Ranking: 88

Industry: Personal Care

Mission: A provider of all-natural beauty and personal care products offered in sustainable packaging on a per-item or subscription basis. Their products come in aluminum bottles that can be sent back and refilled time after time, offering an alternative to single-use containers. Have so far kept over 100,000 plastic bottles out of landfills. 

What 3 words best describe your company culture?

Sustainable, Empowering, Collaborative

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“Progress, not perfection. We are constantly learning and working to improve our products, our packaging, our customer experience, and our company.”

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

Plaine Products is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic from the bathroom. Offering a line of toxin-free personal care products, Plaine Products come in aluminum bottles that can be sent back and refilled time after time. The first of its kind and founded in 2017, Plaine Products has already diverted more than 200,000 plastic bottles from landfills. Based in Cincinnati, OH, all of the products are vegan, non-GMO, cruelty-free, biodegradable, color-safe and free of parabens, sulfates and toxins, good for the body and the planet. Founded by two sisters, Plaine Products is proud to be reducing waste and helping stop the spread of single-use plastics.

What is your company’s vision for the future?

At Plaine Products we are leading the way towards a new circular economy where producers take responsibility for their packaging and the safety of their ingredients, where there is less waste and pollution, and the true cost of the products is not passed on to the next generation.

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Ranking: 92

Industry: Music Licensing/Production

Mission: A music agency representing a highly curated roster of diverse and rare artists, bands, record labels and vintage recordings for music licensing. They scour the planet to deliver the perfect song for any project, and foster community on the home front. Give back 10% of all sales to community organizations.

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Ranking: 80

Industry: Banking

Mission: Leading in business ethics, innovative thinking, and community development. They focus exclusively on partnerships with organizations that drive social, economic, and environmental change, and invest back to the members and into the communities they serve. 100% of their investments contribute to affordable or sustainable communities in Canada. 

What 3 words best describe your company culture?

Collaborative, Innovative, Inclusive

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“Climate change and housing affordability are two of the most critical challenges facing our communities, and we believe the financial industry can and should play a key role in enabling and shaping ambitious solutions.” — Jay-Ann Gilfoy, President & CEO, Vancity Community Investment Bank

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

At VCIB, we’re on a mission to finance a sustainable tomorrow and we do so by exclusively working with organiations that drive social, environmental, and economic change. You can see the difference we make by looking at our lender portfolios. Our real estate lending team has partnered with affordable housing developers like Options for Homes, providing financing that supports their model of offering down payment assistance to low and middle-income families.

Our clean energy finance team helps get more low carbon projects off the ground by focusing on small and mid-size projects underserved by traditional lenders. VCIB’s focus on financing affordable housing helps to foster inclusive, resilient communities and economic prosperity in urban areas. As detailed in VCIB’s 2020 mid-year impact report, there were 9 real estate projects that directly benefitted the community financed in the first half of 2020. These projects preserved 623 units of affordable housing and spanned a wide range of affordability projects, including:

• 124 shelter beds
• 97 units of housing for low-income seniors
• 61 units of student housing
• 77 units of co-operative housing
• 31 units of affordable rental housing
• 233 affordable condo units and townhouses for sale

To date, VCIB has financed more than 30 social purpose real estate projects that drive social change in communities, allowing for over 1,300 units of new or preserved affordable housing and 400,000+ square feet of non-profit, cultural, and community spaces.

In addition to providing financing for social purpose real estate, VCIB is a leader in financing renewable energy projects, geoexchange heating and cooling systems, energy efficiency retrofits, and green buildings, electric vehicle infrastructure, microgrids, and transmission and distribution upgrade, and energy recovery. To date, VCIB’s team has financed over 1,650 projects, including 350 LED, 550 solar, and 750 geo-exchange projects across Canada, helping to avoid more than 18,000 tonnes of CO2.

What is your company’s vision for the future?

Born from Vancity Credit Union’s community-first finance model, VCIB is building on 70 years of banking experience to support organizations and enterprises that share a commitment to positively impact the communities where they live and work. VCIB’s vision is to finance a sustainable tomorrow. The organization’s mission is to use the tools of finance to drive immediate and lasting social and environmental change in their communities. As VCIB grows and expands its offerings it will continue to abide by its eight core values, which are:

1. Integrity – Do what’s right. Sleep well at night.
2. Humility – We are conscious of being part of something more.
3. Respect for Place – Invest in here and here will get there.
4. Leadership – The courage to dream. The dedication to make it real.
5. Transparency – We are an open book – a good, open book.
6. Respect for People – Every person, and their dreams, matter.
7. Partnership – Together we will.
8. Stewardship – Cherish, protect, and pass it forward.

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Ranking: 39

Industry: Investment Advising

Mission: A venture capital firm that provides equity and debt financing to established and emerging companies located in communities underserved by conventional sources of capital. They invest in small businesses and help grow local economies. Have fostered over 780 companies across a diverse array of industry sectors, including manufacturing, technology and business services.

What 3 words best describe your company culture?

Collaborative, Entrepreneurial, Accountable

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“Through strategic investments in small businesses located in underserved communities — and by financing affordable housing in those same neighborhoods, along with access to renewable energy — our focus is on strengthening communities, equalizing opportunities for household financial security, and growing local economies.”

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

Advantage Capital creates a platform for economic security in low-income communities across the county. We do so, in part, by investing in the growth of companies that can create and retain good-quality jobs. Through our investments and non-financial support and guidance, the companies in which we invest have largely expanded and prospered, supporting more than 60,000 jobs in low-income communities across the country. We also finance affordable housing in these same communities, creating even more positive and lasting change in neighborhoods, and for families and seniors. To further strengthen communities and equalize access to capital and growth, we finance renewable energy projects, for the benefit of planet, people and economic growth.

What is your company’s vision for the future?

We fundamentally believe that capital can change lives. We have infused investment capital into 244 highly distressed census tracts across the country. We see continued focus on strengthening communities, by staying true to our investment philosophy of delivering much-needed capital to small businesses that can create and preserve good jobs in some of the nation’s hardest-hit communities. We envision serving nearly 500 communities, more than doubling our footprint in historically distressed neighborhoods, erasing blight and chipping away at the factors which have led to their decline, neighbor by neighbor, family by family, block by block.

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Ranking: 78

Industry: Forestry

Mission: An online platform allowing companies and consumers worldwide to plant trees remotely and follow their growth online. They finance agroforestry projects for sustainable ecosystems and aid local farmers, bringing environmental, social, and financial benefits to their communities. Supporting over 83,000 farmers by planting over 1.4 million trees across 4 continents.

What 3 words best describe your company culture?

Sustainability, Engagement, Transparency

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“Treedom aims to make the world a greener & better place for everyone. Treedom is the only site that allows people and companies to plant trees and see their impact online, supporting local farmers around the world. Every single tree is planted, photographed, geolocated and is visible online, to show your commitment to everyone in a transparent way.”

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

IMPACT BUSINESS MODEL: With Treedom users finance farmers who want to plant trees, supporting their work in the early years, when trees are not yet productive. Treedom provides farmers with know-how and technical support for planting and managing trees. Trees are photographed, geolocated, and monitored by Treedom over time.

BENEFITS: Treedom directly finances small agroforestry projects throughout the territory. The philosophy is to realize sustainable ecosystems and allow thousands of farmers to support the initial costs of planting new trees, ensuring food autonomy and income opportunities over time.

Environmental benefits:

• CO2 absorption worldwide
• Protection of biodiversity
• Contrast soil erosion and desertification
• Reforestation

The realization of small agroforestry systems allows making precise choices concerning the specific characteristics and needs of each project area. The tree species planted are native or respect the biodiversity of the different territories. The agroforestry practice also integrates the planting of trees in an agricultural system, favouring the virtuous interaction between the different species and sustainable use of resources and land. Finally, all trees absorb CO2 in the course of their growth, naturally generating a benefit for the entire planet.

Social and economic benefits:

• Direct financing of local farmers
• Choice of which trees to plant made with the farmers
• Costs covered up to tree’s productive phase
• Training and income opportunities

Treedom finances projects in rural communities in the south of the world and also carries out projects with a strong social value in Italy. The first step is the training and financing of the communities involved in the projects, obtaining extraordinary results in terms of their own empowerment. The trees and their fruits belong to the farmers, allowing them to diversify and supplement their income and in some cases, to launch micro-entrepreneurship initiatives. Financing the planting of new trees with Treedom serves to support the trees’ care in the first years of their life when they are not yet productive in terms of fruit.

What is your company’s vision for the future?

In our vision, everyone is able to make the world a greener & better place.

Treedom aims to create a resilient environment promoting sustainable development that connects north-south in a mutual benefit relation, introducing innovations in the charity sector as transparency, engagement, versatility.

Treedom’s mission is to allow anyone to contribute to the wellbeing of the planet in a simple and fun way while they browse online. With a simple gesture, a click, help rural communities and especially farmers in disadvantaged areas, to receive startup fundings to implement agroforestry activities instead of monoculture or harming cultivation technique.

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Ranking: 86

Industry: Architecture

Mission: An architecture firm that integrates the practices of architecture, planning + strategy, engineering, project services, and security risk management to develop innovative, creative, and collaborative solutions to complex problems.They seek to transform the lives of people and organizations by creating stunningly beautiful, highly functional, and safer spaces, and have completed projects across 20 states.

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Ranking: 82

Industry: Renewable Energy

Mission: A solar developer and leading community solar service provider breaking down barriers to solar benefits and revolutionizing energy. Their community solar subscriptions make it possible for homeowners, renters, small business owners, and municipalities to be part of the energy revolution. Have built more than 135 MW of solar projects to date. 

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“We’re by no means perfect, but we try very hard to honor our values and to make a meaningful impact in the climate change battle and the fight for environmental and social justice.” — BlueWave Co-founder & Chairman

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

It’s no secret that greenhouse gases, particularly the production of carbon from burning fossil fuels, is largely to blame for climate change. But we believe the installation of clean, renewable energy, can make a significant impact by curbing greenhouse gas production and improving the health of our planet. Through our work as a solar project developer and community solar provider, BlueWave is not only actively adding more solar to the global energy mix, but we’re making it possible for all residents, businesses, and communities to support solar. That means less reliance on other, dirtier power sources and a healthier environment for generations to come.

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Ranking: 75

Industry: E-Commerce Fulfillment

Mission: A fulfillment business focusing on internet retailers who chose to outsource their shipping. They offer dedicated client support and innovative solutions with carbon neutral shipping for dry goods and frozen and refrigerated foods. Operating from four 100% carbon neutral facilities across the U.S. and helping to make e-commerce sustainable.

What 3 words best describe your company culture?

Solve, Improve, Grow

What quote best exemplifies your company?

“Crystal Creek specializes in frozen fulfillment, logistics, and shipping services for e-commerce companies. We offer dedicated client support, sustainable operations, and innovative solutions. As a certified B-Corp, we are committed to socially responsible business practices.”

How is your product or service having a positive social and/or environmental impact?

All product leaves our facility as individual packages and are delivered to the home of the customer in full trucks making the best use of ground transportation possible, we deliver frozen foods to your doorstep via ground transportation in eco-friendly packaging designed to have the least impact on our planet. We operate in a BeSmart environment and are a certified B Corp with a 92 point ranking.

What is your company’s vision for the future?

We focus on lifting others up, instead of just doing the job, we try to do it in such a way that we build a stronger community and make an example for others to follow. Because we are pioneers in our space, we know that the way we do our work will set precedent and we take this responsibility seriously.

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Ranking: 102

Industry: Food & Beverage

Mission: A loose-leaf tea producer making tea accessible in the form of flavorful, functional, high quality, affordable blends. They place value on employee culture and give back to communities on a local, national, and international level. Sourcing ingredients from 30 countries and distributed in 8,000 stores throughout the U.S.

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Ranking: 9

Industry: Cleaning Products

Mission: An eco-friendly cleaning supplies seller that helps protect human health and the environment. They use renewable plant-based ingredients in their products and post-consumer recycled plastic in their packaging. On a mission to transform the world into a healthy, sustainable and equitable place for the next seven generations.

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