01
It shares profit
A set part of each year's net profit goes to the people who do the work, alongside owners and investors, under a written formula.
Responsible Profit is an open standard in development that puts workers, owners and investors on a level field. You can read the draft standard and join the founding list for updates.
An open standard, in development
Profit, shared fairly.
Responsible Profit is a public standard for businesses that put everyone with a stake on a level field. Workers, owners and investors all share in the profit they create together, and the business proves it from its own books.
We are writing the standard in the open. Join the founding list to read the draft first and help shape it.
Profit is good. Everyone should share in it.
Owners and investors share in profit by design. The people who do the work often don't, and most ways of judging a business never open the books to check.
Responsible Profit is about equity, not taking from one group to give to another. Everyone can profit, and everyone should.
3%
of private-industry workers at places with fewer than 100 staff could get cash profit sharing.
11%
at places with 100 or more staff. Small firms share least often.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Compensation Survey, March 2020.
The draft standard
Four tests at the core
Each test is answered from records, not promises.
02
It shares widely
Most staff who are not owners take part. The share is not reserved for a chosen few.
03
It pays a living wage
The lowest regular wage meets the living wage for the place where the work happens.
04
It keeps the pay gap in check
Top pay, owner draws included, stays within a set multiple of what the typical worker earns.
The thresholds are not set yet. We will publish them as a draft for public comment.
Planned
How ratings will work
Score what we can see. Show how sure we are. Badge only what we verify.
Step 1
Public facts
A facts panel built from public records. Every fact shows its source and date, and the panel says plainly how much the records can and cannot show. No grade without enough evidence.
Step 2
Claimed
The business claims its listing, corrects the record and adds its own answers. Self-reported answers are labelled as self-reported.
Step 3
Verified
Evidence from the books is checked and dated. A verified business gets a live badge and a QR code that always show its current status.
What we stand by
Grades are not for sale. A score never depends on what a business buys, from us or anyone else.
Our own house first. Humble Good will publish its full transparency report and be graded before we grade anyone else.
An open method. We publish how a rating is made: the tests, the inputs and the sources.
Evidence over claims. What a business says about itself is labelled as such. Only checked evidence earns a badge.
A right to reply. Every business can see its record and correct it.
Who it's for
Business owners who share, and want a fair way to show it.
Investors who want to back businesses where everyone has a stake in success.
Workers and job seekers who want to know which employers share what they help create.
Customers and communities who want to spend with businesses that share.
Accountants and advisors who help clients set up profit sharing and prove it.
Founding list
Help shape the standard
Join the founding list. You will be first to read the draft standard, comment on the thresholds, and hear when businesses can take part.
Occasional updates only. Unsubscribe at any time.
Questions
Not yet. Responsible Profit is a standard in development. Ratings and verification come later, after the method is published and tested with real businesses.
Broad programs look at many topics. Responsible Profit looks closely at one: how a business shares the money it makes, proved from its books. It can sit beside other programs.
Humble Good, a Minnesota company that builds software for small businesses, leads the Responsible Profit initiative. We say so openly because a standard about transparency should start with its own. Humble Good will be the first business to publish its full transparency report and be graded against the standard.
Join the founding list. We will ask business owners, workers and advisors to comment on the draft and to test the rating with real books.