Michael Pirron and Rodney Willet of Impact Makers, an Unprecedented Business Model for "Stakeholder Capitalism"

Twitter: @Impact_Makers

Impact Makers is a management and technology consulting company based in Richmond, VA.  They provide services in Management and IT Consulting, Program and Project Management, Digital and Governance, Risk, and Compliance.  

But beyond that, Impact Makers is wholly unique in that over the life of the company they contribute all profits to charities and they have gifted 100% of the equity ownership of the company to community nonprofit organizations. The main purpose and mission of the company is to maximize community and social value. 

In 2014, Impact Makers ranked no. 463 on the Inc. 500 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America, with three year sales growth of 1,024%. (In 2013, their rank was no. 514 and in 2012, no. 360) In 2014 and 2013, the company was named ‘Best for the World’ and ‘Best for Community’ by scoring in the top 10% of all B Corporations. 

Impact Makers transforms economic value into social value for the community. It provides professional services at market prices, competes to win business, pays market salaries to its employees, has a volunteer Board of Directors, and at the same supports community organizations at a level that is unheard of in traditional business. 

Michael Pirron and Rodney Willet join me today to talk about the Impact Makers business model, how it is affecting the employees and the community of Richmond, VA, and why everybody profits from their Triple Bottom Line. This is a really inspirational interview and a must listen...

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SHOW:

In this interview, we discuss:

  1. How Impact Makers achieves its vision of a Triple Bottom Line.  (4:00) 
  2. How they came to be the first B Corp in the state of Virginia, and one of the first in the country. (12:00)
  3. How they arrived at this decision, and achieved buy-in from all decision makers.  (14:00)
  4. How the model works.  (17:00)
  5. What the future of B Corporations will look like, and the effect they can have on small business as well as larger, Fortune 500 corporations. (20:00)

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

We're doing something unique by transforming services - not just products, but actual work - into the same value creation that products can do, and leveraging that human value work for community impact.  

LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:

  1. The B Impact Report for Impact Makers.  
  2. Bloomberg Business Article about Impact Makers.
  3. Fast Company Article on their business model.
  4. Another article on their philanthropic gift. 
  5. Article describing gifting of company and social impact business model.
  6. The organizations they support and impact they create.
  7. Social Venture Network -  a community of leading social entrepreneurs. 

THANKS SO MUCH FOR LISTENING!

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