredient extraction, supply chain, manufacturing, consumer use, and end of life. Our customers are the most directly impacted by our products, and they have a right to detailed information about the ingredients and processes used to create them. Our key partner in this area is Women's Voices for the Earth. WVE envisions a world where women lead to create a healthy environment without toxic chemicals in our workplaces, homes and communities.ʼ As a member of WVE's No Secretsʼ campaign, we list every ingredient on the packaging for all of our cleaning and laundry products.” – Kate Jakubas, Founder ×

“We contribute to the development of our community both through the programs we develop as Mikado and through the services we provide for our clients. We allocate a significant amount of our working hours to voluntary projects, and we act like opinion leaders, pioneering new initiatives and concepts on social impact.” – Serra Titiz, Founder & Director ×

“As the leading Native American-owned food brand, we have become a model of how communities can use the brand-building process to empower their local food and agricultural systems. Native American Natural Foods is a member of the Oglala Lakota Food sovereignty coalition. With our partners at the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, we have created the Tanka Fund to help empower more Native American families to raise buffalo. Our CEO and our staff members provide education to nonprofits, schools and tribes on issues from values-based business development to global warming and sustainable land use practices.” – Mark Tilsen, President ×

“Each year, the company offers more than 1,500 activities to experience the seasons: Autumn, come and participate in the cuillette mushrooms or go into the forest to listen to the belling of deer. In spring and summer, discover the flowers and wild plants to develop delicious recipes. More than 400,000 people have participated in walks and outdoor activities that we have organized for 25 years. It's part of our mission to strengthen ties between man and nature.” – Etienne Ruth, Sustainable Development Manager ×

“Numi is more than just a tea company. We are an organization that delivers good through our work and collaborations with like-minded partners. We are committed to supporting and partnering with local and national organizations that are doing incredible work in our communities. Through Fair Trade and Fair Labor Verification programs, our supply chain partners are empowered to thrive. Through Together for H2Ope, a nonprofit initiative of the Numi Foundation, we're providing clean water solutions to our farming communities around the world.” – Maggie Philipsborn, Communitea Coordinator ×

“As part of our Fair Trade compliance, we have established a Community Premium Fund through our business, which earmarks a portion of our profits to be transferred back to our workers. They are in complete control of this fund, and use a democratic process to decide how it is to be employed. They can use the money to invest outside of the factory in their community or take the money as a cash bonus if they wish. This is important to us, as we see the creation of strong community ties as a vital aspect of supporting workersʼ rights.” – Will Jackson, Marketing Associate ×

“Our Community's entire reason for being centers on a desire to build stronger, healthier, more diverse, more inclusive communities. We do this by providing information, training and tools to the organizations that are doing the work at the grassroots to create stronger communities, as well as those funding and supporting that work. We focus on Australian communities, but being a largely web-based business, our reach often goes beyond those borders.” – Kathy Richardson, Executive Director ×

“As a community business with local customers and vendors, we keep an eye to the world. By working with over 40 local vendors, food makers and farmers who supply us with fresh, local, organic ingredients, weʼve developed a business around their efforts by delivering their food. Yet we design meal plans and recipes to cultivate a lifestyle that really is a culinary exploration. We tie our customers to local farmers and diverse cultures through food. Taste is a universal language that goes a long way to uniting all of us, creating a global village of flavors, rich textures, meals and ingredients we can share.” – Jennifer Piette, CEO ×

“We donate all profits to animal rescue organizations across America.” – Susan Rochelson, Associate ×

“Smartripʼs aim is to contribute effectively and efficiently to the sustainable development of tourist destinations in our country, promoting local entrepreneurship and rescuing their culture and identity. Since Smartrip was created, with few resources but with great management, we have supported ten relevant social projects, training more than 1,000 local micro-entrepreneurs and funding more than 20 of them with seed capital.” – Juan Luis Crespo, Founder ×

“Our mission is to make organic, high-quality products while looking after the environment and making an impact in the local community. That impact is produced by our social action: part of our profit goes to the purchase of organic food for community child homes; we associate with big companies as we produce organic products for them; we act as a bridge for other organic companies that want to make an impact in the community.” – Martin Alonso, Director ×

“StoryStudio has always been an integral member of Chicago's writing community, and our local Ravenswood area community. In 2008, we created the Literary Alliance of Chicago to gather more than 50 Chicago-based organizations for joint programming and collaboration; in lieu of admission fees, we collect donations for area shelters; we are active in our local chamber, and last year we created the Stories Matter Foundation and the Dana Wood Chaney Writers Fund. The fund provides grants to novelists whose work focuses on social issues.” – Jill Pollack, Chief Story Wrangler ×

“In addition to the close rapport we have with our roaster customers, we are devoted to the tangible impact we are able to make in the coffee-producing communities from which we source. Weʼre able to impact these global communities because of our four offices in coffee-producing countries: Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, and Rwanda. These boots on the ground allow us to visit over half of the coffee-producing organizations we work with every year. These offices also allow us to provide regular trainings to these organizations on everything from agronomic skills to coffee evaluation to best practices for warehousing and shipping, all of which result in a stronger supply chain.” – David Griswold, CEO & Founder ×

“We work to create impact for students both locally and abroad. To do so, we employ students across Ontario with meaningful work experience. Our student Campus Ambassadors help raise awareness, collect textbooks and promote social good around campuses. With their efforts, we are able to send thousands of textbooks to our partners in East Africa. In East Africa, we work with students, librarians and professors to make that important education material more accessible to those who need it most. By shipping donated textbooks to our partners, we are working to bridge the gap between the demand for textbooks and the lack of resources in our partnered schools.” – Tom Hartford, Co-Founder & COO ×

“Through coffee, we support justice for our growers, our communities, and the environment. As an activist business, we engage every coffee drinker on big human, economic and environmental issues that matter. Our donations to local social action and environmentalist nonprofit organizations last year totaled $13,864.74, including over 100 hour of donated volunteer time. We help nonprofit organizations with a new way of raising funds. Weʼve created “cause coffee” for organizations that need financial support. We allocate profits to individual organizations to help raise money for their continued operation and growth. Currently, Thanksgiving Coffee Company offers ongoing support for 12 nonprofit organizations in this way.” – Lavender Cinnamon, Community Development ×

“Our core value is to create a culture of kindness, and we do that through manufacturing goods in a way that pays fair wages and ensures good treatment of workers. We partner directly with small-batch makers in Guatemala that have the primary mission of providing jobs to create change.” – Bethany Tran, CEO ×

“WebChair addresses the problem of social reintegration for homebound children by giving them a vehicle to remain connected to their school environment, lowering the barriers of isolation so that reintegration becomes possible. Our mission is to cultivate and make accessible an environment which fosters the inclusion and engagement of everyone, regardless of any individual differences. Embracing diversity and inclusion are our main priorities that can be found in the social impact that we seek with our service, the selection of our suppliers and the ownership of our company.” – Eugenia Mangana, CEO ×

“Yumbutter supports both local and global communities as part of our holistic business model. The biggest example of this is our Buy One | Feed One program, where for every pouch or jar of Yumbutter sold, we feed a child in need. To do this, we work with a partner NGO in Xela, Guatemala to provide holistic healthcare to malnourished children and their mothers. This includes feedings, but also dental care, prenatal care, dewormings, and more, to ensure a sustainable approach to ending malnutrition in their community.” – Alana McKeever, Sustainability Superstar & Marketing Boss Lady ×