A Professional Benefit Corporation (sometimes shortened to “PBC”) is a business structure that allows licensed professionals—such as therapists, social workers, psychologists, or physicians—to operate a business that is legally committed to creating public benefit alongside financial sustainability.

Traditional corporations are generally structured around maximizing profit for shareholders. Non-profit agencies are vulnerable to government policy changes, granting requirements, and a LOT of paperwork.

Benefit corporations are different. They are a traditional business model combined with a commitment to community benefit. Sort of a not-just-for-profit organization. It combines the freedom of an independent business and the commitment to service of a non-profit.

At BCC, our mission is:

Activating love to dismantle toxic conditions of isolation and inequity.

We did not want our organization to be structured only around productivity, profit, or extraction.

We wanted our values embedded into the foundation of the work itself.

Being a Professional Benefit Corporation helps us protect and support work like:

• sliding-scale therapy
• low-cost services through supervised fellowship clinicians
• relational groups and community spaces
• clinician training in Relational-Cultural Therapy
• anti-oppressive and affirming care
• playful, creative, and relational approaches to healing
• investing in community wellbeing even when it is not the most profitable option

It also reflects something central to Relational-Cultural Theory:
people grow through and toward connection.

We believe organizations can, too. In other words, our mission is not separate from our business model.

Sustainability is not only financial. Behavioral health organizations have an unusually high level of turnover and burnout.

It is relational.

A sustainable organization is one where:

• clinicians are supported instead of depleted
• care remains accessible
• growth happens collaboratively
• community relationships matter
• staff relationships matter
• people are treated as humans rather than outputs

That does not mean finances are unimportant. Businesses still need resources to survive.

But we believe healing spaces function differently when profit is not the only guiding value. It's challenging to build therapeutic rapport while worrying about whether or not the therapist will be paid enough for rent.

What benefits are we providing to our surrounding community? We're so glad you asked!

From May 2025-May 2026, we provided $68,462.28 in sliding scale or free therapy for trans and gender diverse clients. All of our clinicians have some sliding scale appointments. We have relational counseling for relationships of any size, shape, kink, and orientation. We help families of gender diverse youth connect and more deeply understand their kids.

We offer our space for Kalaidoscope LGBTQ+ youth advocacy and social group. We hold free trainings for clinicians wanting to incorporate Relational-Cultural Theory into their work.

We rely on revenue from our full-price clients, our parking places on the b-line, and supportive memberships to continue these offerings while paying a living wage to our clinicians.

We accept donations that can be earmarked for specific programs, whether it's the fellowships or sliding scale/scholarship therapy appointments for trans and gender diverse people.

You can join our supporter membership, or if you're a clinician and wanting to jump into RCT more deeply, you can join our clinician program!

Many people have never heard of a Professional Benefit Corporation.

We hadn’t either, at one point.

But once we discovered it, the structure felt deeply aligned with the kind of organization we were already trying to become.

For us, it is one small way of asking:
What would happen if our businesses were designed around mutuality, responsibility, and connection—not just competition?

We think the world needs more spaces asking that question.