This document discusses B Corporations, a certification for companies that aim to use business as a force for good. The key points are: 1. B Corps are certified by meeting standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. There are over 1,850 certified B Corps across 130 industries in 50 countries. 2. Becoming a B Corp has benefits for companies like maintaining their mission, differentiating themselves, improving performance, attracting talent, collaborating with peers, saving money through partnerships, and raising capital from aligned investors. 3. The certification process involves completing an impact assessment, meeting legal requirements either through benefit corporation status or appropriate amendments, signing related documents, and paying certification fees to maintain

1. www.bcorporation.eu
A new class of companies …

2. B Lab is serving a global movement of
People Using Business as a Force for Good
So that one day all companies compete to be
Best for the World
And society enjoys a
shared and durable prosperity.

3. Fast Company : mentions, next to Apple, Uber,
and the Human Genome Project, the B Corp
moviment as one of the 20 most memorable
moments of the last 20 years.
Forbes wrote that being a B Corp is one of the
5 key success factors that a company should
aim for in 2016.

4. B Corporations The B Corporation certification
is to business what
Fair Trade is to coffee or
LEED is to buildings.
Last 20 Years
Good Products
Next 20 Years
Good Companies

5. 1. Social &
Environmental
Performance
2. Transparency 3. Accountability
Companies using business as a force for good.
They meet verified higher levels of:
“B Corp certification
further signals to our
stakeholders (coworkers,
customers, suppliers, and
community) that our
values are truly at the
core of our business.”
What is a B Corporation?

6. 1. Elevating Purpose and
creating new business
opportunities
2. Improve Performance
and Benchmark
3. Building Trust
Companies using business as a force for good.
“By becoming a B Corporation,
entrepreneurs can protect their
mission by elevating their
company’s core social and
environmental values to the
status of law.”
Sir Ron Cohen - the father of
social impact investing
What is a B Corporation?
Three key deliverables

7. B Corp Community = Good Companies to #BtheChange
1 unifying principle
+40,000
took BIA
+1850
B corps
130
industries
50
countries

8. Steps to becoming a certified B Corp
0.
set up as
an
enterprise
1.
take the
impact
assessment
(free)
2.
Prepare and
deliver
documentation
3.
Call from
auditor
(adjusting the
evaluation)
4.
Signing
Terms
(term sheet)
5.
editing
your
statutes
6.
paying the
certification
fee
6 steps to become a B Corp

9. B Corp Certification helps companies:
1. Maintain Mission
2. Differentiate from Pretenders
3. Benchmark and Improve Performance
4. Attract and Engage Talent
5. Collaborate with Peers
6. Save Money and Access Services
7. Generate press
8. Raise Capital
Learn more here: http://www.bcorporation.eut/become-a-b-corp/why-become-a-b-corp
Revisiting the Benefits

10. Adopting the B Corp legal standards:
• Bakes the values of the company into its
legal DNA
• Gives protection and permission to
consider non-financial stakeholders
(community, employees, suppliers,
environment)
• Ensures that mission can survive through
new management, succession, or
ownership
Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia
First to register as a benefit corporation in CA
January, 2011
“Benefit corporation legislation creates the legal
framework to enable mission-driven companies like
Patagonia to stay mission-driven through succession,
capital raises, and even changes in ownership, by
institutionalizing the values, culture, processes, and high
standards put in place by founding entrepreneurs.” –
Yvon Chouinard
1. Maintain Mission

11. 2. Differentiate from Pretenders

12. Jennifer McKaig, Etsy
“The biggest surprise to me was realizing that our employees deeply cared
about the things the B Impact Assessment measured.”
3. Benchmark & Improve Performance

13. “B Corps are 46% more likely to have satisfied and engaged
employees than ordinary businesses.”
B Analytics
“Employees who are satisfied in their jobs because they
believe in what they are doing have 16% better overall
performance and 125% less burnout than their peers.”
Harvard Business Review
“Almost two-thirds of millennials said they would rather
make $40,000 a year at a job they love than $100,000 a year
at a job they think is boring.”
Forbes
• B Corp certification provides a platform to engage current staff and give
employees more meaning in their work
4. Attract & Engage Talent

14. 5. Collaborate with Peers: The Hive

15. Access to a suite of partnerships and
discounts
• NetSuite – ERP software discount
• Salesforce – Software discount
• TrustLaw – Legal advice
• Intuit – Software discount
• B Corp Jobs Board – Free postings
Tuition Discounts / Forgiveness
• Yale School of Management
• NYU Stern School of Business
• Presidio Graduate School
• Golden Gate University
6. Save Money & Access Services

16. 7. Generate Press: Examples

17. • The B Corp certification helps
attract aligned investors so that
companies can scale their impact
8. Raise Capital
"We raised capital and our lead investor
was also a Certified B Corporation. The B
Corp connection meant access to capital
from mission-aligned investors."
David Murphy, Chairman

18. Step 1: Meet Performance Requirement
Complete the B Impact Assessment and earn a
reviewed minimum score of 80 out
of 200 points
Step 2: Meet Legal Requirement
Determine the path for your corporate structure
and state of incorporation
Step 3: Make it Official
Sign the Declaration of Interdependence, pay
certification fees, extra transparency of Disclosure
Questionnaire, and put a profile up on
bcorporation.net
To learn more, visit:
www.bcorporation.net/become-a-b-corp/how-to-
become-a-b-corp
Revisiting the Process to Certify

19. Governance
• Transparency
• Ownership
Workers
• Job Growth
• Compensation & Benefits
• Employment Practices
• Work Environment
• Employee Ownership
Community
• Suppliers
• Local
• Diversity
• Charity /
Volunteerism
Environment
• Energy Use
• Facilities
• Supply Chain
• Manufacturing
+ Impact Business
Models
• Direct Impact
Products /Services
• Targeting
Underserved
Communities
• High Impact Supply
Chain
Step 1: Meet Performance Requirement

20. Adopting the B Corp legal
standards:
• Bakes the values of the company
into its legal DNA
• Gives protection and permission to
consider non-financial stakeholders
(community, employees, suppliers,
environment)
• Ensures that mission can survive
over time
Step 2: Meet Legal Requirement

21. Legal Requirements
Term Sheet & Certification
Fees
❑ Sign B Lab Term Sheet
▪ Certification term is 2-years
▪ Participate in on-site review if randomly
selected (10% of Certified B Corps
randomly selected each year)*
❑ Sign the Declaration of Interdependence,
❑ Pay certification fees
• Annual certification fees based on the
tiered structure
❑ Put a profile up on bcorporation.net and make
Disclosure Questionnaire public.
Step 3: Term Sheet & Certification Fee
* Transparency requirement may change due to
subsidiary relationship of Chobani Australia.TBD

22. Start now - measure your company
You can now take the free and confidential Benefit Impact Assessment used by
over 40,000 other users, to assess and benchmark the impact of your company
Go to: http://bimpactassessment.net

23. Redefine success in business.
Help create a new economy.
Build a better business.
Compete to be not only
the best in the world,
but the best for the world.
Join us
Twitter: @bcorpeurope | Web: bcorporation.eu | Facebook: @bcorpeurope