Maine

A benefit corporation shall prepare an annual benefit report including:

  1. A narrative description of:
    1. The ways in which the benefit corporation pursued general public benefit during the year and the extent to which general public benefit was created;
    2. The ways in which the benefit corporation pursued a specific public benefit that the articles of incorporation state it is the purpose of the benefit corporation to create and the extent to which that specific public benefit was created;
    3. Any circumstances that have hindered the creation by the benefit corporation of general public benefit or a specific public benefit; and
    4. The process and rationale for selecting or changing the third party standard used to prepare the benefit report;
  2. An assessment of the overall social and environmental performance of the benefit corporation against a third party standard:
    1. Applied consistently with any application of that standard in prior benefit reports; or
    2. Accompanied by an explanation of the reasons for any inconsistent application or the change to that standard from the one used in the immediately prior report;
  3. The name of the benefit director and the benefit officer, if any, and the address to which correspondence to each of them may be directed;
  4. The compensation paid by the benefit corporation during the year to each director in the capacity of a director;
  5. The statement of the benefit director as described in section 1822, subsection 3.
  6. A statement of any connection between the organization that established the third party standard, or its directors, officers, or any holder of 5% or more of the governmental interests in the organization, and the benefit corporation, or its directors, officers, or any holder of 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the benefit corporation, including any financial or governance relationship that might materially affect the credibility of the use of the third-party standard.
  7. Change of benefit director. If during the year covered by a benefit report, a benefit director resigned from or refused to stand for reelection to the position of benefit director or was removed from the position of benefit director, and the benefit director furnished the benefit corporation with any written correspondence concerning the circumstances surrounding the resignation, refusal or removal, the benefit report must include that correspondence as an exhibit.  
  8. Audit not required.  Neither the benefit report nor the assessment of the performance of the benefit corporation in the benefit report needs to be audited or certified by a third party.  
  9. A benefit corporation shall send its annual benefit report to each shareholder on the earlier of:  
    1. 120 days following the end of the fiscal year of the benefit corporation.
    2. At the same time the benefit corporation delivers any other annual report to its shareholders. 
  10. A benefit corporation shall post all of its annual benefit reports on the public portion of its website. The compensation paid to directors and financial or proprietary information included in the benefit reports may be omitted from the annual benefit reports as posted.  
  11. If a benefit corporation does not have a website, the benefit corporation shall provide a copy of its most recent annual benefit report, without charge, to any person that requests a copy, but the compensation paid to directors and financial or proprietary information included in the annual benefit report may be omitted from the copy of the annual benefit report provided.  

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