FAQ B Corp
Here are some frequently asked questions around the B Corp Certification process.
What is B Corp?
B Corp Certification is a third-party certification standard that evaluates a company’s social and environmental impact.
Certified B Corps are a new form of business that seeks to balance purpose and profit. This means that rather than solely focusing on profit maximisation, they consider the impact of their operations on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
B Corps are leaders of a global movement of business as a force for good.
To get Certified, they meet the highest independently verified levels of transparency and accountability around their social and environmental performance.
Who can be a B Corp?
The B Corp Certification process is a customised assessment based on industry, size, geography. There are about 70 different assessments in total depending on these variations.
B Corp Certification is aimed at for-profit businesses:
- Any size company
- In most industries and geographies – you can see a list of controversial industries that would mean they typically can’t Certify here – https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/standards/controversial-issues/
- Most legal structure
- That has been in operation for more than 1 year – The operational date begins from the first supplier or client contract, or when an individual is contributing more than 35 hours per week to the company.
Why is it called B Corp?
The B stands for Benefit. It’s about showing how you are benefitting all your stakeholders and the planet beyond just making a profit for your shareholders.
Why become a B Corp?
People want to work for, buy from, and invest in businesses they believe in and B Corp Certification is the most powerful way to build credibility, trust, and value for your business amongst all stakeholders.
Join a community of over 5000 businesses around the world that are aiming to make the world a better place. Benchmark your business against local, regional and global peers.
Not only is this the ‘right thing’ to do, but it also makes economic sense as well. Research shows that being a B Corp can add to your bottom line and profitability. Genuine triple bottom line is the future for all businesses.
And you get to not feel guilty as you will become part of the solution for climate change
How do I get B Corp certified?
It’s achieved by measuring the positive contribution that your organisation makes through the BIA or B Impact Assessment. It reviews your business against the 5 pillars of:
- Governance
- Workers
- Community
- Environment
- Customer Model
The assessment is a self-assessment and is completely free to take. You only pay to have your certification verified by a B Lab Standards Assessor, however, you will need to do that to get the certification.
To qualify for the Certification you must also meet the minimum score of 80/200 points.
Click here to go to the BIA and start your journey to Certification.
How long does it take to get B Corp certified?
To just complete your BIA can be done as quickly as 40 hours. This is assuming you have most of the documents in place at your organisation. But we can help you with this.
Once you have submitted your assessment for verification there will be a waiting period to be assigned a standards assessor from B Lab.
The B Corp movement is currently growing rapidly so the timeline to Certification can take some time, potentially up to 12 months.
How much does it cost to be B Corp certified?
To maintain your B Corp Certification you need to pay an annual fee.
That fee is based on your annual revenue and will depend on where your company is based.
How can we help you with becoming B Corp certified?
We are a leading consultancy firm that specialises in helping businesses just like yours to go B Corp and Beyond.
We have helped many companies through the B Corp Impact Assessment from small to large enterprises in a range of industries from agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, media and service-based businesses.
Anna, Founder and CEO is also has practically been through the process with her sustainable brand. Anna was also a lawyer for over 12 years which enables her to bring to the party top quality documents you can use in your company.
That’s why we are able to offer a consulting service to make the process of B Corp Certification as quick, engaging, fun and easy for you as possible, whilst at the same time bringing the B Corp assessment to life and engaging your entire team.