Clean Solar attends 2014 B Corp Champions Retreat

Earlier this month, Clean Solar joined other B Corps from around the world in Burlington, Vermont for the annual B Corp Champions Retreat. The event gathered some 400 attendees together to celebrate B Corp’s collective success and the growth of this global movement. Clean Solar attended the event to gather ideas on how we can further our impact in the Bay Area community.

Every year, the Champions Retreat gives the B Corp community a chance to come together to gather ideas on ways we can spread awareness about this movement. One of these methods is to connect with your local B Corp community by offering their employees incentives. This year B Corps came together from October 7th-9th and heard speeches from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and the US Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez. Key events included tours of local B Corps including Ben & Jerry’s, a sunset cruise on Lake Champlain, a moderated seminar, and an Awards Dinner honoring those who most embody the spirit of the B Corp movement. There were more attendees this year than any retreat to date and nearly one-third were from overseas.

Clean Solar’s President Jeff Ritchey attended the retreat and came back with some valuable ideas on how Clean Solar can further our impact in our community. Another effort is to connect with our fellow Bay Area B Corps by educating their employees about solar power and offering them special pricing on a solar panel installation. We also want to educate others on the benefits of becoming a certified B Corp to organizations we are affiliated with. We will encourage them to also build their business models around the common goals of commitment to governance, workforce, community, and environment.

Clean Solar became a Certified B Corp earlier this year. This means that we use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. We have built our business model around how our decisions will impact our employees, suppliers, consumers, community, and environment. The very nature of our business, solar power, allows us to positively change our community and help our environment by educating homeowners on the benefits of reducing carbon emissions with a solar system. Combined with our charitable donations for every installation, we are proud to become a part of this movement. In fact, the B Corp community has now grown to over 1,100 B Corps from 35 countries.

We have many goals for creating a positive impact in our community and we will have a lot to share for next year’s Champions Retreat in Portland, Oregon.