30 Places We Want to Work

Companies. They are
where we work. There are some bad apples (those are usually the ones you
hear about on the news). But most are pretty quotidian: just the source
of our weekly checks. That’s why companies known for their good
practices and treatment of their employees are so rare and so
commendable.

Since companies and nonprofit organizations are the
basis of working, we’ve compiled a list of 30 of the companies that, if
we worked there, would have us excited to get out of bed each morning.
Some are huge corporations, some are tiny start-ups, but they are all
the kind of place that inspires us to make our own company better.

826 National

The
After-School Special

With local tutoring centers that
double as everything from pirate-supply shops to time-travel marts, 826
National inspires and improves student writing with committed
volunteers, field trips, workshops, student publishing, scholarships,
and an all-star roster of writers, actors, and comedians dropping by to
help. 

New Leaf Paper

Print’s
Not Dead

Everyone knows the pulp and paper industry eats
trees, but New Leaf Paper looks far beyond the forests to do its part.
This founding B Corporation extends its focus on sustainability concerns
to its entire business: water consumed, waste produced, greenhouse
gases emitted, and energy used. 

Zipcar

Community
Commuting

When your idea is as catchy as your
slogan—“Wheels when you want them”—you have a good thing going. Zipcar
has not only introduced car sharing to a wide audience, it has also
embraced technology (check out its mobile app) to make it as pleasant,
simple, and seamless as possible. 

Code for America

Cutting Red Tape, Through Programming

Starting next
year, this nonpartisan nonprofit will dispatch a crop of tech-literate
“fellows” to a select group of cities, where they will build new
applications to make local governments more transparent and more
efficient. The upshot: CFA elevates the position of programmers, web
designers, and developers in the effort to improve government. 

CreateHere

Homegrown
Success

CreateHere is doing big things in a small city, by
training a new generation of civic leaders and giving grants to artists
and businesses in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The organization itself is
merely an incubator, but the results mean a better hometown for
everyone.

Hessnatur

Organic
from Day One

For 34 years, this German clothier has
produced quality organics while also showing the notoriously wasteful
and unethical garment business that it’s possible to make millions
without compromising your standards. Now, in a bid for the fashion
crowd, it has teamed up with Miguel Adrover and Bodkin to offer stylish
alternatives to the basics on which they built their brand. 

Etsy

The
Other eBay

Five years ago, a former furniture designer named
Rob Kalin had an idea for a website no one thought would work. Now, his
online crafts marketplace generates more than $130 million a year, has
more than 5 million members, and boasts 400,000 sellers. Etsy has
provided a home to a new crop of DIY entrepreneurs and also miraculously
made handmade things cool again. Now that’s crafty. 

Acumen Fund

Investing
in Change

Ten years ago, Acumen Fund introduced a new model
for aid: Instead of charitable donations or strictly for-profit
development efforts, Acumen focuses on bringing the two together through
significant investments and loans along with the idea of “patient
capital”—taking calculated risks, being business-savvy, and focusing on
long-term commitments. 

Toms Shoes

Makes
Giving Look Good

A pioneer of the buy-one-give-one model,
Toms Shoes, which was launched just four years ago, just delivered its
millionth pair of free shoes to people who need them. In so doing, the
shoe company is helping increase access to education while protecting
people from soil-transmitted diseases, infection, and cuts—one $44-pair
of shoes at a time.

Better World Books

Waste Not, Want Not

Founded eight years ago by three
Notre Dame graduates, Better World Books has donated $7 million to
literacy groups, delivered more than 550,000 textbooks to colleges
through Books for Africa, and has held drives on more than 1,200
campuses worldwide. How? By collecting unused books and selling them.
Simple as that. 

DonorsChoose.org

Giving Students What They Need

Cutting out middlemen is
always a good business model. DonorsChose.org removes cash-strapped
school departments from the equation, allowing you to donate directly to
teachers, based on what kind of supplies are needed in their
classrooms. You know exactly who your money helps: kids. 

Whole Foods

Profiting,
Organically

From its humble beginnings in Austin, Texas, to
today, the grocer has become synonymous with sustainable living—and
sustainable business practices. From perpetually shortening its supply
chain to reducing waste and focusing on local, pesticide-free products,
it is constantly reassessing its own practices to do better—for its
customers and its bottom line.  

Wieden+Kennedy

Like
Other Agencies, Only More So

We tip our hats to the agency
behind two of our favorite trends in marketing: Using social media
effectively and combining advertising with real social impact. Recent
examples? “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” social-media response
videos for Old Spice and the Levi’s Braddock campaign (which we’re
working on, actually).

Patagonia

Best Practices in Action (Sports)

Patagonia was so far
ahead of the curve when it comes to responsible business that the rest
of us are just now catching up. A list of their philanthropic
contributions could fill this whole magazine, but suffice it to say that
they give 1 percent of their total sales to environmental causes, have
built best practices into their corporate DNA, and have for almost 30
years shown other companies how to do good business.

37signals

Putting
the “We” in Web

Talk about a company that lives its values:
The suite of well-designed, cloud-based productivity and collaboration
tools it developed have allowed it to build a decentralized business
(which now includes 5 million users and personal investment from
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos) in a lean and efficient manner. Then the employees
wrote a book about it.  

John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation

For Your Information

Investing $400 million with 1,000 partners to advance journalistic
excellence in the digital age, Knight runs on the belief that
information is “a core community need,” and that access to it enables
democracies to thrive.

Equal Exchange

Plays
Well with Others

As a leader in fairly traded coffees,
teas, and snacks, Equal Exchange is a rare example of a for-profit
business with a bottom line exactly aligned with the interests of
farmers, consumers, and the planet. 

One Block Off the Grid

Staring at the Sun

By finding ways to make solar power
accessible through innovative business practices (collective purchasing
lowers the price of solar panels) and excellent design (an easy-to-use
website that makes the prospect of solar panels seem less daunting),
1BOG is reducing our dependence on oil, one block at a time. 

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