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What is a Double Bottom Line?

First Bottom Line: Fiscal responsibility through risk-adjusted investing, budgets, budget management, and cash flow management.

Second Bottom Line: Social responsibility through measurable jobs, wealth, community revitalization for community stakeholders in low-income neighborhoods, environmental impact, and other social improvements.

Non-Profit or For Profit?

Either a non-profit or a for-profit organization can manage to a double bottom line. B Lab, (www.bcorporation.net), is an example of a nonprofit organization which envisions a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit. This sector, sitting between the for-profit and non-profit sectors, is comprised of a new type of corporation � the B corporation. B corporations are unlike traditional responsible businesses because they 1) meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards; 2) institutionalize stakeholder interests. The core idea behind B Lab is that by creating a standard rating system for companies to be certified as socially beneficial, those companies that earn enough points can then share a common brand and logo, becoming known as �B Corporations,� creating an instant signal to customers, investors and policymakers that they create social benefit through their products, practices and use of profits.