The first question I get from other business owners: is B Corp certification worth it? The process is rigorous and deeply intentional. It required us to formalize so many of our back-of-the-napkin casual processes.
As a part of becoming B Corp Certified, we had to become a Public Benefit Corp (PBC). PBC is an official legal structure and designation that allows a company to not only focus on generating profits for their shareholders (eg: investors, stock holders, etc.) but also empowers them to focus on generating benefits for their stakeholders. For us, functionally, spiritually, legally, our stakeholders are small businesses.
It also had the feeling of being inevitable. Becoming a B Corp has been in our roadmap since day one. This is because Cara and I built goodbuy from the ground up with the specific goal of serving and elevating conscious, diversely-owned, and/or deeply intentional small businesses and independent brands. Yes, the B Corp certification process is worth it—for us, it is an endorsement of everything we’re doing and plan to do.
As you can imagine, all of this work required time, effort, and investment from our internal team as well as vendors and partners. It necessarily pulled focus and resources away from other projects and priorities. Which leads me to the second question I get from other business owners: how long does B Corp certification take? For us, the process took over a year.
Now that we’ve obtained our certification, we’ll have to invest time and resources toward recertification every 3 years. It’s important to us, and we’re committed to doing it.
Why? Because we’re in business for small business. And our status as a Certified B Corp formalizes that intention and provides accountability and a framework we can apply against the future of goodbuy.
goodbuy is part of a movement that is pushing on businesses to do better, be better, and lead in diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA), environment, and social responsibility.
That means we’d like to play a role in creating an ecosystem that shines a spotlight on businesses with great practices, run by folks who have diverse experiences and identities; give back to their communities; are gentle to the environment and animals; and who are also working to create the world we want to inhabit.
B Corp certification matters because it provides an assessment framework that moves those desires from intention to action. It’s a score that quantifies our effort and intention and helps us understand if we’re hitting the mark.
B Lab is the group who oversees the certification process, and the tool they use to measure and verify potential B Corps is the B Impact Assessment (BIA). It assesses companies across 5 areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. We surpassed the B Corp threshold of 80 points to get to a total of 101.9 points.
Click here to see our full score and public B Corp Profile.
Membership in this group of businesses leading the way across DEIJA, sustainability, and the future of commerce is an inspiring and deeply humbling experience. We have the opportunity and responsibility now to continue to learn from the best, and to make progress in every area of our business.
Because small business and independent brands are the backbone of our society, building resiliency, generosity, and diversity into our communities.
We are the marketplace that makes it easier and more convenient to shop businesses that are doing good in the world. And our status as a Certified B Corp is a mandate to always keep the best interests of small businesses at the center of every decision and development.
Achieving B Corp certification validates our commitment to serving small businesses, and provides us with a framework to continuously improve and make a positive impact. We’re proud to be part of a movement that seeks to create a better world through business, and we will continue to champion the interests of small businesses every step of the way.
%201.svg)
%201.svg)
