LEAVES OF CHANGE: CANOPY KENTUCKY REWRITES THE BOOK ON BUSINESS FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
In many ways, I am a model millennial. I was born into a middle class family in Kentucky during the economic surplus that preceded the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 – the year I started middle school and the financial collapse of 2008 – the year I graduated high school.
All those years, there was an unspoken rule among the young and ambitious of my generation that forced us to leave Kentucky to find a real career. It wasn’t something we questioned, it was something we saw as a reality. Things were ending in Kentucky. Shuttering shop windows, abandoned factories, decaying schools, crumbling roads and a pervasive feeling of indifference from the powers that be amounted to a one-way road out of town for almost an entire generation of bright, young Kentuckians. I was among them.
I couldn’t stay away for long. I love it here and I’m not alone. I entered the job market in typical millennial fashion, serving in restaurants for years after graduating at the top of my class from an expensive private university. There were a swarm of anxious think pieces being published about my generation wondering why we were so difficult to work with, self-obsessed and reluctant to enter adulthood. Offices around the country looked to Silicon Valley for ways to attract and maintain their strange new crop of employees and brought bean bag chairs into their common areas, installed kegs of craft beer in their break rooms and loosened up the office dress code.
But, we never really asked for any of those things. A keg in the breakroom and weekly yoga lunches aren’t enough to make up for a miserable work environment. And, topping the list with the highest job opening rate in the nation, Kentucky employers are being forced to dig deeper into their culture to stop the bleed before the pool runs completely dry.
In 2019, I attended the first live event hosted by a new non-profit in Louisville called Canopy. A panel moderated by Mayor Greg Fischer discussed the cultivation of “social enterprise” in business on a small stage in the Clifton neighborhood. I was rapt by the conversation. I was 28 and had just left my first real job, along with the craft beer keg in the break room, to start my own business. This panel knew exactly why.
Canopy Founder Scott Koloms closed the program with a big declaration. Their mission was to make Kentucky rank first on a brand new kind of list instead of continuing to rank towards the bottom of those old lists. Canopy was created to make Kentucky the leader of the nationally growing Better Business Movement.
It seemed unattainable from where I sat in the second row after a handful of crushing years in corporate America but I thought to myself, “Lord knows, we have plenty of empty soil yearning to grow something new around here.”
CLEANING HOUSE
As the CEO of Facilities Management Services, Koloms led the company to become the first Public Benefit Corporation in Kentucky and the first B-Corp Certified company in the world in the janitorial industry. The Public Benefit Corporation, PBC, designation is an emerging type of incorporation that splits the difference between nonprofit and for profit entities in terms of taxes and liability protections. Think of it this way: PBCs have a “triple bottom line” – people, planet and profit – that share in the benefits of the company’s success. It’s a distinctly modern solution to the late-stage capitalism blues that have clouded the professional lives of the millennial and gen-z workforce, who will account for 75% of the global workforce within the next 3 years.
“Because their moral compass helps steer their wallet, millennials view business differently than previous generations. According to a 2019 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 40% of those under 35 believe that the goal of business should be to improve society, and a similar study by The Intelligence Group found that 64% want to make the world a better place. This shift in demand for companies to be better isn’t just a fad, and businesses are recognizing the benefits of engaging in social entrepreneurship,” Koloms told us in an interview following his talk at AccelerateKY’s Connect. Inform. Inspire. conference at WKU in October 2021.
“I’m here to talk about businesses dying if they don’t start incorporating social and environmental good into their business models.”
The modern world is irreversibly intertwined, weaving together profits, personal lives, politics and public relations into an ever-expanding and complicated tapestry that is at the heart of the modern economy. There are more options and information than ever before and people value knowing where their money comes from and where it goes after decades of corporate corruption in the face of mounting misery for the masses. Kentucky is the perfect place to start a movement like this, in certain ways. Kentucky is complicated, a land most successfully tamed by its own and most often exploited by outsiders. Koloms developed Canopy to be a localized version of the B-Corp Certification he achieved for his company in November of 2016. Think of it like a Fair Trade or Organic certification stamp but for businesses that meet a set of requirements that demonstrate their commitment to PCB standards like transparency and diversity.
“The Canopy Certified Program is designed to be as much of a guide as it is a certification. From the onset, we knew we needed to design something that would provide resources to businesses as they embark on their journey to consider Kentucky’s social and environmental needs within their business models,” said Koloms. Since their first public event in 2019, the team has gone out and talked to business owners across the state to make sure their certification program was accessible, actionable and useful for Kentucky businesses of any size or industry, fine tuning it along the way. “Now, the types of resources we’re providing have definitely evolved over time. We’ve built in curriculum modules, a dictionary, case studies, sample tools, and countless links to useful information. The resources we provide will continue to grow every year.”
BRANCHING OUT
The Canopy Team (L-R) Lauren Reuss, Scott Koloms, Lauren Cline, Ben Smock, Brittany Lowe, Adam Watson, Stephanie Kelley
After years of research and development, Canopy is ready to roll out the certification program in 2022 and have already amassed an impressive founding class including notable companies like AppHarvest, Interapt and Against the Grain Brewery. In fact, one of Against the Grain’s Co Founders, Adam Watson, was so impressed with their mission and program that he joined Canopy’s team as a part-time “Tinkerer of Ideas” to find creative ways to bring more Kentucky businesses into the foliage of Canopy. “I think that the best way to create long-term change is to make the ‘Good Decision’ the same as the easy decision,” said Watson. “Too often we think of business decisions as having to pick between improving the world and improving the bottom line. That's a false dichotomy, though. Particularly in the current climate where both customers and potential employees really care about the kind of company you are, Canopy makes it easier to see that making good social and environmental choices can also improve revenues and profits. I'd love to see Kentucky really lean into this model and prove that this state can be a good home for this kind of forward-looking business.”
To those without any direct experience with Kentucky, it may sound like a fool’s errand to strive to rank first in the nation at adapting to such a progressive business model. But, Canopy sees it differently. “‘Good Business’ education is specifically important for entrepreneurs in Kentucky,” Canopy Director of Development Ben Smock told us. “According to US News and World Report, Kentucky is the 41st overall best state; much of this is related to social and economic challenges. Many local entrepreneurs intuitively endeavor to make a positive community impact, but will not necessarily be intentional with how they do it,” he said. “Accessibility to ‘Good Business’ guidance, curriculum, case studies, and certification is important to support Kentucky entrepreneurs as they build their social enterprises. Through ‘Good Business,’ Canopy is helping entrepreneurs and businesses become intentional catalysts for change, and in doing so, become more attractive to consumers, job-seekers and possible investments.”
“We are making Kentucky a premier ecosystem for this way of doing business.”
(L) The Canopy team sharing a round of beers at Adam Watson’s brewery Against the Grain
( R ) Canopy mural by Braylyn Resko Stewart on the side of their Portland office
This is just an appetizer for what is gearing up to be a monumental year for Canopy as their certification program officially launches. More than a stamp of approval or a meaningless piece of paper, their program is a functioning toolkit and actionable framework for attracting and maintaining modern workers, customers and investors. “We hope that the concept of ‘work’ expands beyond the notion of performance for a paycheck. We envision a time when all Kentucky businesses operate in a manner that considers the wellbeing of our people, our neighborhoods and communities, our landscape, and future generations,” said Koloms. “We also hope to see folks happier in their work roles because they believe in the organizations they work for and feel that they are contributing to a better world as they earn the money.”
Find out more about PBCs, Better Business and how to sign-up for Canopy Certification at canopyky.org. If you have any specific questions, I encourage you to reach out to them directly at info@canopyky.org
This story is part of an ongoing series exploring the economic resilience and future of Kentucky’s workforce. To subscribe to updates, sign up for our newsletter.
