This year, Fast Company embarked on an experiment: to apply to the for-profit sector the rigorous methodology developed by our partner Monitor Group for the Social Capitalist Awards. With help from Sara Olsen at Social Venture Technology Group and R. Paul Herman of HIP Investor, we assessed 31 for-profit applicants, from big corporations that graft socially responsible practices onto a traditional investor framework to smaller for-benefit outfits that explicitly place social good ahead of shareholder return. Here are the 10 companies that passed our test.

Better World Books [3]
Developing World Markets [4]
Domini Social Investments [5]
Equal Exchange [6]
Herman Miller [7]
New Leaf Paper [8]
Organic Valley Family of Farms [9]
Seventh Generation [10]
ShoreBank [11]
SustainAbility [12]