Credit: consciouscapitalism.org

We don’t exist to maximize profits; however, we must make a profit to provide a quality, sustainable service to our community. The past few years at Green Hill, we’ve worked to become a financially transparent company and in adopting the triple bottom line approach, we’ve included team members throughout the organization to help guide us.  

Here’s a copy of what we put in our annual report regarding our profit initiatives. 

Green Hill is designated as a for-profit company, which we view as an important advantage in realizing our vision. While not-for-profits have an important role in our industry, we believe that our for-profit model is more sustainable, independent, and flexible. In 2021, we will take unprecedented steps in making Green Hill a financially transparent, equitable, and impact-oriented company.

As a for-profit company, Green Hill is (1) directly attuned to the needs of our clients, (2) our services are sustained directly by the need of our stakeholders for them, and (3) our continued operation hinges on our ability to manage resources effectively and compensate our people appropriately. We have a compelling vision for our impact on the treatment field and the for-profit model provides the freedom we need to realize our full potential. To meet our financial responsibilities we are focused on the following areas: (1) Financial Transparency, (2) Data-Driven, Impact-Oriented Decision Making (think effective altruism), (3) Team Member Bonuses & Incentive Structure, and (4) Distributions & Charitable Giving Targets. 

Financial transparency

We believe that our entire team, clients, and stakeholders are partners in making Green Hill successful. To underscore this point we will work to provide regular information on our finances. We believe we are creating a model for others to emulate. We will  provide insight into our financial decisions, executive compensation, and revenue sources so that we can offer a template for transparency, accountability, and sustainability. Our motivation for this stems from our desire to have an impact on the healthcare system and to provide value to our stakeholders, which can’t be achieved through opaque business practices.  To build transparency into our cultural DNA we will build a new ethics regime into our employee policies and training.

Conscious capitalism

Green Hill’s team of dedicated professionals entered this field because they wanted to make a positive impact on the world. We believe in the model of Effective Altruism, in which an emphasis is placed on results rather than just good intentions. Implementing measures to track client success will allow us to better channel resources to areas of need and to innovate models for better outcomes. We recognize we are a team of leaders and believe that financial decisions should be made with the input, and to the benefit of, all our stakeholders. 

Valuing our team

We value the contributions of our team. We believe many care providers are undervalued, which contributes to burn-out and less effective care to clients. Our conviction is that when we value our team members highly, they are able to be more energetic, innovative, and engaged when working with clients. We want our professionals to enjoy financial security and to feel valued for their significant contributions to the mental health and wellness of our clients. To put our values into practice we will implement transparent HR processes such as formalized pay scales, bonus structures, and benefits packages with the input of our team.  

Charitable giving targets

Our financial stakeholders include the wider community. We have a responsibility to share our financial success within Raleigh and the Triangle and to ensure our model is sustainable for all stakeholders. Businesses that extract profit at the expense of all else will not find the long term success or have the impact we envision for Green Hill. Thus, we must ensure that our economic footprint is a net positive. We also know that a culture of giving will live on in our alumni, shaping their lives and the wider world.

3BL Profit Group 

Green Hill will establish a Profit Group that will meet monthly to analyze the economic impact of the Company and provide recommendations to the leadership team regarding how to make a bigger impact for our stakeholders and the community. The Profit Group is tasked with allocating financial resources in a transparent, equitable manner. The main areas of focus are listed below.

Transparency 

• How are we engaging our team in our financial decisions? 
• How can we instill ethics as part of our cultural DNA?
• How can we make our revenue generation and costs more transparent?

Conscious capitalism  

• What does effective altruism mean in our business?
• How can we better track client success?
• How do we incentivise success and innovation?
• How can we bring the input of our team into financial decision making?

Equitable compensation 

• How can the Company expand to provide more opportunity for our team members?
• What can the Company do to have a larger impact on the community?
• Who can we use our infrastructure to better serve? 

Charitable giving 

• How can Green Hill better support high-impact nonprofits through financial and in-kind donations? 
• How can we build a culture of giving within Green Hill?
• What is our economic impact on our community?

Company Value: Transparency 

Financial disclosure epitomizes vulnerability. At different points in Green Hill’s three-year history, the financials have painted drastically different pictures with the outlook often fluctuating from feast to famine from one month to the next. The ownership team has decided that increased financial transparency will make us a stronger, more durable company and unlock creative potential throughout the team. 

• Trust: We believe that the Green Hill Team will use financial information to better the Company and good months will not breed complacency nor will bad months breed panic. 
• Co-Creation: We believe that good ideas can be found throughout the Company and making financial goals and outcomes public knowledge increases our ability to create value. 
• Alignment: We believe that everyone on the team has (1) impeccable values, (2) strong intellect, and (3) tremendous work ethic. Ultimately we rely on profit to survive and the team should be given the opportunity to play a role. 

We hope you’ve enjoyed the triple bottom line content we’ve covered in this series of blog posts. To us, this level of operational, strategic, and philosophical transparency is a must. Our healthcare system is deeply flawed but we’re not standing idle on the sidelines; we want to have a voice when it comes ushering in a healthcare system that’s fit for the 21st century.