Today, I am beyond excited to announce that Prosper Strategies has been certified as a B Corp! B Corp certification is something we’ve been working on for a LONG time, and we’re so proud to now be part of this amazing community of businesses that are committed to acting as a force for good.
So what does this mean exactly?
As B Lab, the organization behind B Corp certification explains it, “B Corp is to business what Fair Trade Certification is to coffee or USDA Organic Certification is to milk.”
B Corporations are a new kind of company that are legally required to consider the interests of their stakeholders (employees, suppliers and their community) as well as their shareholders. All prospective B Corporations must go through a rigorous certification process that assesses their companies based on criteria such as governance, environmental responsibility and community engagement. We officially completed our certification last week, joining more than 1257 Certified B Corporations in more than 121 industries in 41 countries, including many of our friends, colleagues, mentors and partners (shout out to you Compass(x) Strategy, LimeRed Studio, and our upcoming changemakers to watch featured company Epiphany Farms to name just a few).
Why did we become a B Corp?
We’ve long believed that the most successful businesses are those that have a triple bottom line mindset and care equally about people, the planet and profits. In fact, it was my desire to work with companies with this mindset that motivated me to strike out on my own and open Prosper PR (Prosper Strategies’ predecessor) almost four years ago. We also believe that businesses have an ethical and moral responsibility to do far more good than harm, and to make a positive impact in the communities they serve. We hold ourselves to this belief every day, and our B Corp certification both structures and supports our focus on acting as a force for good.
But being a B Corp isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good business.
As we’ve mentioned before, consumer behaviors are shifting. According to research from Cone Communications, U.S. consumer purchasing of products associated with a cause is up 170 percent since 1993, and 91 percent of global consumers now say they’re likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause given comparable price and quality. Additionally, according to Neilsen, 50 percent of global consumers say they would be willing to reward companies that give back to society by paying more for their goods and services. We want to be one of these companies, and we want our clients to share this mindset.
Our focus on triple bottom line impact has been a boon to our recruiting efforts as well, especially among young talent. Just last week, Lindsay and I attended an advertising and communications career fair at our alma mater, The University of Wisconsin. Despite being one of the smaller, lesser recognized companies that was recruiting at the event, we had one of the most popular booths at the fair. We had a line the whole night. Almost every single student we talked to mentioned our focus on working with changemaking companies (and on being a changemaking company ourselves) as the thing that had piqued their interest employment opportunities at Prosper Strategies. We were surprised, but we shouldn’t have been.
According to NetImpact’s “What Workers Want” study, two-thirds of graduating students rank making an impact through their job as a top priority. In fact, they rank it as more important than having children, having a prestigious job, and yes, even being wealthy.
You should become a B Corp too. Here’s how.
Clearly, we’re quite passionate about the B Corp movement. If you lead a changemaking company (and if you’re reading this blog, you probably do), you should consider joining us and pursuing your B Corp certification.
Here’s what we did to get certified. You can follow these same steps yourself.
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- Learn about B Corp requirements. We didn’t want to simply jump right into the B Corp Impact Assessment and hope for the best. Instead, we wanted to learn what it would truly take to build a better kind of business, and then work toward specific goals for improving the way we operate before we even tried for certification. During this part of the process, we spent a good deal of time with the B Corp handbook. To be honest, this part of the process took years. I first became interested in becoming a B Corp when my business was brand new, and needed to build a track record, a team, a partnership with Lindsay and a sense of what mattered to us most before I felt truly ready to apply.
- Take the Impact Assessment. First, we took the quick snapshot assessment and learned where we could gain points toward B Corp certification and where we needed to improve. Then, we spent several months making more changes in our business based on what we learned. Finally, when we felt ready, we took the full assessment, which took me a couple hours to complete. To “pass” the assessment, you’ll need to score at least 80 points out of 100. When all was said and done, we scored 92.7, and we’re going to work on getting that score up even higher in the months and years to come.
- Answer B Lab questions and provide additional documentation. After the assessment was through, we did a phone interview with B Lab, the organization behind B Corp, and provided several documents backing up our answers to the assessment questions (employee handbooks, review feedback, financial statements etc.) This part of the process was tedious but worth it. We ended up adding several additional points to our score as a result of B Lab’s assessment of our documentation.
- Wait, pay, party. After a brief waiting period, we got word that we had been approved for certification, paid our fee, and got ready to party in celebration of our certification. Wine Friday anyone?
If you’re ready to explore becoming a B Corp yourself, head to BCorporation.net and get started. We’re also happy to discuss our experience and provide insights on pursuing B Corp certification and operation. Just reach out to me directly at alyssa@prosper-strategies.com.
Here’s to a future of impact and to all of the other entrepreneurs out there who are using their businesses as a force for good!
