The Road to a New Economy
B Lab is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves a global movement of entrepreneurs using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab serves these entrepreneurs through three interrelated initiatives that provide them the legal infrastructure and help them attract the customers, talent, and capital to scale.
Certified B Corporations
B Corp certification is to sustainable business what LEED certification is to green building or Fair Trade certification is to coffee.
B Corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Today, there is a growing community of more than 600 Certified B Corps from 15 countries and 60 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.
Passing Legislation
Through the leadership of the community of Certified B Corps, laws have been passed in 11 states (and are moving forward in 16 more) creating a new type of corporation—the benefit corporation—that best meets the needs of entrepreneurs and investors seeking to use business to solve social and environmental problems.
Benefit corporations operate the same as traditional corporations but with higher standards of corporate purpose, accountability, and transparency.
Benefit corporations give business leaders legal protection to pursue a higher purpose than profit, and they offer investors and the public greater transparency to protect against pretenders.
GIIRS Ratings & Analytics
GIIRS is a ratings agency and analytics platform for impact investors.
Like Morningstar ratings and Capital IQ analytics, GIIRS gives investors the tools they need to analyze the impact of their investments with the same rigor as they analyze their financial risk and return.
Since launch in fall 2011, there are already 63 funds and 409 companies from 30 countries in the process of being GIIRS-rated, and 21 institutional investors have declared an investment preference for GIIRS-rated investments in their impact investment portfolios.
