“Purpose-driven” businesses and entrepreneurs were honored Thursday evening at the sixth annual PRISM Awards in Colorado Springs.

The National Institute for Social Impact, along with First Interstate Bank, Springs Rescue Mission and Vectra Bank, presented the awards at a ceremony at the new SpringHill Suites & Element hotels downtown.

The awards distinguish businesses that use the “powerful economic engine of capitalism for good, not merely for gain.” The Springs-based National Institute for Social Impact works to guide businesses on their path to becoming social impact businesses.

“This is a growing sector of the economy and purpose-driven consumers are now the number one consumer in the United States,” Jonathan Liebert, the institute’s CEO, wrote in an email to The Gazette. “As these types of businesses grow, it is important that we celebrate the great work they are doing for communities and the economy, but it is also important that other business owners and consumers have a good example of what a great social impact business looks like.”

This year’s PRISM Award winners are:

• Social Impact Business of the Year. Two shared this award: Frayla Boutique, a Colorado Springs jewelry, clothing and home décor shop that sources and sells “products from socially responsible small businesses and equity projects,” and Yobel, a Colorado Springs fair-trade men’s and women’s boutique that sells clothing and accessories from local and global ethical sources.
• Social Impact Startup of the Year. Adam & Son Auto Repair and Service in Colorado Springs, which gives back to the community in multiple ways including the Stranded Motorist Fund, which is used to repair cars for individuals and families who can’t afford it.
• Social Entrepreneur of the Year: Tamra Ryan with Women’s Bean Project. She’s the CEO of the Denver-based food manufacturing company that hires women who are “chronically unemployed” and teaches them to make “nourishing products” that are sold across the U.S.

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Nominees for the PRISM Awards submit information and are judged and scored on criteria including direct impact, effectiveness and sustainable future growth. The businesses with the three highest scores are finalists and the business with the highest score wins.

Liebert was among five judges for this year’s awards. There were two winners for business of the year, he said, because their scores were very close and the businesses are similar.

“We felt that honoring the achievements of both were better than arbitrarily determining who was 1% better than the other,” Liebert wrote in the email. “The awards are about lifting up the sector and promoting the winners; having two is not a bad thing!”

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