Certified B Corporation

 

 

‡ Multi-year Contribution † Program Related Investment

A Word From Our Funders

"B Corp is paving the way toward a more sustainable future for society and a more robust market environment for business."

 

Jeff Westphal, President and CEO 

- Vertex Inc.

“B Corp is about defining the standards, accountability, and metrics for doing business a ‘different way’, one that considers business's role as profit-maker in the context of its role in the community & environment.  B Corp is about the advocacy & creation of a legal form that expresses & protects these beliefs. We believe that B Corp is a critical component that enables mainstream capital to impact the outcome and magnitude of these sustainability challenges.”

 

David Chen, B Lab Board Member 

- Equilibrium Capital Group

“B Lab understands how business, society and nature relate. It recognizes companies that solve our challenges, writes law that reflects our cultural evolution and provides information that is essential to managing risk.”

 

Luke Apicella, Senior Analyst 

- Prudential Social Investments

“Entrepreneurs that are addressing intractable problems like inadequate shelter, lack of health care and climate change need access to private capital.  USAID is a strong supporter of B Lab's work on GIIRS because of its potential to help entrepreneurs attract investors who want to address these persistent development challenges around the world.”

 

Rob Schneider, Senior Alliance Advisor 

- USAID

“As a pioneer in this field, Calvert Foundation applauds B Lab’s innovative and important work creating a stronger market infrastructure for making social enterprises more bankable. We expect that B Lab’s work will move more capital to sustainable businesses that are addressing society’s needs and challenges.”

 

Lisa Hall, President and CEO 

- Calvert Foundation

 

“B Lab is developing powerful tools for a growing social movement that rejects the maximization of shareholder value as the singular role of business.  By advocating for changes to state corporation laws, building a social impact rating system and establishing a certification process for socially responsible businesses, B Lab is at the forefront of efforts to build a more economically viable and environmentally sound business sector that truly benefits society. I am proud to be a founding member of the Board of Directors and witness the growth of this remarkable organization from the ground up."

 

Debra Dunn, B Lab Board Member

“With a new generation of social impact investment opportunities emerging, B Lab’s social measurement framework will be a vital tool for helping impact investors like Armonia identify organizations that advance our goals and for directing capital towards the kind of change we want to see in the world.“

 

Larry Lunt, CEO

- Armonia

“Sustainability – economic, social and environmental – is increasingly driving investor decision-making across industries.  Sustainability is not a fad, but rather an essential ingredient for business success in the 21st century.  One of the payoffs for GIIRS-rated companies that integrate sustainability into strategy is the opportunity to attract investments for growth.  As a leading global sustainability assurance, tax and consulting provider, Deloitte is pleased to support the evolution of the GIIRS social impact tool.”

 

Jack Russi, National Managing Partner - Corporate Development 

- Deloitte.

“Ideas that can change the world don’t need to be invented, they need to be found and funded.  We are excited about GIIRS and its potential to create visibility for, and attract investment in, a new generation of high-impact companies that have a deep commitment to social and environmental value creation. RSF Social Finance is proud t be a GIIRS Pioneer Fund and to have collaborated with B Lab in the development of this innovative impact rating system.”

 

Don Shaffer, President and CEO

- RSF Social Finance

“Linklaters proudly supports, and has dedicated many pro bono hours advancing, B Lab's innovative three-pronged approach to corporate responsibility:  the B Lab certification system (measuring the impact of a corporation on all of its stakeholders including, employees and the environment), the promotion of benefit corporation statutes (which allow directors to consider stakeholder interests in addition to shareholder interests in making corporate decisions) and the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS) (a "rating agency" for companies and funds with social and environmental benefits as their mission).”

 

Sabrena Silver, Partner

- Linklaters

“Solidago is honored to support the pioneering efforts B Lab leads. The vision many of us share for a sustainable future requires deep work bridging the fundamental divide between sustainability and capitalism. This work presents many complex challenges and we are thrilled to assist B Lab as it develops practical solutions and tools for this work. The leadership and innovation B Lab provides is an inspiration to all of us at Solidago.“

 

Jeff Rosen, Director of Finance

- Solidago Foundation

“As investors developed tools for measuring risk better, the tradeoffs between risk and return became clearer and investors could choose their ideal balance. By developing a clear tool for measuring impact, GIIRS is allowing investors to optimize on impact as well as on risk and return. Nothing will be more important to the future of impact investing than enabling this optimization.”

 

Thomas Brenninkmeijer 

- Good Energies

“GIIRS is a key tool that helps translate the growing interest in impact investing, into actual results. I support B Lab’s priorities not only because GIIRS is important to the field, but also because GIIRS-rated companies will have a greater understanding of their own performance. This increased self-awareness will help them manage their businesses better, and it will amplify their social impact.”

 

Tom Bird, CEO and formewr B Lab Board Memeber

- Farm Capital Services, LLC

 

“B Lab is a worthy effort trying to bring meaning back to business.  Business needs to rethink the notion of stakeholder to include the community of producers, consumers, and those affected by the company, and B Lab is helping lead the way”

 

John Fullerton, Founder and President

- Capital Institute

“B Lab is one of a vanguard of organizations that is reimagining the American corporation to advance both financial return and societal well being.  I believe that B Lab will contribute importantly to a bold new marketplace for impact investing and sustainable business, redirecting billions of dollars toward critical social and environmental objectives.”

 

Stephen toben, President

- Flora Family Foundation

“ Good health and health care are essential to the well-being and stability of our society, the vitality of our families, and the productivity of our economy.  Corporations can help secure these benefits for workers, their families, and the general public.  When B Corp certification includes health and safety standards, we believe it may produce dramatic improvements in health and safety in the workplace.”

 

Paul Tarini, Senior Program Officer

- Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

 

“Globally we see an increasing interest in true corporate social responsibility. B Lab is capitalizing on this movement by helping to create a new sector of the economy where companies are held accountable financially while at the same time creating value for society and the environment. These companies demonstrate to consumers and investors that by using market forces they are doing well by doing good. It’s not your grandfather’s capitalism; it’s the future of capitalism.”

 

Lorene Arey, President

- The Clara Fund

“ The Annie E. Casey Foundation is always concerned with measuring the impact of our social investments and leveraging co-investment. We believe that GIIRS will significantly advance the field by creating a robust rating system with transparent and comparable metrics. As an effective and efficient social impact measurement tool, GIIRS will influence individual and institutional investors to devote more financial resources toward critical social problems. This effort could be a game-changing move for the social and private sectors.”

 

Christa Velasquez, former Director of Social Investments

- The Annie E. Casey Foundation

“ It is essential to the wide spread adoption of impact investing for a system like GIIRS to be in place. This innovative tool will help entrepreneurs addressing important social problems find the capital they need to serve their communities. We support B Lab's efforts to encourage business that improves the world.”

 

Stuart Davidson

- Labrador Ventures