Capital Market Development

I've written about B corporations here and here. This is a new effort to register "public benefit companies" and help solve the commercial/nonprofit hybrid dilemma. And to do much more. This is from B Corporation's web site on how it plans to support new B corporations.

• Capital Markets (access and development)

  The Capital Markets Council will be comprised of 6-12 entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and practitioners in the fields of social finance and socially responsible investing, capital markets and financial services, and corporate social responsibility.

  The Capital Markets Council will provide guidance to B Lab's Board of Directors in two primary areas: first, recruiting and developing a critical mass of B Corporations in the financial services sector; second, facilitating development of a capital marketplace that ensures B Corporations access to mission-aligned capital throughout their lifecycle.

  Members of the Capital Markets Advisory Council will:

  • Work closely with the Standards Advisory Council to develop appropriate standards for financial services B Corporations consistent with their unique regulatory environment;
  • Work closely with the Branding Advisory Council to recruit financial services businesses to become B Corporations;
  • Identify capital markets needs of B Corporations and develop recommendations to serve these needs (i.e. equity/debt intermediaries, exchanges, etc);
  • Facilitate ties to and leverage mainstream financial markets by educating investors in using B Corporation standards to:
    • screen investments
    • advocate for preferential procurement
  • Engage the philanthropic community around mission-related investing in B Corporations;

B Corp is a brilliant contribution to improving social capital markets. It is what I call a "code level" strategy - it provides an alternative option at a core systemic level. That the founders have thought through the system, the alternative, and the supports for the alternative is all the more important.

There is a lot going on in the philanthropic capital world - a new book's worth, in fact. I'll profile some of it here, and hope to get book number two out soon.

(Full disclosure: I just registered my company, Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. as a founding B Corp)

Tags: philanthropy, socialentrepreneurs, socialcapitalmarkets, bcorp