Designed by law: Purpose, accountability, and transparency at benefit corporations

Figures & data

Table 1. The distribution of the benefit corporations in the study, the year when benefit status is taken, the year of establishment, and status

State	No	The year when benefit status is taken			The year of establishment			Status
		2010	2011	2012	Before 2000	2000–2009	2010–2012	Dissolved	Pending*	Active
CA	56	1	1	54	5	10	41	13	1	42
HI	6	0	3	3	0	0	6	0	2	4
IL	3	0	1	2	0	0	3	0	0	3
LA	6	1	0	5	0	1	5	0	0	6
MA	7	0	0	7	1	1	5	0	0	7
MD	40	5	12	23	0	4	36	7	13	20
NJ	2	0	1	1	0	0	2	1	1	0
NY	8	0	1	7	1	3	4	0	0	8
PA	3	0	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	3
VA	17	0	5	12	0	1	16	6	1	10
VM	3	0	1	2	1	0	1	0	0	3
Total	151	7	28	116	9	21	121	27	18	106

* Firms waiting decision for their bankruptcy process.

Table 2. Key terms used to assess social purposes in mission statements and their count (some mission statements included several key terms)

Content analysis terms	Count
Community (serving/providing/products for: LGBT, children, veterans, diaspora, local artists, homeless, women, Latin America coffee producer, farmers)	20
Job creation (creating careers, jobs for refugees, empowering individuals to find job, foster skills, provide/create jobs, employing individuals with handicaps, green jobs)	27
Environment (zero-waste, renewable energy, preserving environment, green jobs, recycle, sustainable*, local sourcing, protect/reserve earth/nature/planet)	58
Health (improving human health, health epidemic, support/nurture the physical, emotional and mental health, health development)	11
Art and science (art, creativity, technology, culture, advancing/promoting/increasing knowledge)	46
Capital (crowdfunding, online platform for investment, finance, philanthropy*, charities, investor*, finance*, financial literacy)	18
Other (education, social networking, exchange economy)	13

Note: The total of different benefit categories are more than the total number of clear mission statements since companies could choose to write more than one social and environmental benefit.

* Donates the root of a word that allows the search to capture words populated from that particular root.

Table 3. Key terms used to assess stakeholders in mission statements and their count (some mission statements included several key terms)

Content analysis terms	Count
Society (human being, people, society in large, public)	43
Nature (planet, environment, renewable, sustainable, energy, organic market place, natural*)	19
Social businesses (non-profits, institutions, socially responsible, non-government organizations, charities)	21
Community (LGBT, children, veterans, diaspora, local artists, homeless, women, Latin America coffee producer, farmers)	20
Individual (empowering individuals, consumer, education, customized products/services)	6

* Donates the root of a word that allows the search to capture words populated from that particular root.