Going Beyond Charity: How Businesses Can Achieve Permanent Sustainability

In a culture suffused with the ethos of maximizing wealth, it landed as a kind of comet from outer space when Yvon Chouinard, the owner of Patagonia, decided to donate $3 billion of his wealth to a purpose trust and political nonprofit. The wealth he could have pocketed will instead be devoted to saving the planet. While this seems a story of philanthropy, it holds larger lessons for the urgent turning point at which we stand, where the future of the social order and the planet are at risk.

Can enterprises be designed for something besides providing maximum gains to their owners and investors? Can we even imagine enterprises designed to keep the planet thriving?

• Publication date: 2022-1022

• Parent publication: Yes Magazine

• Publication URL: https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2022/10/25/businesses-sustainability-charity