On January 1, 2015, Arizona’s benefit corporation law became effective.  This new law allowed people to form a new type of Arizona corporation called the “benefit corporation.”  An Arizona benefit corporation is a corporation whose Articles of Incorporation states that the corporation is a benefit corporation.  The benefit corporation may have a general public benefit goal, i.e., to have a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole, assessed against a third-party standard, from the business and operations of a benefit corporation.

Yesterday I asked the Arizona Corporation Commission how many benefit corporations have been formed under Arizona’s relatively new benefit corporation law.  The answer is twelve!  Yes.  Twelve benefit corporations formed in Arizona in two years.  Of the twelve Arizona benefit corporations ten of them became b corps in 2015 and two became b corps in 2016.  Here are the only corporations in Arizona that are benefit corporations:

  • Goodmans, Inc.
  • Sechler, CPA, P.C.
  • Desert Sky – Music, Art & Sustainability Festival, Inc.
  • Elevate by Will Claye Inc.
  • Spirit of Esther Incorporated
  • Individualized Pool Care, Inc.
  • Spex: Sedona Philosophy Experience Corporation
  • Nail Art Club, Inc.
  • Good Market Inc.
  • Upcycle Tucson Inc.
  • The Bull Market, Inc.
  • Envusion, Inc.

You might ask “why would anybody form an Arizona benefit corporation?”  My answer is I don’t know.  If you can think of a good reason to form a benefit corporation rather than a form a for profit corporation, a nonprofit corporation or a limited liability company, leave a comment and tell me.