To qualify for the GrowthDoesGood.org list, a company must:

• Contribute an amount equal to or greater than 5% of its theoretical market value (see below).
• Compete in a traditionally for-profit industry
• Be a credible company donating to a credible cause.

Process:

Assessments of market value, giving, and worthiness of the cause(s) supported are made by a board of advisors using an informal submission and assessment process. We reserve the right to change the guidelines and hope that in time a more formal valuation/auditing process, rankings, and industry sort will be be possible and necessary.

Rankings will be based on the following measures:

• Absolute amount of donations
• Donations as a % of total business value
• Worthiness of the cause(s) (Criteria: more than 85% of a random sample would agree the cause is worthy)
• Adherence to "spirit of giving" measures, like top exective salaries, etc. (This is simply to avoid potential pitfalls of the various models; for example, claiming donation of 100% of profits while paying senior executives unusually high salaries to the exclusion of profits.)

If the organization being measured is not publicly traded, assessments of "theoretical market value" are based on comparable multiples of sales and pre-donation earnings, adjusted for balance sheet considerations.

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