Cotopaxi Joins 32 B Corps In Nation-Wide Call To Action

September 3, 2019

Responsible Businesses Invite The Business Roundtable To ‘Get To Work’

Salt Lake City, UT. Sept. 3, 2019 – Cotopaxi, the first venture capital-backed Benefit Corporation and Certified B Corp, and a leader in corporate responsibility, has joined 32 other B Corps from diverse industries to send a powerful public message through a full-page ad in the New York Times.

The B Corp advertisement ran Sunday August 25th in the print edition of the New York Times, and asks The Business Roundtable CEO’s to join these highly successful, high-functioning B Corps in rethinking what it means to be a business in the modern world. The call to action read as follows:

Dear Business Roundtable CEOs,

We are part of a community of Certified B Corporations who are walking the walk of stakeholder capitalism. We are successful businesses that meet the highest standards of verified positive impact for our workers, customers, suppliers, communities and the environment.

We operate with a better model of corporate governance – benefit corporation governance – which gives us, and could give you, a way to combat short-termism and the freedom to make decisions to balance profit and purpose.

 As you know, with continued resistance from investors on this new definition of business, we’ve got work to do to help them see that stakeholder governance builds trust and builds value.

More importantly, it also ensures that the purpose of capitalism is to work for everyone and for the long term.

LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE REAL CHANGE HAPPEN.

B Corps are businesses that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance and are taking this opportunity to push against corporate greed and towards conscious capitalism. Cotopaxi, having spearheaded significant change in its own industry in the outdoors, has a vested interest in ensuring businesses function responsibly and sustainably and launched the Cotopaxi Foundation earlier this year.

“Cotopaxi is proof that mission-based companies succeed when backed by like-minded investors,” states Annie Agle, Director of Impact and Brand at Cotopaxi. “We would not be here today, creating value to both society and our customers, without the support of our board. Given the state of the global humanitarian crises and climate change, businesses must commit to corporate social responsibility. Today, we’re honored to join our peers at B Corps in calling upon other businesses to practice conscious capitalism.”

For the outdoors industry, giving back and responsible, sustainable policies are not only applauded but nearing mandatory for any brand and business who is cognizant of the industry’s values. As a $373 billion dollar industry (as of 2016), it comprises 2 percent of the entire 2016 U.S. Gross Domestic Product, and philanthropy has been a growing focus for the space that is intrinsically connected to people, provenance and place. Cotopaxi has had a do good, give back arm since inception, so this establishment of a body of brands dedicated to benchmarking the B Corp model is a welcome step in the right direction.

To learn more, visit bcorporation.net and bthechange.com and for information on Cotopaxi, visit Cotopaxi.com

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Press Contact: Jess Smith | Jess@OutsidePR.com| 415.565.9530

About Cotopaxi: Cotopaxi is an outdoor gear brand and Benefit Corporation with a commitment to giving a portion of its revenue to alleviate poverty through its private foundation. With a growing team and customer base, we design, manufacture, and sell packs, water bottles, apparel, and gear for good. For more information, visit cotopaxi.com.