ShoreBank - Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week

ShoreBank is a bank whose mission is to invest in "people and their communities to create economic equity and a healthy environment." They offer banks, consulting services, and have created a number of nonprofits to help them carry out this mission. Their web site states that they pursue a triple bottom line, "We strive to meet three objectives simultaneously: building wealth for all in economically integrated communities, promoting environmental health and operating profitably."

Founders Milton Davis, James Fletcher, Ronald Grzywinski and Mary Houghton — whose combined backgrounds encompassed banking, social services and community activism -- were seeking to buy a bank. They believed that a commercial bank, flanked by complementary development organizations, could effectively restore neighborhood economies.

ShoreBank offers two interesting types of deposit accounts: Development Deposits, which help support their community development work, and EcoDeposits, which help support their environmental work.

Their tag line? ShoreBank: Let's Change the World.