The 20 Most Inspiring Companies Of 2014

Sword & Plough, working
Sword & Plough makes wearable goods out of recycled materials from the U.S. military. Facebook/SwordandPlough

Many companies make it a priority to give back to their communities, whether it's a core part of their missions or not.

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This year we've seen many companies go above and beyond to protect the environment, help the less fortunate, and solve some of the world's biggest problems.

We found 20 of the most inspiring companies based on their actions for good this year. These inspiring institutions, listed alphabetically, are role models for their efforts in social responsibility.

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Brilliant Earth sells conflict-free diamonds and other precious stones.

Brilliant Earth engagement rings
Facebook/brilliantearth

Inspired by the owners' struggle to find a conflict-free engagement ring, Brilliant Earth was founded in 2005 in San Francisco to provide those seeking beautiful, ethically sourced jewelry with a place to get it.

Brilliant Earth is dedicated to socially and environmentally responsible sourcing of precious stones. The company makes careful partnerships only with suppliers who adhere to strict labor and environmental standards when it comes to mining gems. Brilliant Earth also donates 5% of profits to benefit communities harmed by dirty practices in the jewelry industry.

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Cisco brings the internet to victims of natural disasters.

Cisco TacOps_Typhoon
Cisco TacOps

Cisco's Tactical Operations ("TacOps") team always has one eye on the weather report, ready to re-establish internet and phone connections in areas affected by natural disasters.

The team works globally, not just in the U.S. When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last November, Cisco sent in 10 paid and another 300 or so volunteer employees to make sure rescue workers had the technical connections they needed to complete their work. Cisco covers all costs associated with work done by the TacOps team.

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Colgate-Palmolive is committed to reducing its carbon footprint.

Colgate
Glassdoor

In 2011, Colgate developed a four-year sustainability strategy that has gained the company worldwide recognition for its commitment to people and the planet.

Colgate has reduced its water use by nearly 33% and its greenhouse gas emissions by about 16% per ton of production. The company also partners with Water for People, an organization that brings clean drinking water to thousands of people in India and Guatemala who would not otherwise have access.

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¡Échale! a tu Casa builds affordable, social housing for low-income communities in Mexico.

Échale a tu casa, Mexico housing
Facebook/Échale-a-tu-casa

¡Échale! saw a flaw in the social housing system in Mexico and decided to make systemic change by helping impoverished families build their own homes, rather than wait for government or non-profit organizations to deliver.

The model that ¡Échale! follows empowers families to take their living situations into their own hands. The Mexico City-based company has enabled tens of thousands of people to construct the thousands of homes that they now live in.

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Food Cowboy uses mobile technology to deliver surplus food to the needy instead of the trash.

Food Cowboy screenshot
Food Cowboy

Three friends — a former caterer, his long-haul truck-driving brother, and the author of the USDA Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit — started Food Cowboy to eliminate the amount of perfectly good consumer food waste that was being dumped in landfills.

The DC-based web application matches truckers with food suppliers to re-route surplus food from landfills to shelters, food charities, and composters instead. The company has rescued more than 500,000 pounds of food since its founding on 2012.

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Gap Inc. is improving conditions for garment factory workers.

Gap bag shopping
Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

Gap Inc. wants to make sure factory employees are taken care of, and not just the ones who work for Gap. The company partners with the International Labour Organization's Better Work Program to monitor working conditions in factories around the world, ensuring that laborers are able to work under fair and safe conditions.

Gap Inc. also has a P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement) program to give female garment workers, who make up about 80% of the industry, the opportunity to advance into managerial roles. Women who participated in the management training program in Cambodia, for example, were promoted three times faster than those who didn't participate.

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Goldieblox inspires girls to become engineers.

Goldieblox, NEW
Courtesy of Goldieblox

Goldieblox toys are made "to get girls building." The company's mission is to get more girls interested in engineering and other STEM fields and, literally, "even the playing field," which is typically dominated by men.

Goldieblox breaks the stereotype that construction-type toys are for boys only. The toys are fun, whimsical, and teach engineering principles like wheels and axles, levers, force, and friction; future toys will also incorporate some simple coding and circuit building. Goldieblox had its first ever Superbowl ad earlier this year.

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Hampton Creek is making the egg obsolete.

Hampton Creek pitch deck
Hampton Creek

Hampton Creek makes plant-based egg substitutes that are not only convincing doppelgangers (Business Insider's own taste tests confirmed this) but that are cheaper to produce and better for the environment.

Hampton Creek eliminates the cost of feeding chickens, as well as the unethical practices that often go hand in hand with raising them. The Silicon Valley company recently raised a $23 million series B round of funding from Li Ka-Shing's Horizon Ventures.

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Mobileye makes cameras that warn auto drivers of potential collisions.

Mobileye auto technology
Facebook/MobileyeUS

Mobileye's products have been used in cars since 2007, but the company has picked up some new attention recently thanks to developments like drones and self-driving cars.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Mobileye's development lab is in Israel, which is where the company hones and develops a number of sophisticated vision algorithms to "interpret" a potential collision scene in real-time. In 2016 Mobileye says that it and two unnamed partners will launch a product for hands-free driving at high speeds in highway traffic.

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Oscar uses technology to create a more consumer-friendly health insurance company.

Oscar
Oscar

Unlike the bureaucratic hassle typical of big-name insurance companies, Oscar makes paying bills and managing healthcare simple and headache-free. The site is well-designed and easy to navigate, and members can consult with doctors over the phone at no additional charge.

The New York City-based insurance company now has over 16,000 customers on its plans, some of which provide great benefits like free generic prescriptions and reasonable monthly rates.

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Patagonia started a venture fund to invest in startups doing good for the environment.

Patagonia
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Outdoor apparel and equipment retailer Patagonia is spreading its mission of being good to the environment through a new venture fund called $20 Million & Change, which backs startups that are trying to make a positive impact on the Earth.

Patagonia invests anywhere between $500,000 and $5 million in each startup, according to Fast Company, depending on the type of support and partnership each party is looking for.

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PK Clean turns plastic waste into clean energy.

SIMS Municipal Recycling
Alana Kakoyiannis/Business Insider Video

Founded at MIT, PK Clean has demonstrated its ability to convert discarded plastics into clean oil on four different scales, and it now operates a commercial plant out of Salt Lake City.

CEO Priyanka Bakaya told Inc. that when it's operating at full capacity, the plant turns 20,000 pounds of plastic waste into 2,500 gallons of fuel to sell to refineries, giving the refineries a clean source of energy and reducing the amount of plastic waste that takes up space in landfills.

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Shout takes money that might be spent on a cup of coffee and donates it to worthy organizations.

Shout app screenshot
Shout For Good

A micro-donation mobile app and website, Shout turns "small financial gestures" into a large-scale, charitable impact. Users take the money they would have spent on small, everyday purchases — a movie ticket, a cup of coffee, etc. — and donate it to their charities of choice.

To date, Shout users have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities all over Australia, where the app was created, and other parts of the world.

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SolarCity helps people and companies design, finance, and install solar power systems.

solarcity elon musk
AP

California-based SolarCity is jumping on a quick-catching and environmentally friendly trend — implementing simple yet efficient solar power systems. Chaired by Tesla's Elon Musk, SolarCity went public at the end of 2012, and even today the company is still killing it.

One of the company's most innovative solutions is a solar lease program that significantly reduces, and can even eliminate, the upfront costs for homeowners or businesses that want to use a more sustainable form of energy.

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Starbucks will pay for college for thousands of its employees.

Starbucks cup barista
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

In June Starbucks announced that it would offer, through a partnership with Arizona State University, tuition reimbursement for thousands of its employees at licensed Starbucks locations. Juniors and seniors would be eligible for full tuition reimbursement for online programs — valued at $10,000 a year — while underclassmen would be eligible for partial reimbursement.

Starbucks has about 135,000 employees who qualify for the new benefit, many of whom may not have been able to afford a secondary education otherwise.

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Sword & Plough makes wearable goods out of recycled materials from the U.S. military.

Sword & Plough, working
Sword & Plough makes wearable goods out of recycled materials from the U.S. military. Facebook/SwordandPlough

Sword & Plough takes discarded materials from the military and turns them into rugged and fashionable bags and other accessories that bridge the divide between service life and civilian life.

Sales of Sword & Plough goods strengthen veteran employment, reduce waste, and create a better understanding of military service by civilians. The company, which was founded in Vermont, is now based in Denver.

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ThriveOn is making it easier to access mental health resources.

ThriveOn screenshot
ThriveOn

ThriveOn is an online and mobile service that offers intake, counseling, and exercises for people with mental health issues, helping patients avoid long wait times and costly fees.

The discreet and intuitive program hopes to make it easier and more likely that those who need mental health support will get it, where they may not have had the time, resources, or drive to seek them out previously. ThriveOn is currently part of healthcare investment organization Rock Health, and it is launching its full program this summer.

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TOMS outfits individuals from impoverished communities with free shoes and glasses.

Toms coffee
Facebook/Toms

Since 2006 TOMS has operated on a one-for-one model of business — for every pair of shoes (or eyeglasses) purchased, the company will donate a pair to a person in need. In this manner the company has donated over 10 million pairs of shoes and glasses to date.

Earlier this year TOMS also started selling roasted coffee beans, donating a week's worth of clean water to a person in need for every bag of coffee sold.

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UncommonGoods creates a marketplace for handmade, recycled, and good-for-the-Earth products.

UncommonGoods
UncommonGoods

The proud, Brooklyn-based B Corp emphasizes the work of independent artists, designers, and creators to get people buying carefully crafted goods that are often recycled or organic.

UncommonGoods also donates 15% of its net proceeds to nonprofits, letting customers pick the nonprofits when they shop. In this manner, the company has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for numerous causes.

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