It's official! WeSpire is now a B Corp™. We are now part of the rapidly growing global movement of more than 6,000 Certified B Corporations from 160+ industries, across 89 countries including companies like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Tom's of Maine.
Since our inception, we have been a business that’s a force for good and not just been focused on shareholder profits, but rather committed to all stakeholders — workers, communities, customers, and the planet.
"We are excited to welcome WeSpire to the B Corp community. Given WeSpire's work helping organizations activate purpose in their workplace, they exemplify the mission of the B Corp movement to use business as a force for good." said Lindsey Wilson, Associate Director of Growth, B Lab U.S. & Canada.
What is a B Corp?
B Corps are for-profit, mission-driven companies that seek to balance purpose and profit while boldly reimagining the role that business plays in society. More concretely, Certified B Corps meet B Lab’s high standards for social and environmental impact, making a clear commitment to stakeholder governance, and demonstrating accountability and transparency.
B Corps are contributing to a global culture shift to redefine the impact business can have on our communities, and to move away from a reliance on governments and organizations to create that change alone. We’re excited to be part of the B Corp community of changemakers, working collectively to address society’s most critical challenges while contributing to a more inclusive and regenerative economy that works for everyone, including our team and clients.
How does B Lab drive systemic change?
- Building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between "good companies" and good marketing
- Passing legislation to accelerate growth of social entrepreneurship and impact investing (37 states and territories have already passed benefit corporation legislation)
- Developing B Analytics, a customizable platform for measuring, benchmarking, and reporting on impact
- Providing free, powerful tools for businesses to measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance (more than 70,000 businesses use B Lab's free B Impact Assessment)
How does a company become B Corp Certified?
For a business to become a B Corp, it must first be certified by B Lab™. B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business so that all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.
The certification process by B Lab is vigorous, as companies must meet strict standards focused on five key impact areas of: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. Companies who score more than 80 points (out of 200) are officially certified and, to ensure we all maintain our commitment, must be recertified every three years.
Based on the B Impact assessment, WeSpire earned an overall score of 119.2. For a bit of context, Patagonia, a mothership B Corp, has 151.5 points, while TOMS comes in at 96.3. With a score of 119.2, we’re confident we’re on the right track!
To see the scores we received for each area in our assessment visit our public B Impact Report.
Why was becoming B Corp Certified so important to us?
B Corp Certification does not mean that a company is perfect, nor that it has achieved its highest impact. What it does show is that we are a part of a global community of businesses working collectively for economic systems change, and that in order to stay committed to this work it must meet the rising standards for social and environmental performance.
Every day, we strive to inspire people to build a better working world with our cutting edge ESG engagement platform that empowers companies to engage their employees with sustainability, social impact, wellbeing, and inclusive culture initiatives that catalyze collective positive impact, for the company, employees, our communities and the planet.
What's next for us?
Becoming B Corp Certified is a massive milestone for us, but it's by no means our end goal. As a young business, we will expand our impact as we grow, and work with other passionate B Corp businesses to fight climate change, inequality, and make the world a fairer place for everyone.
"I fundamentally believe that business can most effectively, and profitably, solve some of the world’s biggest environmental and social problems. But it requires recognizing the importance of long-term, systems thinking, with stakeholder impact at the forefront of strategy." - Susan Hunt Stevens, Founder & CEO of WeSpire