The Denver Post is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

The Denver Post is Colorado’s first, most trusted source of information and market reach. Customers of the publication receive top-quality service and the best information, education and entertainment content in Colorado and the region. The Post is committed to producing an array of high quality, profitable core and niche products and services and providing the highest value to its readers, advertisers, and employees.

The Denver Post is focused on touching thousands of lives in Denver and Colorado through community service with confidence and optimism. The company has a long-standing tradition and legacy of giving back to the community. Community involvement has always been important to the newspaper as a media outlet and as a concerned corporate citizen. Through its community giving program, Denver Post Community, over $6.5 million annually is distributed to charitable agencies in the Denver metro area.

Dagoba Chocolate is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

Dagoba is an organic brand of high-quality chocolate, founded by Frederick Schilling in Boulder, Colorado, and now based in Ashland, Oregon. The firm’s commitment to creating deeply satisfying, sustainable chocolate grew out of Frederick’s realization that cacao production is all too often associated with rainforest destruction, loss of heirloom varietals, and producer poverty. Frederick regularly travels to producing countries to locate high-quality sources, establish direct partnerships, collaborate on post-harvest processing, and learn how equitable cacao trading supports communities and the environment. This intensive process is rare across the industry, but it is essential in fulfilling the firm’s mission to offer the best of all worlds. The company makes premium organic chocolate, with many selections enhanced by infused exotic oils, fruits, and nuts from around the world. Dagoba Chocolate has received high awards, such as Food & Wine’s 2005 “Tastemaker Award,” “World’s Best Chocolate” from CNN/Money, and “Best Dark Chocolate” from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dagoba, now owned by Hershey, is dedicated to the art of chocolate through Full Circle Sustainability, blending equity, quality, ecology, and community. The company seeks out fine flavors, sustainable and certified organic cacao through direct, equitable partnerships, and manufactures in small batches with great care. It is the goal of Dagoba to be involved in improving communities, not just where their products are sold but also at the source of its chocolate products, helping to improve the developing communities there.

Corona Insights is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

Corona Insights serves as a partner to clients needing to make decisions on a wide variety of topics. Based in Denver, Corona helps clients uncover the right answers to the questions most important to them, and then guide them on how those answers inform their decisions and plans. The firm’s mission is to provide accurate and unbiased information and counsel to decision makers. Corona works in all sectors of the community, including nonprofit organizations, private businesses, higher education institutions, and public/governmental entities. In order to meet each client group’s unique needs, Corona provides a valuable blend of research and consulting. Corona’s services range from primary and secondary market research, data analytics, and strategic planning.

Inherently, Corona’s work benefits the community. Much of their work involves helping nonprofit and governmental agencies understand the needs and desires of their clients and constituencies, and how best to implement programs and services. The community outreach philosophy of Corona Insights is based on building mutually beneficial and long-term relationships with local organizations. In this way, community involvement facilitates the firm to play an active part in their community and to promote and drive results.

Colorado State Bank and Trust is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

Colorado State Bank and Trust (CSBT) has a history of providing financial services to Colorado communities dating back to 1908. The bank offers commercial and consumer banking, investment and trust services, and mortgage origination and servicing.

With 13 Front Range locations including a branch in Boulder, CSBT has $1 billion in bank assets and over $3 billion in trust and investment assets under administration.

Serving and supporting the community is an important part of CSBT’s culture.  Not only does the bank provide financial and in-kind contributions to local nonprofit organizations but employees also honor the sense of community caring by volunteering hundreds of hours annually to a wide spectrum of nonprofit, community and civic organizations. A large part of that volunteer activity includes teaching financial education and financial responsibilities to clients, families and individuals.

CSBT is a division of BOK Financial, a regional financial services company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, (NASDAQ: BOKF). BOK Financial Holdings include BOKF, N.A., BOSC, Inc., Cavanal Hill Investment Management, Inc., and Southwest Trust Company, N.A. Operating divisions of BOKF, NA include Bank of Albuquerque, Bank of Arizona, Bank of Arkansas, Bank of Oklahoma, Bank of Texas, Colorado State Bank and Trust, Bank of Kansas City, and the TransFund electronic funds network. Shares of BOK Financial are traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol BOKF.

Clif Bar & Company is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

Clif Bar & Company began as Kali’s Sweets & Savories, founded by Gary Erickson and named after his grandmother. An avid cyclist, Gary realized on a long biking trip that the energy bars he had brought along were insufficient and that he could make something better himself. Thus, the first CLIF® BAR was born. Products increased to include energy drinks and gels, LUNA® bars, CLIF MOJO® bars, CLIF Builder’s® bars, CLIF Kid Organic ZBaRs, and CLIF Kid Organic Twisted Fruit®. The company’s Five Aspirations are sustaining its company, its brands, its people, its community, and the planet. Clif builds these values into its products and programs.

At Clif Bar & Company, being a good corporate citizen is being a good community member. The firm is honest about what it does and good to its local neighbors, as in the communities where it does business. The firm also prioritizes how it treats the community of people who work for the company, both indirectly and directly. Finally, the company is devoted to doing the right thing for the planet with a serious effort to reduce its ecological footprint in everything the firm does, from the field to the final product. The firm devotes company time to volunteerism and environmental work; the company pays employees more than 2,000 hours a year to do community service.

As I look back at 2011, so many great things happened – trips to the West Bank and Finland, Strategy for Good was published, hit million mile status on United, had great work, and so much more…I am grateful!  I hope your 2011 was great.  Happy holidays and all the VERY best to you for 2012!!

Beau Jo’s Colorado Style Pizza is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

Beau Jo’s is a Colorado-based company that owns a chain of pizza restaurants. The company is an institution in Denver, both for the thick pizzas and for the way you finish them off: with a bottle of honey in which to dip the remaining crust (“built-in dessert”). There are two types of pizzas at Beau Jo’s: the original Mountain Pies with rolled crust at the end and Prairie Pies without the roll but a thinner layer of toppings. They come with a variety of sauce options and the usual pizza toppings along with a couple of unusual signature toppings such as tofu. The restaurant allows patrons to leave their mark at each casually decorated, mining antiques-filled site by drawing on a napkin and hanging it on the wall. Denver Westword named Beau Jo’s the “Best Pizza” readers’ choice winner in 2006. The restaurant strives to use healthy fixings in its pizzas, including whole wheat and gluten-free crust, and natural ingredients and toppings whenever possible.

Idaho Springs, where Beau Jo’s began, is a small community. The company’s giving philosophy has to do with the reality that the business can only grow so much within a small community without being involved. Originally the firm began its involvement to make the community in which it operates a better place to live for the residents and a better place for the company to do business. One of the ways the firm supports the community is by establishing dates sponsored by community organizations, where 20 percent of the pre-taxed revenues are donated to the sponsoring organization.

Aveda is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

The worldwide leader in botanical hair and personal care products, Aveda was founded in 1978 with the goal of providing beauty industry professionals with high performance, plant-based products better for them, their guests, and the planet. The brand’s roots are planted in Ayurveda, the ancient east-Indian art of healing, which takes a holistic approach to life and wellness, with a focus on cultivating balance. More than 30 years later the company is still at the industry’s cutting edge—innovating in botanical technologies and wellness rituals that promote beauty and balance, while pursuing an ambitious social and environmental agenda.

Aveda’s pure flower- and plant-based products are sold in more than 7,000 salons, spas, and Experience Center retail locations in more than 30 countries, including the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, and Singapore.

Empowered by its unique mission, Aveda seeks to set a new business standard in environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility. To Aveda, beauty is not only a product result but also the process followed in pursuing that result. From ingredient sourcing and product manufacture to transport and business operations, Aveda conducts its business in a manner that is kind to the Earth and her inhabitants.

BitWise Solutions is one of the inspiring companies interviewed for Susan Hyatt’s book, Strategy for Good.

BitWise Solutions is a web design and development company with a history of partnering with clients to provide measurable results through internet-based technology. The firm provides a myriad of professional services including web design, web application development, website management, web hosting, and web analytics. The company also offers web-based software solutions to common problems encountered when working with customers. These include software solutions for team collaboration, online event management, and collections management. In addition to website services and software, BitWise also offers workshops such as Web Camp and a content development seminar. The guiding philosophy at BitWise is based on continuous improvement, positive relationships, and a focus on results.

BitWise Solutions believes that giving back to the community in which it operates is the only way to manage a successful business. BitWise uses its involvement in the community, with the CEO serving on nonprofit boards such as United Way, as a way to grow the firm’s client base through building relationships with other business owners and organizations in the community.