The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the nation’s leading voice of microenterprise development, serving the needs of U.S. microentrepreneurs who lack access to traditional sources of business education or capital. AEO empowers its nearly 500 member organizations as they start, stabilize, and expand their businesses by providing training, knowledge sharing, communications, and federal and state public policy and advocacy efforts. It is the only national member-based association in the microenterprise development industry and supports business owners in locales ranging from urban to rural. Beyond practitioners, current members include advocates, public agencies, funders, individuals, and others who share in AEO’s mission. AEO envisions a business environment where every entrepreneur in the United States has access to resources and services for creating wealth, assets, and healthy communities. 

American Made Alliance

The American Made Alliance is a 501c(6) trade association engaged in advocacy efforts that support American craft artists.  

Through its campaigns, projects, and partnerships, the American Made Alliance strives to inform public policy and trade legislation. In addition, the association seeks to define for presidential candidates and others a national agenda that supports and benefits all who depend on the creative arts for their livelihood.    

Founded in 2005, the American Made Alliance is managed by The Rosen Group, a Baltimore-based producer of wholesale art trade shows and publisher of magazines for artists, art collectors, and retailers of art and handmade-in-America crafts. 

B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. This sector will be comprised of a new type of corporation—the B Corporation—which creates economic opportunity, builds strong communities, and preserves a healthy environment. B Corps meet higher standards of accountability, transparency, and social and environmental performance. As of September 2009, there are over 220 certified B Corporations from over 50 industries in 28 states (representing 3,500 employees) with more than $1 billion in revenues and $7 billion in assets under management. B Lab’s objective is to help B Corps become legally recognized by the states, tax preferred by the IRS, and valued by employees, investors, and consumers. B Lab also re-purposes the standards used to certify B Corps to help investors make high impact investments and governments implement policies to support sustainable business—1,000+ companies are using the B Impact Rating System to benchmark social and environmental performance.


Business Alliance for Local Living Economies

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) is North America’s fastest growing network of socially responsible businesses, comprised of 75 community networks with over 20,000 members across the U.S. and Canada. BALLE networks create local living economies through the building blocks of independent retail, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, green building, zero-waste manufacturing, and community capital. Founded in 2001, BALLE works to foster vibrant communities, a healthy natural environment, and prosperity for all.

Buffalo First
Buffalo First is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization comprised of local independent "Main Street" businesses, organizations, and concerned citizens. The mission of Buffalo First is to build a local, green, and fair economy in the Buffalo-Niagara region. Buffalo First encourages people to shop locally, helps independent businesses access local goods and services, and gives independent businesses a united voice to shape better policies for local independent and green businesses. The goal is to root more dollars here, preserve community, and create a healthier environment.

Buffalo First educates the public by hosting educational events throughout the year and by publishing educational resources such as the All Local Coupon Book and All Local Business Directory. The organization helps businesses by hosting monthly mixers, assisting businesses with local and green procurement, and giving independent businesses a united voice to shape a stronger, healthier community. Buffalo First works with local and state policy makers to establish standards that strengthen community businesses and build a greener economy.

Business for Shared Prosperity

Business for Shared Prosperity is a growing network of forward-thinking business owners, executives, and investors committed to building enduring economic progress on a strong foundation of opportunity, equity, and innovation. Business for Shared Prosperity informs, mobilizes, and publicizes business support for public policies and business practices that expand economic opportunity, reduce inequality, promote innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability, and rebuild our nation’s infrastructure for long-term success. Our first Business for a Fair Minimum Wage campaign organized unprecedented business support for raising the minimum wage and played a lead role in winning the 3-year federal minimum wage increases beginning in 2007. Business for Shared Prosperity continues educating and advocating for raising the minimum wage to a living wage at the state and federal level. Business for Shared Prosperity is also engaged in support of financial reform and tax reform to make our economy fairer, stronger, and more sustainable. Business for Shared Prosperity places a heavy emphasis on media work to reach wide audiences and spotlight business support for vital policies in public debate.

California Association for Microenterprise Opportunity (CAMEO)

CAMEO is a statewide association of organizations, agencies, and individuals dedicated to furthering microenterprise development in California. CAMEO’s mission is to increase opportunities for low-income people and communities by building the capacity of California’s microenterprise organizations. CAMEO improves the working environment for microenterprise by educating the public and advocating on the federal, state, and local level on behalf of microenterprise development. 

Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence

Evergreen Cooperatives
The Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland, Ohio are pioneering innovative models of job creation, wealth building, and sustainability. Evergreen’s employee-owned, for-profit companies are based locally and hire locally. Evergreen creates meaningful green jobs and keeps precious financial resources within the community. Workers earn a living wage and build equity in their firms as owners of the business.

The first Evergreen Cooperative businesses—Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, Ohio Cooperative Solar, and Green City Growers Cooperative—launched in 2009–2010.

Evergreen is a partnership between the residents of six city neighborhoods and some of Cleveland’s most important “anchor institutions”—the Cleveland Foundation, the City of Cleveland, Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and many others. Together, Evergreen strives to build community wealth to transform Cleveland and change lives.

Fair Trade Federation

The Federation envisions a just and sustainable global economic system in which purchasing and production choices are made with concern for the well-being of people and the environment, creating a world where all people have viable economic options to meet their own needs. 

To this end, the Federation aims to complement the work done by so many great organizations to support marginalized communities in North America by focusing on organizations which create market access for the most economically and socially marginalized in our world: artisans and farmers in the developing world. 

Under the two parts of our mission, strengthen and promote, we provide a variety of services. To help strengthen members, we offer in-person and web-based trainings, tools to share best practices, updates on relevant legislation, style and trend information, and other resources. To promote Fair Trade and fully committed Fair Trade Organizations, the Federation provides marketing tools, conducts media outreach, engages in public education, and works to capitalize on any opportunity to tell members’ stories. We also seek to inspire other businesses to adopt Fair Trade principles and practices.

Fay-Penn Economic Development Council

Incorporated in 1991, Fay-Penn's mission is to maintain and increase employment opportunities in Fayette County in an effort to improve the quality of life for all of its residents. This mission is met through a comprehensive strategy of specific economic development objectives and by providing superior services to its clients. The organization primarily focuses on the manufacturing sector in addition to a concentration on tourism and infrastructure development. As a membership-based organization with over 146 members, funding comes from various local, public, and private contributors and foundations, in addition to grant support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and federal government for specific projects. 

Fayette County Chamber of Commerce

The Fayette County Chamber of Commerce:

• Provides support services and systems to benefit the members of the Chamber and consistently represent and advocate the best interests of the members of the organization
• Seeks to achieve partnerships to further economic development and to support a healthy and positive business climate
• Assists in facilitating the expansion and enhancement of employment opportunities
• Strives to work in partnership with other county-wide organizations to build a coalition of businesses who are committed to developing a locally-minded sustainable community
  

Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association

FTSLA's mission is to unite and support organic food businesses in implementing leading-edge environmental, social, and economic sustainability practices in their businesses and across the supply chain from farm to consumer. It was launched in 2008 as a partnership between diverse mission-aligned organic food companies committed to driving continuous improvement in their own businesses and the wider industry through education, action, collaboration, and research.

Foresight Sustainable Business Alliance

The Foresight Sustainable Business Alliance (FSBA) supports businesses in the greater Chicago region dedicated to transforming the economy into a more profitable, environmentally respectful, and socially responsible system.

This mission is achieved through:

• Connect (Events foster networking and resource sharing)
• Learn (Seminars and Working Groups enable more informed decision making)
• Do (Implement sustainability principles into operations, products, and services)
• Advocate (Committees protect member interests by promoting local and regional policies)

The FSBA, a program of the Foresight Design Initiative, is open to any enterprise or organization committed to balancing social, economic, and environmental (i.e. triple bottom line) values.

Foresight seeks to improve the quality of urban life through transformation design, a process which seeks holistic and lasting solutions to sustainability challenges. Through three program areas––the Business Alliance, Consulting, and Education––Foresight empowers diverse communities to make decisions that improve the quality of life without sacrificing the needs of future generations.

Future 500

Founded in December 1995, Future 500 is an international 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, with affiliate offices in Beijing and Tokyo. Our core competence is corporate-NGO stakeholder engagement with a particular expertise in cultivating cross-sectoral stakeholder coalitions that advance collaborative solutions to our most pressing sustainability challenges:  a price on carbon, water stewardship, resource efficiency, and human rights in the supply chain.

The Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce is an organization of volunteers and businesses. It is fully funded by membership dues and community fundraisers and events. The objective of the organization is to assist existing businesses with outreach and networking to sustain their presence in the community and to grow business opportunities through collaboration with other regional economic and private industry organizations. The

The Green Chamber of Commerce is a business network dedicated to promoting the success of its members, supporting the development of sustainable business practices, and advocating for a green public policy. The Green Chamber's membership is comprised of over 160 green businesses and represents various industry sectors including building and design, banking, health, socially responsible investing, media, legal, and renewable energy. Currently, the majority of Green Chamber members are based in the San Francisco Bay Area. An expansion plan is under way to create a strong network of and political voice for socially and environmentally responsible businesses nationwide.


Green Parking Council

The Green Parking Council is a not-for-profit organization funded by donors and partners. Our supporters are visionary, forward-thinking businesses and organizations that understand how a global shift toward sustainability presents the parking industry with a unique opportunity for innovation and unprecedented growth. GPC is dedicated to expanding green parking practices through certification and credentialing programs, open-source standards, and professional leadership and educational development and training. GPC works at the intersection of parking, green building, clean technology, renewable energy, smart grid infrastructure, urban planning, and sustainable mobility. As the parking industry adopts wide-scale sustainable practices to accommodate alternative vehicles and energy-efficient green building standards, GPC will provide vocal leadership to ensure the parking industry benefits from new policies supporting a clean energy, low-carbon economy. Immediate program objectives of the Council include developing green garage certification standards, professional credentialing and training programs, and extending EV charging and alternative fueling infrastructure in advance of demand. Advisory committee members serve in the areas of government relations, industry partnerships, certification standards, professional credentialing, marketing, and sustainable technologies.

Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC) is a broad coalition of clinicians, patients, healthcare educators, and organizations committed to public policy that ensures all Americans access to safe, high quality, health care including the full range of qualified conventional, complementary, and alternative healthcare professionals. Integrated Health Care describes a coordinated system in which healthcare professionals are educated about one another's work and collaborate with one another, and with their patients, to achieve optimal well-being for the patient.

Investors' Circle
The Investors’ Circle Network, a 501 c-4, is comprised of angel investors, professional venture capitalists, foundations, family offices, and others who are using private capital to promote the transition to a sustainable economy. Since 1992, Investors’ Circle has facilitated the flow of over $133 million into more than 200 companies and small funds addressing social and environmental issues.

Currently, IC members tend to invest in the following categories: energy & environment; food & organics; education & media; health & wellness; and community & international development.

Investors’ Circle has approximately 225 members in 26 states and 4 countries. All members are fully-accredited investors or investor representatives. The social capital of Investors’ Circle is its greatest asset. Members value highly the network of personal and professional relationships that has evolved through IC. Significant co-investment relationships and other partnerships have emerged among members.

Founded in 2003, Local First Arizona is a statewide non-profit organization working to advance the dual goal of establishing vibrant and culturally unique businesses at the forefront of the state’s identity, as well as creating a sustainable and healthy region through the implementation of diverse local economies. With nearly 2,000 members, LFA works to drive consumers to make local choices using inventive marketing strategies that include printed micro local maps, social media, and family-oriented events. In addition, LFA works to advance business to business support through monthly workshops, networking, financial socials, and a business directory that gets searched 25,000 times each month. Lastly, LFA works on creating policy change at both the city and state level in two key areas that are essential to the future health of Arizona: procurement and land use. LFA encourages public policy that enables locally owned and operated businesses to thrive, and advocates for smart growth throughout the region.

Local First Chicago
Local First Chicago (LFC) is an organization consisting of business owners, economic development professionals, and community representatives in the Chicago region joined in the belief that locally owned, independent businesses are a crucial feature of economically and environmentally sustainable neighborhoods. Today's marketplace directly disadvantages locally owned independent businesses through oversized corporate marketing budgets, bureaucratic public policy, and lack of citizen awareness. Through promotion, education, technical assistance and advocacy, LFC protects the benefits provided by locally owned businesses: living wage jobs; economic vitality through local circulation of profits; environmental sustainability; community-specific goods and services; and a unique sense of place that allows communities to attract patrons, keeping sales tax dollars in the city's economy.

Local First Ithaca
Local First Ithaca brings people, businesses, and organizations together to create a successful local economy that uses resources, experience, and inclusiveness to foster a thriving and livable community.

Local First Ithaca is an inclusive network of independent, locally owned businesses & services, farmers, non-profits, and community members.

The organization creates awareness by educating members of the community, through media and seasonal Buy Local campaigns, about the importance of voting with your dollars to build a thriving local living economy.

By partnering with existing local organizations/groups that are working towards similar goals, Local First Ithaca multiplies the impact of our mutual missions.

Local First Ithaca supports local businesses through group promotion, market development, and encouraging sustainable practices.

Local First Ithaca provides a voice for small businesses to influence governmental issues that affect them directly by advocating for policies at the local, state, and national level.

Finally, Local First Ithaca works to keep more dollars at home through events and other programs that build our local economic capacity.

Manhattan Chamber of Commerce
Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC) is a non-profit member organization, which serves as a primary resource for small and mid-size firms doing business in Manhattan. The MCC represents the voice of over 100,000 companies in Manhattan and partners with over 300 diverse business organizations. The Chamber supports the business community by advocating for positive business legislation, hosting 3-4 monthly networking events and seminars, and expanding marketing opportunities and international outreach. MCC’s mission is to create a positive business environment to foster job development and promote business growth. MCC is also focused on providing opportunities for women and minority business owners, financial literacy, and workforce development.


Mile High Business Alliance
Founded in 2007, the Mile High Business Alliance is a nonprofit membership organization committed to building a more connected, resilient, and healthy local economy. Presently, there are 200+ members representing many sectors, including agriculture, health care, finance, manufacturing, and retail. Our members employ more than 1,000 local residents and contribute more than $252 million of revenue to the state's economy.

In 2010 we produced five community campaigns with 300 local businesses, reaching hundreds of thousands of people with "local first" messaging and resources.
 
Our programs are focused on two primary goals: 1) to raise awareness of the impact and role of local businesses in our communities & economies; and 2) to build a network of local businesses who are working together to creative a thriving economy.
 
Our members are Colorado-based businesses and organizations that are interested in working together to build a more resilient local economy. We partner with local and national companies that embody these ideals in their everyday operations. 
 
Our staff and leadership are innovative, dynamic individuals who are truly inspired by the everyday work of local businesses and committed to building communities that are more responsible, healthy, and resilient. 


National Cooperative Business Association
NCBA is the lead national U.S. membership association representing cooperatives of all types and in all industries. NCBA is democratically organized and operates according to internationally recognized cooperative principles.

Through its comprehensive education, co-op development,
communications, public policy, and member services programs,
NCBA helps co-ops strengthen co-op businesses so they can better serve their members, and provides a unified voice on Capitol Hill.

Dedicated to both domestic and international cooperative
development, NCBA works to develop co-ops in the U.S. and
abroad. NCBA serves as the national partner in CooperationWorks, a network of 17 cooperative development centers that help communities and individuals develop cooperatives that help build income and opportunity in the U.S.

NCBA founded the Cooperative Development Foundation, which
provides grants and other resources to cooperatives and others
seeking to enhance economic opportunity. NCBA coordinates its
development activities with the Foundation. NCBA also works in the developing world helping empower local communities through cooperative development.

National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association
The National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association provides technical assistance and policy development from the ground up. We identify, support, organize, and work with Latino farmworkers, immigrant farmers transitioning from farmwork to farmownership, and small Latino farmers and ranchers and provide them with technical and financial assistance. We identify new and accessible markets, help with land acquisition, and provide education and training on efficient business practices for sustainable agricultural rural communities.

We partner with existing Latino farmworker organizations, small identifiable farm community groups, and other social service organizations with effective track records. Where none exists, we work toward identifying farmer-indigenous leadership interested in working with us to establish a foothold to develop a sustainable farming practice using USDA, private, and public resources.

New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce
The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce (NMGCC) and its local chapters are a coalition of New Mexico-owned, independent businesses and organizations dedicated to building healthy economies in New Mexico’s diverse communities.

Through programs such as Think Local First, the NMGCC promotes locally owned, independent businesses that contribute to strong local economies. NMGCC's Green Certification program, provides businesses with resources to make their business more energy efficient, thus reducing expenses for business owners and reducing the business’ carbon footprint.

The NMGCC seeks to position New Mexico as a leader in creating jobs and investment in New Mexico’s economy with clean, renewable energy. New Mexico is ranked 2nd in the nation for solar potential, 12th for wind potential, and has vast untapped geothermal and biomass resources. The NMGCC is working to promote policies and practices that will create jobs and investment in New Mexico’s local economies through clean energy development. Additionally, recognizing the importance of small business development, the NMGCC is a strong advocate for the interests, development, and growth of small businesses in NM.

New Voice of Business

New Voice of Business promotes economic, social, and environmental sustainability in the United States. Its mission is to inform, engage, and mobilize an influential network of business people—a unified new voice of business to advocate for a sustainable economy and encourage triple bottom line business practices. New Voice's membership is comprised of roughly 2,000 individual business professionals, most of whom are entrepreneurial leaders of small and growing businesses representing a cross section of industries and functional areas in addition to general management. New Voice educates its members and the general public through seminars with leaders in the sustainability movement. It provides its members with opportunities to engage in policy and bring a longer term business perspective to the major issues of the day. New Voice's focus in 2009 is on championing an energy policy that meets the challenge of global warming while promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.

Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading membership and networking organization for healthcare institutions that are committed to implementing sustainable, eco-friendly practices. We motivate, engage, and educate healthcare organizations on how to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. Our members include hospitals, healthcare systems, businesses and other stakeholders.
 
Demonstrating the growing commitment among the health community to reduce its environmental impact, Practice Greenhealth membership continues to expand, now representing 1,000+ member hospitals nationwide – approximately 20% of the hospitals in the U.S. Of the top 20 U.S. News & World Report listing of the best hospitals in the country, two-thirds are members of Practice Greenhealth. Practice Greenhealth offers a variety of programs and services to its members, including environmental purchasing, sustainable operations, continuing education, webinars, networking opportunities, communications, and an annual Environmental Excellence Awards program recognizing the achievements of member institutions.

Progressive Business Leaders Network (PBLN)
The aim of PBLN is to help invent a more sustainable economy that fosters lasting and shared prosperity as well as social and environmental justice. This ambition requires business leaders to engage in a new way with each other and with shapers of public policy around the challenges of our times.  Short-sighted business practices have damaged our economy and communities. If “business as usual” continues, we are concerned that the good jobs, health, and opportunity that define the American ideal are unnecessarily at risk. PBLN seeks to enrich the public understanding of what is “good for business” as well as what is good for the planet, good for our communities, and good for our country.

We believe “progressive” means supporting ideas that are backed by research, data, and insight that run ahead of conventional wisdom. We believe “sustainable” means fostering economic growth that brings shared and lasting prosperity and also advances social and environmental justice. We measure our success by our impact on those individuals who participate and by our impact on the world around us.  Our two annual conferences in Boston and Washington, D.C. educate business leaders and provide a forum for discussion across industries.

Responsible Wealth

Responsible Wealth is a fair economy movement support organization, providing media capacity, face-to-face economic literacy education, and training resources to organizations and individuals who work to address the widening income and asset gaps in the United States. With a broad and deep constituency that includes both those directly hurt by economic disparity and those who benefit from it, Responsible Wealth’s work is grounded in the belief that the United States would be a far more democratic, prosperous, and caring community if the vast gap between the wealthy and everyone else were narrowed. By uniting organized labor, religious communities, and civic organizations to serve as a countervailing force to the power of concentrated corporate influence and wealth, Responsible Wealth aspires to build communities that are socially and environmentally sustainable and a society in which values, not profits alone, guide economic decisions.

Small Business Minnesota

Small Business Minnesota is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide association that promotes its members' interests by advocating for the real needs and priorities of small businesses, and by providing opportunities for networking and mutual support.

Together we are working to influence policy and public opinion. We are educating the media and state legislators about the real needs of small business. We are supporting policies that will promote our values, and activating a diverse group of self-employed persons and small business owners statewide for our mutual benefit and the benefit of our communities.

We support small business interests by promoting:

• Strong local economies that stimulate demand for small business products and services to create more jobs.
• Policies that help small businesses grow and thrive.
• Smart investments in education, health care, the environment and infrastructure.
• Fair taxes that strengthen the middle class.
• Efficient and effective government

• Providing forums, information, and initiatives that enable leaders to work together to transform the way the world does business
• Sharing best practices and resources that help companies generate healthy profits and serve the common good
• Supporting a diverse community of leaders who can effect positive social change through business
• Creating a vibrant community that nourishes deep and lasting friendships
• Producing unique conferences that promote the exchange of ideas and encourage the development of relationships and partnerships
• Offering programs that support members' spiritual, professional, and personal development

South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce
The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce is a statewide member advocacy organization primarily working to make state government more small-business friendly. The Small Business Chamber is both non-partisan and non-profit; we are not affiliated with any other chamber of commerce.  Our Board of Directors consists of trade association representatives and individual business owners.

Since our beginning in February 2000, we have strived to represent the general interests of small business in state government although from time to time we do take on local and federal issues. Taxes, health insurance, workforce development, economic development, energy, utility rates, workers’ compensation insurance, and government procurement policies are some of the issues we address to benefit small business.  Our success is due not only to our legislative and regulatory efforts in Columbia and Washington DC, but also because of the active participation of our members. We use a full array of traditional and social media to keep the public informed of our position on issues.

Sustainable Business Alliance

The Sustainable Business Alliance represents a diverse community of over 150 sustainable businesses from the San Francisco Bay area. It supports a just and thriving green economy in the region by promoting sustainable business practices, nurturing the environmentally committed business sector, advocating for progressive policies and programs that bolster the green economy, invigorating the local green economy by promoting business collaboration between and partnership among members, and providing member services, such as networking and educational events.

Sustainability Association of Hawaii
The mission of the Sustainability Association of Hawaii (SAH) is to interconnect, inform, support, and advocate for the sustainability sector—including businesses, organizations, and green professionals — to grow a thriving local economy for Hawaii.

The organization is an umbrella association for green businesses and local green business programs across the state. The association works to align the qualification criteria of these programs with national best practices and makes recommendations to assure that social, cultural, economic, and environmental considerations unique to Hawaii are included. Through networking, educational seminars, and an annual conference and trade show, the organization highlights model sustainable businesses and promotes such practices to all types of businesses and sectors regardless of their level of commitment to green practices. An online directory makes it easy for consumers to find these businesses.

SAH also supports legislation in the best interests of sustainable businesses in Hawaii.

Texas Green Chamber of Commerce
The Texas Green Chamber of Commerce seeks to become the forum in Texas where the government, the public and private sectors come to develop a new, sustainable economy for our state while promoting the triple bottom line. The first of the modern chambers of commerce (Marseilles, France in 1499) was such an organization. People came together in Marseilles to discuss how to improve business without harming the community or individuals. The goal was for the community to succeed with each segment of the community doing its part with the chamber the focal point for making that happen. We hope to create the best merger of the old and new chambers with a green approach.


Think First Local DC
Think Local First DC (TLF) is a non-profit membership organization of 150+ locally-owned, independent businesses in Washington DC. Think Local First DC was founded in 2007 by the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) and spun-off in 2010 to form an independent organization.

We envision an interconnected community of locally-owned businesses who drive sustainable economic development in Washington DC. 

Think Local First DC works to increase the resilience of Washington DC by strengthening locally-owned, independent businesses through:

• Education:  We teach local entrepreneurs the “triple bottom line” business model - people, planet, profit - which measures business success by how well an organization impacts its employees, its community and the environment.

• Connections: We connect local entrepreneurs to each other and the marketplace through the “Think Local First” campaign. 
  

• Advocacy:  We advocate for public policies that support the growth of DC’s local businesses and lead to a more local, fair and sustainable economy.
  

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR)
Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) is an association of businesses dedicated to the “multiple bottom line.”  VBSR members recognize that profitability is essential to business, but they are equally concerned about the “other bottom lines”—their contribution to the quality of workplace, environment, and community.  VBSR has over 1200 members from almost every region and business sector in the state. Through its affiliate, VBSR-Research and Education Foundation, VBSR puts on educational programs and conferences, engages in public policy initiatives, conducts research, and produces educational materials for its members.

VBSR’s mission is to advance a business ethic that values multiple bottom lines—economic, social, and environmental.

We do this through:

1. Education--Bringing together resources and information to help our members to meet their own goals for improving business practices and solving social, environmental, and economic problems.
2. Public Influence--Representing a socially responsible business ethic to the larger community, including news media and legislative bodies, to foster positive change and resist exploitation of our people, our state, and our planet.
3. Workplace Quality--Fostering a work environment and economic climate that enable every worker to earn a fair income safely, to contribute his or her labor to a high quality product or service, and to work and live with dignity and respect.

Voice for Oregon Innovation & Sustainability (VOIS)
VOIS supports sustainable, forward-thinking business leaders through policy advocacy, education, leadership cultivation, civic interaction, and community building.

To create a truly prosperous future for Oregon, VOIS advocates and educates on the following issues at this time:

• Buying and Banking Locally:  We have the power to expand Oregon’s economy
• Social Entrepreneurship: How your business can serve as a vehicle for change
• Advancing Sustainability: How to get on the path and keep moving
• Policy Advocacy: Together we can push for policy that supports a sustainable future.

h for the Common Good

Wealth for the Common Good works to rebalance the economic system by promoting shared prosperity and fair taxation, reversing the 30-year creeping trend toward policies that disproportionately benefit the nation’s top earners. Wealth for the Common Good’s goal is to contribute to the public debate on taxes and support the efforts of the current administration and Congress to create a progressive tax code. Organized in 2008 as a network of business leaders, high-income households, and partners and representing a politically and geographically diverse membership that encompasses entrepreneurs, engineers, elected officials, doctors, teachers, and lawyers, the organization launched its first campaign in the summer of 2009—a drive to reverse the Bush-era tax cuts on households with annual incomes over $235,000.


World Business Academy