Ice Cream, Anyone? January 30, 2007

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's recently invested in Mission Research. While I think we're a great investment for customers, employees, and investors, I think for Ben it's more than the possibility of upside. It's about our triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit. Here's what he said for the press release:

“The founders at Mission Research, through their contribution to the Underdog Foundation, are providing a great example for the next generation of corporate leaders”, said Ben Cohen (founder of Ben and Jerry’s and investor in Underdog Ventures).

He's referring to a substantial donation of stock Dave, Chris, and I made, which  I'll talk about separately sometime soon. David Berge leads Underdog and is a force of nature himself. here's what he said:

“A lot of people seem to think that you can either get involved in business or get involved in helping your community.  The founders of Mission Research are showing that your business can be one of the best ways to help your community”, said David Berge, CEO of Underdog Ventures Legacy Fund.  He added, “At a time when you read so many stories about the harm that businesses are doing to the environment and to their communities, it’s particularly important to support companies like Mission Research, whose products help smaller non-profits and who have set aside part of their company to give back to charitable organizations.”

Last year we donated over $1 million of software to needy nonprofits. We made GiftWorks free to any Katrina-affected nonprofit (sadly, many of those never recovered after their donor bases were scattered across the country). Next month we'll announce another series of software donations as well.

But philantrhopy and community support is just one leg of our mission. Our internal culture is one of respect and autonomy. Respect includes what we think is a smart investment: full health coverage for our employees. We pay higher than a living wage, and all employees have stock options. And our turnover is very low--we have great employees who work hard for our customers. Perhaps it's our application of the golden rule, perhaps it's the free m&ms provided by Barb, but there's something to that.

Finally, we're committed to changing the world through our work. When nonprofits work more efficiently, they can spend more time and money on their missions and less on technology and training. We know we're having impact, and it drives us to work harder to help nonprofits do more with fewer resources.

So next time you go for ice cream, keep us in mind and grab some Ben & Jerry's. And read Ben's new book called Values-Driven Business, which he co-wrote with Mal Warwick, our friend and advisor.