BizVoice May/June 2016

89 / 98

May/June 2016 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber 89
Dare to care
Invited to Lawson’s 2015 press conference
was Heidi Schmidt of College Students Care
(CSC), one of the first two benefit
corporations in Indiana. Schmidt founded the
non-profit College Mentors for Kids (CMK)
20 years ago. Based in Indianapolis, it’s
become a successful national organization
with over 2,300 college volunteers mentoring
over 2,000 children. Now an emeritus board
member, Schmidt wanted to give College
Mentors and other organizations an
opportunity to raise more money.
“There’s been a trend in the last few years
for non-profits to partner with for-profits so
they can have sustainable revenue – maybe a
fee-for-service model like hospitals that are
non-profit,” she explains. “Most truly service-
oriented non-profits that serve the poor don’t
have a fee-for-service model because their
clients can’t pay. A lot of non-profits, specifically
academic institutions, are investing in start-ups
so they have their own venture capital firm.”
The consistent theme of Indiana’s benefit
corporations is that they are, at this point,
fledgling operations. Schmidt is still honing
the specifics of web-based CSC, but reveals it
will be “basically a gig economy site,” in
which community members post jobs for
college students and graduates. The students
will then earn a fair wage for themselves
while also generating money for charity.
“The percentage that goes to charity
would be split – half would go to a charity of
the consumer’s choice, and half would go to
the charity of the college student’s choice,”
Schmidt clarifies. “What’s unique is that today
a lot of charity-type programs are product-
based, so if you buy something online, a
percentage goes to charity. … I have yet to
see a service-based site where people earn an
income and give a portion to charity.”
CSC currently has students on its board,
and all involved are recruiting participants.
“We plan to launch at Purdue and
Virginia Tech,” she notes. “Between the two
schools, there are 400 to 500 students
involved with (CMK), so they’ll be tasked
with getting their friends signed up. It’s great
that we have that informal partnership.”
For goodness sake
Leveraging an existing business to work
in tandem with a benefit corporation appears
to be a common strategy. TCC, a Carmel-
based Verizon Wireless retailer, is using the
power of its company (with over 3,000
staffers nationally) and its existing
philanthropic mantra to launch Culture of
Good, which officially began in 2013.
“Culture of Good is in its beginning
stage as a benefit corporation,” says Ryan
McCarty, TCC’s director of community and
employee engagement. “We’re currently
working on the business model. We know
what’s worked for TCC so we want to see if
through the benefit corporation we can offer
this idea to other companies to help them run
their business with a higher purpose.”
TCC touches 40 states, so McCarty expects
to make a large-scale impact. He says Culture
of Good will continue existing efforts, including:
• Helping 5,000 teachers gain classroom supplies
• Heal the World – a program impacting the
environment by cleaning local parks,
picking up trash, urban gardening and
planting trees. In fact, TCC helped plant
over 5,000 trees last year
• School Rocks backpack giveaway – 135,000
backpacks, which include school supplies,
will be donated to students in need
• Food collection features employees not just
delivering donated food but volunteering as well
• TCC recently committed $1 million over
five years to the Riley Children’s Foundation
Its work has been funded in part by its
Donate a Dollar program, in which customers
make in-store donations at TCC with the
knowledge Culture of Good will put that
money to work in the community as it
donates both money and staff time. (TCC
employees are also given two paid days off
per year to volunteer in their communities.)
Beneficially speaking
So why become a benefit corporation?
“Creating the Culture of Good as a for-
profit is beneficial because we’ll be interacting
with other for-profits,” McCarty explains.
“To be able to walk into another for-profit
company and show them the success we’ve
been able to have in engaging with TCC, it’s
about taking the resources for-profit companies
have. We’ve seen tremendous impact on
TCC and its employees, our customers and in
the cities where we do business.”
Additionally, the status gives an
organization some flexibility to approach
business a little differently – perhaps in ways
that are still under consideration.
“I’ve heard that benefit corporations can
apply for grants from 501(c)(3) foundations,
so I don’t know if Indiana will permit that in
the future, but it would be a bonus,” Schmidt
offers. “While there’s no tax incentive
necessarily, being able to apply for a grant as
a for-profit would be pretty darn cool.”
The Secretary of State’s office confirms:
“The statute is silent on this matter, so there
is nothing preventing a benefit corporation
from applying for a non-profit grant.”
In practice
At the time of this writing, a total of five
companies are registered as benefit
corporations in Indiana.
“We’ve had some inquiries,” Lawson
reports. “The complication is that if it’s an
existing corporation, it takes a vote of the
shareholders – and (it requires) a 90% vote to
change it. I’m sure if there are existing
corporations looking at this, they’re
consulting their attorneys and accountants
and their financial people to see if this is
something they should do or not.”
Lawson and her office are making efforts
to speak with organizations around the state.
“The beauty of the benefit corporation is
they are not solely responsible to their
shareholders for making a profit,” Lawson
clarifies. “They’re also able to put doing good
in the state on a level playing field (as making
a profit), so I look at it as business people and
entrepreneurs wanting to do well and make
money, but they also want to do some good in
the world. This gives them the ability to do that.”
Corporate Social Responsibility
“I think socially-conscious consumers
have already driven things like buying
organic, fair trade and buying locally.
The consumers will drive their business
to socially conscious corporations that
have the same ideals.”
Connie Lawson
Secretary of State
RESOURCES: Connie Lawson, Secretary of State, at www.in.gov/sos | Ryan McCarty, Culture of Good, at | Heidi Schmidt,
College Students Care