Lingo‘s identity is evolving.

On paper, we’re a limited company. By definition, that means we should be a money making “machine” (or model, if you prefer). There’s an expectation to make a profit. We’ve been going for 8 years now, and I don’t mind telling you, I’d have more money in my pocket if I had put the same hours in to a minimum wage job.

That’s not to say we’ve not made some money, we’ve grown modestly, improved our resources, and even (just about) managed to get one or two assets – the kind of things which are essential to running a business – a car, a few decent machines, desks etc. But, what actual ‘profits’ we have made we have not ‘seen’ (in a classic sense of taking dividends, or in the way that it seems imagined that business owners have wads of money just piling up around them). That’s mostly due to a very fundamental issue I have only recently come to fully understand.

There’s a part to making a profit in business that just doesn’t quite sit right with me and I couldn’t put my finger on why it felt so darn awkward to be the director of a company. But simply put – it brings to mind images of greed, of ‘fat cats’… a ‘boss’ making money from the hard work of their staff. In a word – gross. I’m not saying all profit, or money making is bad. But, as I now implicitly understand, it’s what you do with it that counts.

What Lingo have ‘made’, we have ‘spent’ – used in resources to create, develop or assist side projects – normally good causes – for free. For the last 7 years we’ve been supporting, in a largely unmeasured way, a growing community portal website, downhamweb as well a free festival of sports, arts and culture Lifestyles Festival (and a few others who shall remain nameless…for now!).

I wish I knew how much I had ‘invested’ in time and resources to these projects. It must run in to tens of thousands. I’ve been questioned before “why?”, but never really before been able to articulate an answer, nor really did I think much about it – it just seemed like the ‘right thing to do…..But now I get it. The rewards I have seen have been the kind of thing money just can’t buy. Smiles on the faces of a family trying windsurfing together for the first time for free, an email from a 93 year old thanking us for sharing pictures of the town they love so they can see them from their home – helping people to find work, get trained or learn something new… helping lost friends reunite, supporting worthwhile events, and generally helping a community feel connected to one another.

The transition towards a Community Interest Company has only just started on paper – but it has been at the core of who we are and what we do for a long time… it’s been at the heart of our actions…core to our motivation, and, despite being challenging and at times seeming like madness it has ultimately been what has inspired us and strangely kept us sane.

Good design, delivering positive messages for good projects…and we want to do more of it.

Giving our attention to people, or encouraging pro-social activities, not just making profit is part of our new mantra…we’re not the only ones either; this is the CEO of Etsy, talking about how they became a ‘B Corp’ (sort of equivalent in the U.S).