Corporate Practices

We believe that our role is not only to support great businesses and nonprofits in the work that they are doing, but also to “walk the walk” by adopting leading sustainable and socially responsible internal business practices.

Green on the Inside

We strive to green certify all of our bank locations, where certification is available.

Portland's Green Certification - Beneficial State Impact
Portland
Oakland, Santa Rosa, & Fresno's Green Certification - Beneficial State Impact
Oakland & Fresno
Sacramento's Green Certification - Beneficial State Impact
Sacramento
Seattle

Beneficial State employees actively engage in education and action campaigns to reduce waste and energy usage reduction at work and home. In the past, staff have participated in the Eco-Challenge by Northwest Earth Institute, helping us implement new behaviors to reduce waste, energy and water usage, and introduced internal events and initiatives to promote environmental sustainability.

Beneficial State also has our very own Green Team, which is an employee-led culture committee that drives our internal sustainability efforts. Learn more about the Green Team and other culture committees below!

 

Our Seattle Financial Hub at the Bullitt Center

In 2020, Beneficial State Bank reaffirms our commitment to sustainability by opening a new financial center in Seattle’s Bullitt Center, the “greenest commercial building in the world.”  The 6-story, 50,000 sq. ft. building is the first urban mid-rise commercial project to meet the rigorous goals of the Living Building Challenge, the most ambitious benchmark of sustainability in the built environment. The Bullitt Center embodies our approach to rebuilding the environment and negating social injustices with our lending practices.

MEASURING AND DECREASING OUR CARBON FOOTPRINT

Since 2014, we have been measuring the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to our operations. This includes energy and water use, waste generation, supply purchases, employee commutes, and more. With this information, we implement policies and procedures to reduce our emissions.

We have reduced our emissions (per full-time equivalent staff) every year except 2016, when we merged with another bank; the merger resulted in 8 additional branches and an increase in staff size by 250%. 

We engage Ecoshift Consulting, an independent third-party firm to track and provide a sustainability report that fully assess our operational carbon impact and identifies opportunities to reduce our resource consumption, GHG emissions and waste. Their findings inform how many carbon allowances we purchase in order to fulfill our commitment to being carbon neutral. Read Ecoshift’s full report here: 2020 BSB Climate Action & Sustainability Report

Every year, we purchase carbon allowances for the equivalent of our carbon footprint from the prior year. In 2020, this footprint totaled 429.5 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.

We purchased carbon allowances in this amount from Carbon Lighthouse and Forterra’s Carbon Capture Program. With Forterra, our allowance purchase supports positive local impact through reforestation efforts in our Puget Sound communities. With Carbon Lighthouse, our allowance purchase from regional carbon markets reduces the finite supply of available allowances that utilities, power plants, and other regulated entities can obtain – thereby encouraging further emissions reductions in a macro sense.

 

greenstone-carbon-offsets

 

Measuring our carbon footprint and purchasing carbon allowances is an important tool for sustainability, but we recognize that it’s not the solution. We remain committed to measuring and paying for our emissions, while proactively finding opportunities to reduce these emissions through our internal practices and initiatives.

BENEFICIAL EMPLOYMENT

Beneficial State is made up of individuals that live and work in the communities we serve. Our team members are dedicated to strengthening our communities through beneficial banking services delivered in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Click on each policy to learn more details.

Living Wage Policy

Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

Volunteering

Matching Donations

EMPLOYEE-LED CULTURE COMMITTEES

Beneficial State has three culture committees whose members consist of staff and leadership. Within these committees, members work together to build work culture, implement initiatives that embrace our values, and provide ourselves with the resources to learn and grow as individuals and as a group.

Agents of Wellness

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Green Team

GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

From day one, Beneficial State has been committed to supporting our community above and beyond its mission-driven lending by providing sponsorships to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations each year.

Historically we have provided the equivalent of 5-10% or more of Beneficial State Bank’s profits. That’s five to ten times the U.S. average corporate giving of less than 1% (.91%). In 2020, we provided $427,850 in sponsorships to 230 community organizations.

$4,566

Matching Donations

to environmental, social justice, and community nonprofits (2020)

2,088

Volunteer Hours

by our employees (2020)

COMMUNITY SPACE FOR GOOD

As the real estate affordability crisis continues in the areas we serve, more nonprofits and social impact businesses are experiencing difficulty finding physical space to operate in. We support these nonprofits and social impact businesses by offering our branch and office space free of charge for events, board meetings, trainings, and more.

Some organizations and events that we have supported include:

  • B Corp Local Bay Area gatherings to foster local community business development and the growth of the B Corp network
  • Retreats, conferences, and staff meetings for organizations such as Youth Radio, a national network of young journalists and artists and Greenlining Institute, a policy, research, organizing, and leadership development institute for racial and economic justice. 
  • Board of directors’ meetings for organizations such as Latino Community Foundation and SupplyBank.org. Latino Community Foundation invests in Latino-led organizations and increases the civic participation of Latino people in California. SupplyBank.org partners with hundreds of agencies to deliver critical supplies such as diapers, school supplies, hygiene supplies, etc. to people in need.
  • A symposium on work and capitalism by Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland.