Building a More Responsible Island with South Mountain Company

South Mountain Company is an integrated design, engineering, and building firm on-Island that has been dedicated to environmentally and socially responsible practices for decades. Over the years, South Mountain has invested a great deal of effort in creating a positive impact on Martha’s Vineyard through work with individual clients, along with a more holistic dedication to the local community. The company’s philanthropic initiatives, commitment to our environment, equitable internal governance, and transparency have enabled them to be certified as a B Corp.

Bluedot Living heard from Deirdre Bohan, CEO and Co-Owner of South Mountain Co., about some of the organization’s core values, the process of becoming a B Corp, and Bohan’s hopes for the future of Martha’s Vineyard.

Bluedot Living: How did you first hear about B Corp certification?

Deirdre Bohan: B Corp actually approached us in 2012! They were just starting out and looking for like-minded companies … our reputation preceded us! We wanted to support their movement as it's so closely aligned with our values, but honestly, we also kind of felt we were helping them by participating. That didn’t last long … Despite being the highest-scoring company several times, we feel we get more value from the certification process telling us what we can do better than the accolades.

BDL: What did South Mountain have to do to meet the performance thresholds to be certified as a B Corp? What requirements did South Mountain already meet before embarking on the certification process?

DB: B Corp uses a rigorous assessment tool, which you can try out for free. When we did the preliminary assessment, we found our ethos was aligned with B Corp’s, and our robust set of internal operating policies gave us a good foundation to start from. With those in hand, our next steps were to collect and organize a bunch of other company and project data to submit.

BDL: Are there other B Corps, like South Mountain in Massachusetts, that are doing similar work?

DB: There are currently 6,000 B Corps in 80 countries, 113 are in Massachusetts, and two on Martha’s Vineyard. (Our friends at MV Bank qualified a couple of months ago!)

BDL: Could you describe some of South Mountain's core values that align with those of a B Corp? How about some specific projects that illustrate those values?

DB: The B Corp motto is “using business as a force for good.” We’ve been trying to do that for almost 50 years.  In the mid-90s, people started calling it “triple bottom line” business — meaning people, planet, and profit carry equal weight in decision-making.

These days, B Corp separates that triple-bottom-line impact into five categories, with some examples of how we meet the criteria.

Governance

South Mountain is a democratically-controlled worker-owned cooperative. After five years, employees are eligible to buy in and become an owner. As owners, they share in both the decision-making and the profits.

Environment/Climate Change

We…

• Seek to make every building net-zero capable (meaning it can produce as much energy as it consumes)
• Design with waste and carbon reduction in mind  
• Spec materials with social, environmental, and health impact in mind
• Have a standalone solar division that’s transitioned nearly 600 Island buildings away from fossil fuels  
• Design permaculture into every project landscape
• Provide incentives for employees to lease or own electric vehicles
• Install solar PV systems for employees at cost
• Installed 46 KW solar to provide electricity at SMC HQ
• Provide EV chargers for employee use

Workers

We strive to create an exemplary workplace dedicated to helping you thrive both professionally and personally. We do this by providing:

• Living wages
• Professional development
• 100 percent payment of all family members’ dental and health care deductibles
• JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) training
• Housing grants and rental subsidies
• Profit sharing
• Financial planning assistance
• Paid volunteer time
• Adoption assistance
• Physical and mental health support
• Plenty of opportunities for our team to have fun together
• Training in consensus decision-making and collaboration

Customers

• Integrated process
• Responsibility in one place
• Hospitality mindset
• Connect them to the community

Community

We…

• Allocate 20 percent of each year’s net profits to philanthropy
• Engage in pro-bono work
• Pay our employees to complete up to four hours of paid volunteer work per year
• Design and build affordable housing
• Advocate for Island issues that are important to us (MV Builders Association, Youth Workforce Development, MV Housing Bank), and compensate staff for board work
• Advance issues beyond our shores (i.e., worker ownership and clean energy enabling legislation)
• Speak widely and candidly about our success and struggles (via business networks like the Northeast Sustainable Business Association, Amicus Solar Cooperative, etc.)

BDL: Has the company used B Corp certification to enhance and inform its own policies and procedures?

DB: B Corp is a learning organization and we’re continually impressed by the platform’s iterative process. Its robustness and consistency set it apart. It demands accountability and progress from us on the things that matter. 

As the years go by, the certification process becomes a more and more useful tool for us, and every three years, we rely on input from our re-certification to refine our operations. The process teaches us how and where we could improve. Over the last ten years, we beefed up our policies (personnel, diversity etc.), restructured our philanthropy, learned more about professional development programs, energy targets, supply chain issues, and more.

The process makes us sharper, and gives us tools and a framework for improvement.  We really look forward to the improvement report — It helps us get focused.

BDL: Can you speak personally to some of the social and environmental challenges the Island faces? How is South Mountain working to address the community's needs now and in the future?

DB: Housing and climate change loom largest

Housing

• Over time, SMCo has designed and built 43 affordable year-round homes, including three pocket neighborhoods.
• We have eight affordable housing opportunities in the pipeline right now — we’re building four units of workforce housing at IGI and developing four lots in West Tisbury.
• One of our employees is on the Steering Committee of the Coalition to Create the MV Housing Bank (CCMVHB). We provide strategic support wherever possible (at both the local and state level)
• We provide housing grants and rental subsidies to our employees.
• We continually advocate for workforce housing needs and partner with Island Housing Trust and Habitat.

BDL: Is there anything you think we missed that you want folks to know about South Mountain attaining B Corp certification?

DB: We’d love to see more Island B Corps

Becoming a B Corp will:

1. Communicate your values

2. Position you and your company as a leader

3. Attract talent (It is a big draw for job candidates and has tremendous value with the younger Millennial and Gen Z demographic)

4. Provide a new marketing lens

5. Incrementally improve your practices

6. Benchmark your company’s progress

7. Keep you up-to-date on impact research

8. Make you part of a movement!

Impact-driven companies are undeniably part of the future. Each of the five impact areas B Corp covers (Governance, Environment, Workers, Customers, and Community) is part of the national conversation right now.  If you want your business to be a part of that conversation and to begin to address the topics at hand, this is a way to get started.