The new business entity is to be called a low-profit limited liability company, or L3C, and Vermont’s governor is expected to sign into law at the end of the month the bill creating the designation.

An L3C, a variation of a limited-liability company, would operate like a for-profit business generating at least modest profits, but its primary aim would be to offer significant social benefits, such providing jobs in an economically depressed area. Such business models already exist: The Vermont law would give them a name, and, its advocates hope, both encourage the creation of more socially conscious businesses and attract more money to them.

I’m really intrigued with this new model, having been working more closely with a socially responsible LLC that also has an affiliated sister 501(c)(3) charity, it seems this might be a new path. Often we see a lot of these corporate models beginning in a few states (the laboratories for laws) and see them sweeping across the country. This one bears watching.