Tag Archives: transparency

In 3 Words: How to Build a Purpose-Driven Business

To polish up a year’s worth of learnings from working with and writing about purpose-driven companies, I’ve summed up 42 principles in exactly three words each. Three words–easy to understand, easy to share. This list partially represents the 155 blogs I’ve written this year, but it’s nowhere near complete. Add your triplets in the comments […]

Want To Open a Nonprofit Store? 10 Guidelines You–and Nordstrom’s–Should Follow

Scandal in-the-making, customer-pleaser, tax write-off, nonprofit cash cow or game-changer?  Which hyphenated phrase will best describe Nordstrom’s new concept store, which will donate all net profits to charity? I was interviewed recently by American Public Media’s Marketplace on the Nordstrom concept store, set to open in Soho next fall, and on the growing appeal of […]

How I Would Fix Neenah Paper’s Eco-Publicity Ploy

The offer: As part of a publicity push for its carbon-neutral ENVIRONMENT Papers line, Neenah Paper launched a sweepstakes to win an eco-trip for two to the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica and a chance to “go hard core and experience conservation in the heart of some of nature’s most fragile environments.”  The lucky winner is […]

Choose Your Own Cause-Marketing Ending

To build brand awareness and identity, the Close But No Cigar company is interested in creating several cause-based community events. Close But No Cigar (CBNC) brings in an expert to ask what cause it should support.  Based on the company’s response to several questions, the idea man returns with several areas that the company might […]

Coke’s Sticky Situation Is a Warning Not To Market Sustainability You Don’t Have

On a wall in Honest Tea’s office is a Chinese proverb that cautions Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. It’s a prescient warning given the story I’m about to tell, but the lesson I want to highlight is that when you invest in sustainability as an image […]

How Transparency Can Benefit Your Company (There’s More To Be Gained Than Consumer Trust)

“If you’re not scared by what you’re revealing, than you’re not being transparent enough” –Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation If real transparency is scary, why create it?  Like with most things that bring real value (and take real effort), there are several benefits of having a glass-walled company.  A note before the benefits: transparency isn’t a […]

Can You Crowdsource Your Sustainability?

Smart business talk today revolves around meeting stakeholder interests.  But it can be daunting for companies to do that. Whereas before they were primary liable to shareholders, they’re now pressed to satisfy consumer demands for products that are sustainable as well as affordable and durable; they’re expected to take the environment and the community and […]

Should Your Business Use an e-Commerce Philanthropy Platform? What You Can Gain and What to Be Wary Of

Yesterday I wrote about some of the ways that small startups with limited resources can create a social mission.  Today, I came across a tool that makes it easy for your company to try out a buy-one-give-one model called B1G1. Traditionally, buy-one-give-one refers to like products. TOMS Shoes and Sunnight Solar are great examples. Every […]

Your Competitive Advantage Lies in Your Social Responsibility–with Seventh Generation’s Jeffrey Hollender

I started Cause Capitalism to convince you that having a social mission will help grow your business and to show you how. I want you (and me) to be able to create a sector-changing business like Jeffrey Hollender did with Seventh Generation. Long before it was fashionable, Jeffrey took toilet paper and dish detergent and […]

How Trust Can Boost Profits, Particularly For Social Enterprises

We know that transparency is a strong indicator of a company’s social mission. Turns out, it’s also good for business. Recently, transparency has been shown to be a significant driver of ultimate financial performance. The thread between transparency and profit is trust. By opening up internal operations, successes and failures to the public and to employees, we demonstrate transparency […]