Our purpose is public benefit.
Rethink Local is a Vermont public benefit corporation. That means profit is not our driving purpose. Our work is intended to help people, organizations, local governments, and communities achieve their goals and build capacity internally and across their broader communities.
Vision & Mission
Rethink Local’s Vision
People, organizations, local governments, and communities capable and actively engaged in making thoughtful, evidence-based, and broadly representative decisions that improve their futures.
Rethink Local’s Mission
To accomplish our vision, we both provide transparent, flat rate, highly effective consulting services aligned with our vision and provide a wide variety of public benefit activities that support civic engagement and resiliency, including with our partner organization, Rethink Local Foundation, a 501(c)(3).
What is a benefit corporation?
Vermont is one of a number of growing states that allows businesses to register a “benefit corporation.”
This means that social, public, and community impact may be considered equally to financial goals, thereby committing the corporation to public good and providing legal cover to directors and owners to not maximize profit at the expense of the broader world, but instead to consider external impacts.
Vermont’s benefit corporations are governed by 11A V.S.A. Chapter 21.
Read more about Vermont benefit corporations →Public benefit projects & ways we give back
Our public benefit work is intended to build civic capacity, improve access to useful information, strengthen local institutions, and make municipal and community problem-solving easier.
Municipal Manager Network
Creating and managing the New England Municipal Managers email list and group to help municipal professionals connect, exchange information, and solve problems together.
Compensation Information
Maintaining a comprehensive salary and benefit guide for Town and City Managers and Administrators available to officials in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Free Best Practices and Insights
Hosting the RETHINK LOCAL podcast and supporting broader conversations about civic life, local government, community participation, and regional issues.
Best Practice and Resource Library
We are building a growing library of free, nonpartisan best practices for anyone to access, ranging from compensation, board onboarding, capital planning, public engagement/trust, civic resiliency, and more.
Good consulting work and public benefit can reinforce each other.
Rethink Local’s consulting work helps communities solve immediate problems. Our public benefit activities are intended to strengthen the broader civic and municipal environment those communities depend on.