Oliver Russell 2024 Impact Report
Friends,
Welcome to this year’s impact report, where we capsulize the public benefit Oliver Russell created throughout 2024.
My company, Oliver Russell, was founded in 1991 became and became a Certified B Corporation in 2011 and Idaho’s first benefit corporation in 2015.
Today, the company really is just me, as during the pandemic I decided to fly solo and work on different ventures that represented higher risk and higher reward to see if I could scale my personal impact.
Before we go dig into this year’s report, an admission: When the pandemic hit in 2020, Oliver Russell didn’t produce a benefit report as required by law. (Now THAT was a weird year, as have been, I guess, all the years after in so many ways.) As a solopreneur, I haven’t produced one since. I wrote just last week about this being a problem with benefit corporations because there isn’t any enforcement, and here I am fessing up to my own shortcoming. While I concentrated on using business to create social and environmental impact throughout that time, I don’t feel very good about not reporting it. I promise to correct this, starting now.
Our Impact Focus
While we sometimes venture beyond these areas, we focus our impact efforts on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals #5 Gender Equality, #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, and #13 Climate Action.
The Year’s Highlights
Unit of Impact
One of the entrepreneurial adventures I embarked upon during the pandemic was Unit of Impact, a startup I cofounded with two other B Corp leaders to help small businesses efficiently and effectively measure and report their impact. After four years I, along with another co-founder, Alisa Herr, exited this partnership in 2024 with renewed understanding of how hard startups are, along with respect for Polina Pinchevsky, a co-founder who continues to doggedly plow this field and move this platform forward.
1% for the Planet and B Corporation
We fulfilled our commitment to support environmental causes by contributing 1% of our top-line revenue to environmental nonprofits via 1% for the Planet. We also invested considerable effort initiating our recertification as a B Corporation, our sixth time through this process. It requires time and good record-keeping, as well as an ongoing commitment to doing the hard work of creating impact on top of running a business. I completed the first certification all by myself in 2011 and have had help from teammates ever since; life goes first circle as I am once again solely responsible for this recertification.
Godspeed and Inspiration Alley
I created a newsletter, Godspeed, to provide people with provisions they need to successfully pursue a triple-bottom-line business. More than 500 subscribers receive this each week, and most of them for free. I also started a coworking space in Boise, Inspiration Alley, with a focus on connecting community-oriented individuals and providing educational programs on topics ranging from recycling to food security. Inspiration Alley also provides free or reduced-cost meeting space for nonprofits. If you’re in town, stop in and say hi – I’m working the front desk pretty much every day.
B Corp Wear
I operate an online t-shirt shop, B Corp Wear, which offers t-shirts with B Corp messaging. This is really a break-even endeavor (and if I really investigated seriously I’m certain I’d find that it likely loses money). It supports the work of a fellow B Corp, TS Designs, and the real-world application of building a sustainable apparel supply chain. The simple act of wearing a t-shirt also helps spread the message about B Corps. Plus, a portion of every purchase becomes a donation to B Lab, the nonprofit that operates B Corp certification.
Volunteering
I serve on the board of City of Good, a nonprofit that supports local farms and food producers and distributes healthy, nutritious meals, local produce, and shelf stable goods to vulnerable communities in Boise. This year I had the honor of volunteering 31 hours with this fab group.
I volunteered with the Stanford University Social Media Lab as a senior advisor to its Digital Strength Initiative, a coalition of partners working to counter the forces of online misinformation. In 2024, I volunteered 53 hours with this wonderful team.
Onward
It’s been a tough haul these past few years – for all of us. I’ve neglected my consulting business as I’ve jumped into these new ventures, which has created some financial hardship on my end as I’ve prioritized impact over profit at a time in my life – I’m 66 – when I really should be more careful with my nest egg. Well, what in the hell can I say – old habits die hard. Onward!
Godspeed, friends.
Russ
Benefit Director’s Statement
As an Idaho Public Benefit Corporation, the Oliver Group, Inc. (dba Oliver Russell & Associates, LLC) acted in accordance with its general public benefit purpose and any specific public benefit purpose in all material respects during the period covered by the report. The directors and officers have complied with sections 30-2007 and 30-2009, Idaho Code, respectively. The benefit corporation did not dispense with or restrict the discretion or powers of the board of Directors. Founder and President Russ Stoddard serves as benefit director and officer of the company and exercises the powers, duties, rights, and has the immunities of the board of directors and the benefit director.
There is no connection between our benefit corporation director and the organization that established the third-party standard (B Lab) or its directors, officers or any holder of 5 percent or more of the governance interests in the organization that might materially affect the credibility of the use of the third-party standard.
Resources
Here are examples and resources to inspire your impact reporting:
- The preeminent impact report from a larger company, produced by the passionate and committed people at Cotopaxi.
- Small business impact reports that show you don’t have to spend a million dollars to do a great job of it, from MaCher and Higher Ring.
- As mentioned earlier, Unit of Impact has developed a platform especially to help small businesses measure and report their impact, as well as lots of helpful resources to save you time and make you smarter about the business of impact.