Thanks Robin,<div><br></div><div>the point you make about couchsurfing being a "corporation" - albeit with a B "certification" - and not a "benefit corporation", does make a big difference indeed,</div>
<div>so much so I feel like underlining it - quoting from the article you mention :</div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><b><i><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10px; "><span><br>
</span></span></span></u></i></b></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><b><i><u><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10px; "><span>�</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10px; "><span><a href="http://charitylawyerblog.com/2011/01/15/b-corps-is-not-a-new-legal-form-by-keren-g-raz/#ixzz1XCmd10l9" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); ">http://charitylawyerblog.com/2011/01/15/b-corps-is-not-a-new-legal-form-by-keren-g-raz/#ixzz1XCmd10l9</a></span></span></span></u></i></b></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"><b><i><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10px; "><br>
</span></span></u></i></b></font></div><div><b><i><u style="font-size: large; ">"</u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><u style="font-size: large; ">The key difference is that the law requires a third party assessment</u></span></i></b><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "> ( for a "Benefit Corporation"),</span></i></b></div>
<div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><u style="font-size: large; ">whereas B Corps is</u>�- only -�</span></i></b></span></span></i></b></div>
<div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><u style="font-size: large; ">a certification."�</u></span></i></b></span></span></i></b></div>
<div></div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="1"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif" size="1">...</font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Georgia, serif"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><p style="font-size: 10px; ">"Why the difference is significant:</p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1">� One can be a B Corps and yet be incorporated legally as a C corporation, an LLC, even a sole proprietorship. In other words, </font><b>a company can be certified as a B Corps without ever incorporating as a benefit corporation</b></p>
<p style="font-size: 10px; ">� One can be a benefit corporation under Maryland law without being a B Corps. The Maryland law does not require that benefit corporations be certified as B Corps. Rather, it requires that benefit corporations� social and environmental performance be assessed by an independent third party that makes publicly available or accessible the following information:</p>
<p style="font-size: 10px; ">1. The factors considered when measuring the performance of a business;<br>2. The relative weightings of those factors; and<br>3. The identity of the persons who developed and control changes to the standard and the process by which those changes were made."</p>
<br></font><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 7:28 PM, robin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:robokow@gmail.com">robokow@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">>> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 6:01 PM, Michel Bauwens <<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>> wrote:<br>
>>> thanks Robin ...<br>
>>><br>
>>> in theory, a B Corporation is not such a bad thing, no, as it is and remains<br>
>>> dedicated to a social good?<br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>> I don't know. I haven't researched much into this B-corp thing.<br>
><br>
> Though there is something interesting here in my opinion, which is<br>
> that CS will be employee-owned. But how this will relate to<br>
> voting-power we don't know yet.<br>
><br>
> The employees will have more voting power than the two investors, but<br>
> how the division will be and how much they can vote for (if it is only<br>
> the board or example) is publicly unkown.<br>
><br>
> And we don't know either how the shares are distributed among the<br>
> employees (equally among employees or not, etc).<br>
><br>
> As always has been the case with Couchsurfing, there is more we don't<br>
> know than what we do know :s<br>
<br>
</div>The 5-year sage of Couchsurfing purposely misinforming the community continues:<br>
Couchsurfing: "This structure legally allows us to put our ideals<br>
before our profits."<br>
(try to read that sentence again).<br>
<br>
And yet Couchsurfing is not even a registered Benefit Corp<br>
(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bcorp" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bcorp</a>), but still a normal C-corporation<br>
<a href="http://www.bcorporation.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/company.report/ID/5e086197-f44e-4448-9519-5e35d5bde1e2" target="_blank">http://www.bcorporation.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/company.report/ID/5e086197-f44e-4448-9519-5e35d5bde1e2</a><br>
<br>
Corporate Structure: C Corporation<br>
Ownership: Private<br>
<br>
See als: B Corps is Not a New Legal Form<br>
<a href="http://charitylawyerblog.com/2011/01/15/b-corps-is-not-a-new-legal-form-by-keren-g-raz/" target="_blank">http://charitylawyerblog.com/2011/01/15/b-corps-is-not-a-new-legal-form-by-keren-g-raz/</a><br>
<br>
See also the discussion on the CS-group<br>
<a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=45507&post=10059584" target="_blank">http://www.couchsurfing.org/group_read.html?gid=45507&post=10059584</a><br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
Robin.<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Life happens at the level of events, not of words<br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div></div>