[LINK] low-profit, benefit corporations

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Craig writes,

> Welfare is not a private responsibility, it's a community responsibility
> through government. that's one of the things we pay taxes for. Private
> philanthropy is just an american obsession because they don't have - and
> don't believe in - commie satanist stuff like welfare ..

Would agree in broad terms .. and, in the US anyway, there does exist
definite legal reasons for corporate goodwill limitation. For example:

"Directors of many companies want to do the right thing, but, they’re so 
busy looking at how not to get sued for failing to maximize profits that 
they don’t think more aspirationally about creating a great company that 
helps the planet, and people, and also makes money."

But, there's emerging company-social-responsibility dynamics in the US:

"A Quest for Hybrid Companies That Profit, but Can Tap Charity"

By STEPHANIE STROM   www.nytimes.com   October 12th, 2011 

A new type of company intended to put social goals ahead of making 
profits is taking root around the country, as more states adopt laws to 
bridge the divide between nonprofits and businesses. 

California is the latest state to adopt a statute permitting what is 
called flexible-purpose corporations, new companies that are part social 
benefit and part low-profit entities. The companies are now allowed under 
laws in more than a dozen states and two Indian tribes. 

States like New York and Massachusetts are weighing comparable 
legislation — sometimes also known as *low-profit limited liability or 
benefit corporations* — and efforts are afoot to get federal legislation 
passed that would lower hurdles to the creation of such companies, 
including a quiet push to get preferential tax treatment for them. 

Many of the companies adopting the new structures provide services to 
nonprofits or are food purveyors that, for example, might employ the 
disabled. Perhaps the best known is MOO Milk of Vermont, a group of small 
dairy farmers. 

Unlike a straight nonprofit group, these businesses can tap into 
conventional capital markets as well as philanthropy. 

And unlike a for-profit corporation, the structure allows investors to 
emphasize the social mission over making money, and to be supported by 
money from foundations. 

“Directors of many companies want to do the right thing, but they’re so 
busy looking at how not to get sued for failing to maximize profits that 
they don’t think more aspirationally about creating a great company that 
helps the planet and people and also makes money,” said R. Todd Johnson, 
a lawyer who is among the leaders of the movement to get states to create 
new legal structures ..

Cheers,
Stephen