Our Journey to Become a Certified Benefit Cooperation

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-ct4zre’ admin_preview_bg=”]

Third Sun Solar is proud to be part of a larger movement which is striving to redefine success in business so all companies compete to not only be the best in the world, but best for the world.

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-ao7cyy’ admin_preview_bg=”]

A B Corp since 2012, we’re leading a global movement to redefine success in business. We’re part of over 1,700 other companies worldwide committed to using business as a force for good. Check them all out at www.bcorporation.net.

Certified B Corporations are for profit companies, anywhere in the world, that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and legal accountability. This notion is gaining traction, as CEO’s nationwide see the importance of using business as a force for good.

Chief executives from the Business Roundtable, including the leaders of Apple and JPMorgan Chase, argued that companies must also invest in employees and deliver value to customers.” – The New York Times

Taking people and planet seriously is at the heart of our company’s mission. That’s why we have done things like:

  • Installed solar on our own offices to produce almost 70% of our company’s electricity through clean power;
  • Conduct waste audits to see how we could cut down on our waste products even further;
  • Encouraged and assisted other businesses to take action to become B Corporations;
  • Sell a clean energy product every day with the mission to accelerate the shift to clean energy.

We couldn’t do all this without the support of our customers, our employees and our community. These are people like you who believe in our mission—people who prove that doing good is also good for business. Thank you helping us to succeed where it truly matters.

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-zff2y’ admin_preview_bg=”]

Our B-Corps Journey…

We became a Certified BCorps in March 2012. We were re certified in 2014 and 2016 and are currently in the process of re-certification.

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-7dqbay’ admin_preview_bg=”]

Why did we do it?

We became a Certified Benefit Cooperation because we want to be an example of how business can be a force for good. Our founders, while committed to spreading solar through business, also wanted to show that all businesses are not all profit and hungry at all costs. At one time this was a novel idea & there were a few stand out businesses that were doing their business and also striving to do no harm. Now we’re seeing the notion hit the mainstream – and we’re glad!
At the time we were certified, we also had just begun discussions with some of our peer solar companies in other parts of the country about banding together in some way- the birth of Amicus solar cooperative– and several of those companies that we really respected were B Corps.

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-612rqy’ admin_preview_bg=”]

How do you become a B Corp?

The process is a multi-step one, starting with an Impact Assessment. Questions are categorized to assess all facets of business:
  • Governance
  • Workers
  • Community
  • Environment
  • Customers

We provide information & documentation for:

  • How much waste and recycling we produce
  • The percentage of clean power we use at our headquarters
  • Our products benefit environmentally
  • Salary & benefits structures for our employees
  • Transparency structures in management
  • Contribution to the larger community through donations or activities
  • Sustainable practices in how we deploy our product and run our offices
  • … and much more.

80 is the cut off points for a business to become certified. 50.9 is the average score of just any mainstream business. Our current score is 88.5.

Changes needed…

To become certified we needed to make some changes…
  • We had a zero waste assessment from Rural Action & put those practices into play
  • Almost 100% of our electricity from solar, and our product eliminates greenhouse gases, so we already were doing a lot on the environmental front
  • Every year we purchase carbon offsets for our vehicle fleet
  • We began to hire and review employees based on their commitment to the BCorps values (which largely overlap with our values)
  • We became more transparent on our financials and metrics with the entire company
  • Wages were raised for employees
  • The last legal thing that we had to do was to insert into our corporate Operating Agreement that we would always consider the people and the planet as much in our decisions as we consider profit

[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-1na7u’ admin_preview_bg=”]

We still have a lot of potential progress and changes that we can make…

One thing that the assessment always shows us is the areas where we can do better. Going into 2020, one of those areas we plan on examining is our supply chain to ensure that their practices include fair labor practices, environmental sustainability. It would be great if a % of our vendors could be B Corps themselves.
[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-2uwosa’ admin_preview_bg=”]

When we were first certified, we were one of only 3 companies in Ohio. Now there are 14.

Our Journey to Become a Certified Benefit Cooperation

Third Sun Solar is proud to be part of a larger movement which is striving to redefine success in business so all companies compete to not only be the best in the world, but best for the world.

A B Corp since 2012, we’re leading a global movement to redefine success in business. We’re part of over 1,700 other companies worldwide committed to using business as a force for good. Check them all out at www.bcorporation.net.

Certified B Corporations are for profit companies, anywhere in the world, that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and legal accountability. This notion is gaining traction, as CEO’s nationwide see the importance of using business as a force for good.

 

Chief executives from the Business Roundtable, including the leaders of Apple and JPMorgan Chase, argued that companies must also invest in employees and deliver value to customers.” – The New York Times

 

Taking people and planet seriously is at the heart of our company’s mission. That’s why we have done things like:

  • Installed solar on our own offices to produce almost 70% of our company’s electricity through clean power;
  • Conduct waste audits to see how we could cut down on our waste products even further;
  • Encouraged and assisted other businesses to take action to become B Corporations;
  • Sell a clean energy product every day with the mission to accelerate the shift to clean energy.

We couldn’t do all this without the support of our customers, our employees and our community. These are people like you who believe in our mission—people who prove that doing good is also good for business. Thank you helping us to succeed where it truly matters.

 

Our B-Corps Journey…

We became a Certified BCorps in March 2012. We were re certified in 2014 and 2016 and are currently in the process of re-certification.

Why did we do it?

We became a Certified Benefit Cooperation because we want to be an example of how business can be a force for good. Our founders, while committed to spreading solar through business, also wanted to show that all businesses are not all profit and hungry at all costs. At one time this was a novel idea & there were a few stand out businesses that were doing their business and also striving to do no harm. Now we’re seeing the notion hit the mainstream – and we’re glad!
At the time we were certified, we also had just begun discussions with some of our peer solar companies in other parts of the country about banding together in some way- the birth of Amicus solar cooperative- and several of those companies that we really respected were B Corps.

How do you become a B Corp?

The process is a multi-step one, starting with an Impact Assessment. Questions are categorized to assess all facets of business:
  • Governance
  • Workers
  • Community
  • Environment
  • Customers

We provide information & documentation for:

  • How much waste and recycling we produce
  • The percentage of clean power we use at our headquarters
  • Our products benefit environmentally
  • Salary & benefits structures for our employees
  • Transparency structures in management
  • Contribution to the larger community through donations or activities
  • Sustainable practices in how we deploy our product and run our offices
  • … and much more.

80 is the cut off points for a business to become certified. 50.9 is the average score of just any mainstream business. Our current score is 88.5.

Changes needed…

To become certified we needed to make some changes…
  • We had a zero waste assessment from Rural Action & put those practices into play
  • Almost 100% of our electricity from solar, and our product eliminates greenhouse gases, so we already were doing a lot on the environmental front
  • Every year we purchase carbon offsets for our vehicle fleet
  • We began to hire and review employees based on their commitment to the BCorps values (which largely overlap with our values)
  • We became more transparent on our financials and metrics with the entire company
  • Wages were raised for employees
  • The last legal thing that we had to do was to insert into our corporate Operating Agreement that we would always consider the people and the planet as much in our decisions as we consider profit

We still have a lot of potential progress and changes that we can make…

One thing that the assessment always shows us is the areas where we can do better. Going into 2020, one of those areas we plan on examining is our supply chain to ensure that their practices include fair labor practices, environmental sustainability. It would be great if a % of our vendors could be B Corps themselves.

When we were first certified, we were one of only 3 companies in Ohio. Now there are 14.

A Case Study in Compassionate Transition from Coal to Solar

How is Athens County leading the way in Ohio? In solar workforce development! Employing former coal miners as solar installers has been an added benefit to situating our solar business in Appalachian Ohio. Read more here.

A Case Study in Compassionate Transition from Coal to Solar

How is Athens County leading the way in Ohio? In solar workforce development! Employing former coal miners as solar installers has been an added benefit to situating our solar business in Appalachian Ohio. Read more here.

Posted in Uncategorized

New Resource Solutions Listed as a “Best for the World: Environment” Honoree

New Resource Solutions recognized as a “Best For The World” B Corp for sustainability and environmental excellence

 

Third Sun Solar Co-Founder, Geoff Greenfield is a Co-Founder and Board Member of New Resource Solutions– a platform developed to efficiently connect clean energy projects with clean energy investors.

Athens, Ohio; September 4, 2019 – New Resource Solutions (“NRS”), a Certified B Corp, has been named a Best For The World honoree in recognition of their environmental performance and sustainable business practices. Ranking in the top 10% of all B Corps for their environmental and social responsibility, New Resource Solutions earned this honor through the Company’s tireless efforts to unlock affordable solar power for schools, municipalities, nonprofits and businesses unable to “go solar” through more traditional cash transactions.

“New Resource Solutions is democratizing solar across the United States,” says Marc Palmer, Managing Director for NRS. “Our business model promotes local development and jobs, bringing non-extractive investment capital into local economies. Local companies are essential to the proliferation of commercial-scale solar. We are grateful to be a Best For the World honoree and couldn’t have done this without our enthusiastic installer and investor partners.”

 

Best For The World recognition is administered by B Lab, the global nonprofit that certifies and supports Certified B Corporations, which are for-profit companies dedicated to using business as a force for good. Today there are 3,000 Certified B Corporations across 64 countries and 150 industries, unified by one common goal: to redefine success in business.

 

B Corps meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corp Certification doesn’t just evaluate a product or service, it assesses the overall positive impact of the company that stands behind it—like New Resource Solutions. Using the B Impact Assessment, B Lab evaluates how a company’s operations and business model impact its workers, community, environment, and customers. To achieve the B Corp Certification, a company must achieve a score of at least 80 points on the assessment.

 

“We’re incredibly proud of this year’s Best For The World honorees,” says Anthea Kelsick, Chief Marketing Officer of B Lab. “These inspiring companies represent the kinds of business models and impact-driven business strategies that are building a new economy—one that is inclusive, regenerative, and delivers value to all stakeholders, not just shareholders. To that end, B Corps like New Resource Solutions are redefining capitalism and showing that it actually can work for everyone.”

 

1,000 B Corps from 44 countries were named to the 2019 Best For The World lists, including Patagonia, Beautycounter, Dr. Bronner’s, TOMS, Seventh Generation, and Greyston Bakery. The 2019 Best For The World honorees are determined based on the verified B Impact Assessments of Certified B Corporations. The full lists are available on https://bcorporation.net/.

****

About New Resource Solutions:

New Resource Solutions (“NRS”) is disrupting the commercial solar market across the US. It solves the pain points of third-party ownership, or “PPAs”, for anchor community entities like schools, municipalities, nonprofits, and private companies by efficiently connecting trusted local solar installers with solar project investors. While most companies are only looking to do larger deals, NRS makes the medium and small ones financially attractive for all parties involved.

 

Contact: Marc Palmer; Managing Director

[email protected]; 937-541-1121

About B Lab:

B Lab is a nonprofit that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Lab’s initiatives include B Corp Certification, administration of the B Impact Management programs and software, and advocacy for governance structures like the benefit corporation. B Lab’s vision is of an inclusive and sustainable economy that creates a shared prosperity for all. To date, there are 3,000 Certified B Corps in over 150 industries and 64 countries, and over 50,000 companies use the B Impact Assessment. For more information, visit https://bcorporation.net/

 

B Lab Contact: Hannah Munger; Manager, PR & Communications; [email protected]; +1 212-608-4150

 

Get Started

Complete the form below to begin your free solar evaluation.