A Guide to B Corporations
Using business as a force for good, and measuring impact.
What is a B Corp?
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose.
By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.
B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The values and aspirations of the B Corp community are embedded in the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence.
How to Become a Certified B Corp
B Corp Certification doesn’t just evaluate a product or service; it assesses the overall positive impact of the company that stands behind it. And increasingly that’s what people care most about.
Certified B Corporations achieve a minimum verified score on the B Impact Assessment—a rigorous assessment of a company’s impact on its workers, customers, community, and environment—and make their B Impact Report transparent on bcorporation.net. Certified B Corporations also amend their legal governing documents to require their board of directors to balance profit and purpose.
The combination of third-party validation, public transparency, and legal accountability help Certified B Corps build trust and value. B Corp Certification is administered by the non-profit B Lab.
B Corp in Canada
As the first B Corp community established outside of the United States, Canadian B Corps are a leading force for good across the country. And they’ve come a long way since that first Canadian B Corp (FlipGive, formerly Better The World) certified in 2009. Now numbered at over 230 companies, Canadian B Corps represent a diverse range of industry sectors.
“It is in this diversity that we have found our strength, with a strong alignment to the core Canadian values we share as a country: inclusion, sustainability, equity, and diversity.”
From sole proprietors and brick-and-mortar retailers to the tech powerhouses and coffee roasteries that keep us moving, it includes a group of forward-thinking business leaders who are putting social and environmental impact right alongside company profits.
You may already interact with a number of B Corps in your daily life - including the likes of the Business Development Bank of Canada, Danone Canada, Optel Group, Beau’s Brewery, Fiasco Gelato and Bullfrog Power. Canadian B Corps are companies that are leading the charge in using business as a force for good in this country.
The Complete Guide to B Corporations
From articulating the business case for Certification and engaging your leadership team to completing the B Impact Assessment and meeting the legal requirement, this guide is a perfect starting place for your company.
