The 2020 Best for Colorado Awards

At the 2020 Best for Colorado Awards Ceremony, Secretary of State, Jena Griswold opened by reflecting on the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has presented in these last several months. Amid her recognition of these great challenges, she affirmed the following:

“Coloradans are not only resilient by nature, we’re committed to pulling our communities up with us. Nowhere is this more evident than in our business community. Our business community is dedicated to doing well by doing good, which will serve Colorado as we emerge from the current crises into a new frontier where businesses are the drivers of a new prosperity.” 

Best for Colorado awarded eight companies this year for their commitment to creating this hopeful vision of prosperity that Jena Griswold spoke of–a kind of prosperity that goes beyond just material profit and takes into consideration the wellbeing of our earth and of our communities. 

Five of these eight companies were awarded based on their top performance on the B Impact Assessment (BIA), a free tool created by B Lab that helps companies measure their social and environmental impact. As we enter this new frontier, we’re already witnessing the reality that a resilient business is one that can weather social and environmental shocks. The following companies are ahead of the game and are actively redefining business.

The Change Makers Awards recognized the highest overall scoring companies: Namasté Solar, an employee owned and local Colorado B-corp, and BSW Wealth Partners, an independent financial management firm. Pote Law Firm had the highest score in the Community section of the BIA, Organic India had the highest score in the Environment Section, and DOJO4 had the highest score in the Workers Section. 

These companies represent a significant shift towards a new way of doing business and are 2020 Measure What Matters Honorees because of their commitment to continually improving their practices and redefining what success looks like.

During the awards ceremony panel, Jice Johnson, founder of the Black Business Initiative, shared her vision for redefining success and how the business leaders play a key role in driving this cultural shift. She urged business leaders to detach from an “extractive” vision of success that prevents an equitable share of resources, and instead ignite a shift in values that place the collective good above individual gain. “Because the idea of success is driven by business owners, business owners need to change that vision of what success looks like,” she shared.

The 2020 Best for Colorado Honorees are resiliently embracing this new frontier and  redefining what success means. Best for Colorado is honored to have them in our business community. 

The Alliance Center is leading the way toward a regenerative recovery for Colorado. If you’re a business, nonprofit, government group or individual who wants to be part of the solution, visit www.thealliancecenter.org/coalition to learn more.

Best for Colorado is a program of The Alliance Center. This program allows Colorado companies to measure and improve their social and environmental impact, regardless of where they are on their corporate social responsibility journey.

Best for Colorado offers programming and tools for all Colorado companies, including B Corps, to improve their practices and connect participating companies with local resources, education and support.