What is a B Corp?
On January 11th, we hosted our first Lunch & Learn of the year with a panel discussion on being a Certified B Corporation. Moderated by Katie Clark with Idaho for Good, the panelists included John Tansey from Lovevery, Lisa Leff Cooper, CFA®, CFP® from Figure 8 Investment Strategies, and Jeff Heath from Freeform. They discussed why Idaho companies are becoming B Corps, lessons they've learned, and what the major benefits are.
Click here to watch the full panel recap.
Katie Clark began with a brief introduction about Idaho for Good and her position as Co-Governance Lead, alongside Cherie Hoger from Saalt. Idaho for Good is a group of conscious businesses in Idaho working together to strengthen business as a force for good in our communities.
Certified B Corporations are companies who have gone through the extensive B Impact Assessment and achieved a score of 80 points or higher, out of 200. This business certification is hosted by the non-profit organization, B Lab.
Katie Clark asked panelists, “Why did your company become a B Corp?”
John Tansey, Lovevery
“Lovevery (founded in 2017) is focused on early childhood development through play. It is a subscription based company serving children from infancy to four years old. The foundation of the business was to be very sustainable and aspirational. We source FSC wood, organic, cotton, and we do a lot to manage the sustainability of the product. Infants are the most sensitive age, and we want our products to be high quality and non-toxic for our consumers. The founders, Jessica Rolph and Roderick Morris, have a background in sustainable companies. Jess also cofounded Happy Family Organics. Becoming a B Corporation just made sense for their business, and they certified in 2021.”
Lisa Cooper, Figure 8 Investing
“Figure 8 Investing was founded in 2016, and certified as a B Corp in 2020. Started with the intention of wanting to be a B Corp and realized it was a significant amount of work. Figure 8 is an impact investment firm, part of our work is to evaluate the social and environmental impact of businesses that are prospective investees. We had seen a lot of metrics on companies' social and environmental performance, but when we turned the lens on ourselves it opened up a whole lot of things for us. It was a great learning process. We just recently recertified because you recertify as a B Corp every 3 years.”
Jeff Heath, Freefrom
“At Freeform we do commercial interiors, space planning, and design. My parents founded Freeform 37 years ago, and I took over management 8 years ago. I’ve always believed in the general motto for B Corp, business for good. There was a lot we were already doing internally, through environmental initiatives, but a lot was our community focus and how we treat our team. We take care of our team and believe that will start to bleed out into the greater community as well. The third party metrics and criteria are a good way to make sure that we’re doing what we should. B Impact Assessment provided guidance on pay benchmarks, time off, parental leave policies, diversity in the workplace, and many other topics. It was nice to receive third party validation that we were truly doing the things we said we were doing. It’s a great tool to say "no really we are providing this best in class thing.”
“What is the business case for becoming a B Corp?”
Jeff Heath, Freefrom
“This is probably the question we all get most frequently. While it may be difficult to see a direct ROI, but there is a karmic energy when you do the right thing and we believe it will come back around. People like to do business with people they align with, people they feel comfortable with, and people they feel supported by. The bottom line is the desire to put more back into the community than we take from it.”
Lisa Cooper, Figure 8 Investing
“A lot of the B Corp principles are long term investments that payoff overtime, you’re enhancing the quality of what you’re doing. I believe in the business cause for becoming a B Corp, it certainly made us a better business. One example, for what we do with investment management and planning work, we need good people and to be able to recruit and retain talent. Going through the certification process helped us make improvements in our company, and they pay off long term when you’re trying to recruit specific individuals. Some people say it will open up marketing opportunities, I think there might be some of that but that is less powerful than the internal strategic shift that B Corp helps make.”
John Tansey, Lovevery
“I think the Karmic value is true - people want to be a part of purpose driven organizations. When companies operate on the B Corp values, then you are a wonderful place to work, you’re going to make a better product that you can price at a premium, so you can have all three p’s on the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit.”
Why does the certification make sense in your industry and how common is it in your industry?
Lisa Cooper, Figure 8 Investing
“This is an easy answer for me because in the investment management industry at large it is not common at all. But for investment management companies that specialize in sustainable & impact investing, it is almost a necessity. So many of our peer firms are B Corps, and that creates a wonderful community. The B Corp Assessment can be a tool for evaluating investments.”
Jeff Heath, Freefrom
“Being a B Corp is not very common in our industry. There are a fair amount of designers and architects with B Corp Certification, but there aren’t very many dealers with Certification. It is valuable to the right audience, and some people don’t care, but then they might not be our ideal customer. It allows us to elevate the experience as we design environments that are more comfortable for people. If the office isn't a more compelling place to work than their home, you can’t expect people to leave their home. Our B Corp status gives us something to stand on when we’re having certain conversations. It’s given us more perspective of what goes into a positive work environment, and the ability to share that with our customers.”
John Tansey, Lovevery
“I have not seen certification in the toy space, at least relevant toys. Although at the previous company I worked for, Happy Family Organics, it was almost expected to be a B Corp. This company was in the natural space and the certification was table stakes. There was a real community around it. Many people in the B Corp community are really brilliant, and there is a great community of lifelong friends and like-minded peers. One of the strongest arguments is that there is a community available that are going to be really important in your life.”
Share a lesson learned or any recommendations for people considering certification?
John Tansey, Lovevery
“If you’re an established business looking to certify, it can be complex and difficult. It is not a project to assign to a summer intern. A lot of the information lies in finance and at the executive level because you’re talking about culture, and looking at how the business operates. This is not to deter anyone, but it takes time and dedication from leaders at the top of the business. Be prepared to invest the resources required, and you can also do the assessment without going forward with certification.”
Lisa Cooper, Figure 8 Investing
“Yes I agree, the assessment can be used as a tool. I’d advise people to give yourself time, and also know it takes time for B Lab as well. Write things down as you go to make sure you can prove your answers. You have to be making decisions for the right reason. If you’re trying to just boost your score, that will show. Authenticity counts a lot.”
Jeff Heath, Freefrom
“There has to be alignment at the executive level. People think you just have to check some boxes, but if executive leadership isn’t willing to make time it’s not going to happen. There is also a legal component that you have to be onboard with, to adjust your legal framework. There were also questions that were near to impossible for us to get points on, just based on our industry.”
How long did it take your company to get certified?
Lisa Cooper, Figure 8 Investing
“It was a good 3 or 4 months of work, to gather all the information we needed. Another 3-4 months of back and forth with the B Corp Team. The recertification was not as long.”
Jeff Heath, Freefrom
“It took us two years. We submitted during the pandemic when B Lab was struggling to handle all of the requests, but we eventually got it completed.”
John Tansey, Lovevery
“Took us only about 3 months, and our review process was very quick.”
Click here to watch the full panel recap.
Thank you to our panelists for sharing their experiences and unique expertise. Thank you to Idaho for Good for partnering with Idaho Business for the Outdoors, and to Katie Clark for moderating.