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Mission Statement

The Rainbow Business & Professional Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the vitality, productivity, and growth of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered business and professional community.

Since 1992, we have promoted and supported the LGBT business and professional community in Maine. Our membership includes business and professional leaders, entrepreneurs, the self-employed, individuals from the corporate community, and nonprofit organizations.

RBPA is dedicated to promoting the strength and prosperity of Maine’s LGBT community by working toward:

* Providing a forum for members to promote and enhance their business organizations.
* Providing a support system for all members to meet professionally and socially.
* Supporting community issues and events through speakers, education, and awareness.
* Enabling members to seek out and to support one another by utilizing member businesses and services.
* Ensuring the future strength and growth of our community through the RBPA Scholarship Fund.

History

RBPA was established in 1992 as a nonprofit organization committed to Maine’s LGBT community. Our original goals included promoting networking within the community, encouraging support of LGBT-owned/LGBT-friend businesses (“gay dollars to gay businesses”), and supporting community members in their coming-out process.
Within 10 years, as membership steadily increased, we had established a schedule of monthly dinner meetings in Portland, published a membership/advertising directory, and hosted networking events in other communities like Augusta, Bar Harbor, Hallowell, Ogunquit, and Presque Isle.
We had established the RBPA Scholarship Fund, which since 1997 has awarded annual scholarships to young people who, having demonstrated their commitment to diversity in their schools and communities, are furthering their educations.
In recent years, as our community has evolved, we have remained true to our roots. While our focus remains on Greater Portland, where most of our members live and work, we support the LGBT community throughout Maine. We have become a leader in supporting other organizations such as those advocating for young LGBT people (GLSEN and PRYSM), cultural diversity (Maine Jewish Film Festival), political issues (Equality Maine), and, of course, Southern Maine Pride.
We have clearly changed with the times. Our printed membership/advertising directory has been replaced by our website. We have a presence on Facebook. We’ve added “corporate memberships,” and more gay-friendly businesses and LGBT allies have joined. Our annual member-to-member showcase puts the spotlight on the myriad of businesses and organizations represented in our ranks. And, the RBPA Scholarship Fund—supported by special events and donations from both individuals and businesses—continues to grow.
As Maine’s LGBT community continues to change and evolve, RBPA anticipates that it will, too. However, our commitment to our community as a nonprofit organization will remain.

CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT AND ETHICS

RBPA encourages its members to uphold high standards of business conduct and ethics. Our members:
• Conduct business with honesty, integrity, and fairness with respect to customers, clients, and employees alike.
• Do NOT discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, or marital or familial status.
• Are responsible at all times for truthful and nondeceptive advertising and promotion regarding their business and its products or services.
• Do NOT use or condone advertising that is untrue, misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, or falsely disparaging of competitors, or that contains insincere offers to. This includes advertising that, as a whole, may be misleading or result in misrepresentation by direct statement, inference, or omission.
• Conduct business with strict adherence to the laws of the State of Maine and to the business or professional code of the member's business or profession, and in accordance with generally accepted business practices.
• Are accessible and accountable to customers or clients, and make every reasonable effort to act in the customer’s or client’s best interest or benefit.
• Make available to customers or clients a statement of business practices.
• Support the ideals and goals of this organization as well as support the LGBT community in general in a constructive and positive manner.