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Corporation 20/20 - Designing for Social Purpose
Creating the vision and charting the  course for the Future Corporation.
Mission
New Principles for Corporate Design
1. The purpose of the corporation is to harness private interests to serve the public interest.

2. Corporations shall accrue fair returns for shareholders, but not at the expense of the legitimate interests of other stakeholders.

3. Corporations shall operate sustainably, meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

4. Corporations shall distribute their wealth equitably among those who contribute to its creation.

5. Corporations shall be governed in a manner that is participatory, transparent, ethical, and accountable.

6. Corporations shall not infringe on the right of natural persons to govern themselves, nor infringe on other universal human rights.

 

About Corporation 20/20

What is the core purpose of the corporation? How should it be designed to seamlessly blend sustainability  into its design, ownership, governance, strategy and practices? Corporation 20/20 is an international, multi-stakeholder initiative that seeks to answer these questions. Its goal is to develop and disseminate a vision, pathway for the 21st century corporation in which social purpose moves from the periphery to the heart of the organization.  Such transformation is indispensable to a toward a just and livable world.

Setting the Stage

Piecemeal, crisis-driven corporate reforms are no substitute for systemic, proactive change

Goals

The creation of a forum, a visionary and an advocate for transformational change

Launch

Since 2004, expansion to 350 participants from business, civil society, labor, law and the media

Strategies

Principles of Redesign, working groups, workshops, laboratories and a November 2007 Summit

Precedents

Initiatives on corporate codes, law, charters, personhood, shareholder primacy, governance, capital markets

Funding

Diverse support from large and small corporations, foundations and individuals
Announcing the Corporation 2020 Alliance

Redesigning today’s corporation to embed social purpose, ensure a positive planetary footprint and create generative enterprise may be the foremost challenge of the 21st century. Because corporations represent the lion's share of global economic activity, such redesign is a pre-condition to achieving the transformational change essential to addressing the social and ecological perils facing the world in the coming years. gives corporations the opportunity to create a more sustainable environment for global economic activity by redesigning their systems for increased sustainability.

In 2004, Allen White and Marjorie Kelly of the Tellus Institute launched "Corporation 20/20", an initiative to envision models of the future corporation, both financial and non-financial, and the enabling institutions aligned with such visions. ().

In 2011, recognizing that time is of the essence to avoid overshooting the Earth's ecological limits, Pavan Sukhdev at Yale University drew from the vision of “Corporation 20/20” and other thought leaders to prioritize four crucial, time-bound changes to begin transforming today’s dominant 20th-century corporate model into tomorrow’s “Corporation 2020” ().

These complementary initiatives, which bridge long-term visions with a near term change agenda, have come together to form the Corporation 2020 Alliance: Transforming Today’s Corporation for Tomorrow’s World. We invite partners from business, investment, government and civil society who share our sense of urgency and opportunity to participate in this new alliance to transform today’s corporation for tomorrow’s world.

Please visit and for updates on the Alliance’s research, meetings, communications and other activities.

Key RESOURCES
Corporations in a Great Transition

SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS

October 31 - November 1, 2013 Roundtable event Summary of Proceedings

PREPARATORY PAPERS

Video Interview with Allen White at Yale Univ.

Corporation 20/20 director Allen White interviewed by Pavan Sukhdev regarding the Future Corporation.

Redesigning Finance: Pathway To A Resilient Future

August 9, 2012 San Francisco workshop reading materials

2nd Summit Resources

SECOND SUMMIT PAPER SERIES

A collection of 8 papers exploring key components of corporate design
 

SECOND SUMMIT SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS


1st Summit Resources

FIRST SUMMIT VIDEO

A one hour video summary of the Summit on the Future of the Corporation.

FIRST SUMMIT PAPER SERIES

A collection of 10 papers exploring key components of corporate design
 

FIRST SUMMIT SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS