But it wasn’t launched as a social responsibility initiative. It was launched as business strategy. And it’s proven extremely successful, attracting millions of new customers, influencing greater store sales and establishing Walmart as the third largest pharmacy in the United States with 16 percent market share.

Walmart launched the program because it saw a market opportunity to meet the specific need (inexpensive medication independent of insurance status) for an enormous population (not only the uninsured and Medicare recipients but anyone looking for affordable prescriptions or one-stop shopping).

As Jason Saul writes in his recent book, Social Innovation, Inc., this was a “true business strategy that happened to involve social change as a leverage point.”

Of course social impact shouldn’t only be a freak side effect of a business strategy. Opportunities are born from the challenges around us. As Peter Drucker says, “Every single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.”

Bill Marquard also speaks about reframing social issues as an opportunity for business growth, rather than as a societal obligation. During last year’s Sustainable Brands conference he used Groupe Danone’s partnership with Grameen to illustrate this. To address the issue of malnutrition in Bangladesh, Danone elected a market-based approach over a philanthropic investment, product donation or cause marketing campaign.

The output is a new yogurt product available for around nine cents that fulfills children’s basic nutritional needs. The outcomes of this venture, both social and business, are tremendous. Through it, Danone developed a new market in Bangladesh, created a low-cost product that’s since been introduced to French consumers and strengthened operational efficiencies (the small footprint manufacturing facilities and processes that were developed in Bangladesh are being replicated globally). This market-based solution also yielded a greater and more enduring social impact (a new national industry, more jobs and access to critical nutrients for many Bangladeshis) than if Danone had just gifted money.

Bit by bit, we’re seeing more companies using their core business to address social issues and viewing these issues as potential profit. It’s not unethical. It’s the most generous thing a company can do.

You can hear Jason Saul speak at Sustainable Brands next month. As a presenter, I can offer 20% off conference registration through May 15. To register with the discount, email me at olivia[at]causecapitalism.com.

Founded in 1973, ShoreBank was the country’s first community development bank and later, the first environmental bank, encouraging sustainable development and energy efficiency. The ShoreBank Corporation, the bank’s holding company has two banks: one serving Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, and ShoreBank Pacific in Ilwaco, WA, and Portland, Oregon; along with affiliated nonprofits in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Ilwaco, and Portland; business development services in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and consulting services around the world. These companies have invested $3.8 billion in national and international development projects.

I spoke with Brian Berg, ShoreBank’s vice president of marketing about the institution’s new initiatives and how community development banks differ from traditional ones.

What does it mean to be a community development bank?
Foundations, individuals, consumers and other financial institutions that support community development investing deposit money in a FDIC-insured ShoreBank account that provides a competitive rate of return as well as a social return. The bank uses the deposits to help fund loans to borrowers specifically for community development projects, like renovating and purchasing affordable housing, its Rescue Loan and Capacity Plus programs that save homes from foreclosure and assist struggling nonprofits, growing small businesses and green collar jobs.

ShoreBank begin supporting sustainable, environmentally friendly development projects in the mid-1990s, in addition to its community development work. How does the bank define its success now?
We’re a triple bottom line bank, so we are working just as hard to make sure our services have a positive impact upon the community and the environment as they are on our financial performance.

How do ShoreBank’s profits compare to a traditional bank of its size?
ShoreBank has been profitable through out most if its history. Historically, our pay-back rate on loans has been as good as or better than comparable-sized banks.

Putting aside for a moment ShoreBank’s positive human and environmental impact, are there other benefits that stem from being a socially conscious bank?
Absolutely. Our social mission is a strategic advantage that distinguishes us from other financial institutions which helps with our marketing and employee recruitment and retention .

What has ShoreBank International been involved in?
Last year ShoreBank International raised $62.2 million from 12 organizations to provide debt capital for the BRAC African Loan Fund. BRAC is a leading international development organization founded in Bangladesh by Fazle Hasan Abed. The money is being used to provide microfinance loans to more than 700,00 poor borrowers in Tanzania, Uganda and Southern Sudan.

ShoreBank International just received a $5.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation to create and promote savings accounts for the very poor in Southeast Asia. ShoreBank International was one of a handful of financial institutions chosen to explore new ways, like mobile technology, to provide 11 million people in African, Asia and Latin America access to savings accounts over the next five years. Working with four partner institutions in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, we aim to reach 1 million micro-savers in the next several years. [Read more here.]

What else should we know about ShoreBank?
I’ll share a couple of points that might relate to your audience. The work ShoreBank executives did with then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton to create a community development bank serving rural Arkansans in the 1980s, and the ShoreBank model became the inspiration for the establishment of the Community Development Financial Institutions which have invested billions in distressed U.S. communities.

We offer free energy audits to home mortgage clients to encourage them to make energy efficient improvements. A $2,000-$5,000 improvement can save a household 50% in energy costs every month in addition to alleviating environmental stress.

ShoreBank is one of the founding members of B Corporation. [B Corporations are a new type of corporation that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.]

Grameen America, Like Grameen Bank, is a microcredit lender, providing poor individuals–primarily women–small loans that they use to launch businesses and elevate their families from poverty. Muhammad Yunus (pictured at left at the opening of the Queens branch) started Grameen in Bangladesh 30 years ago. Its reach has since exceeded 100 million families and sired the Internet micro-lending phenomenon Kiva.

Here’s the part where I confront my (American) elitism and admit that I didn’t view Americans as obvious recipients of microfinancing. At first blush I thought Grameen had come to Los Angeles for the usual biz dev and fundraising circuit.

I’m now reminded that nascent entrepreneurs live in all grids of the globe and that there is no objective scale to measure the boundless and border-less potential of a starter loan.

It may be a small shift in thought, but like Yunus’ other small shifts in thought, this one has infinite impact.