B Corp Certification: What is it and why is it important?
Our little team at Green Island Creative have been celebrating. We’ve always been conscious of our impact on the environment, culture and our community. We have put a fair bit of effort into learning as we go to be better, do better and help lead our clients and friends to do the same, without being preachy. That’s why we’re stoked to have the certification to prove it.
And now… We can prove it with our B Corp certification (and our Social Traders certification too).
What is a B Corp Certification?
B Corp Certification means that our business has been independently audited to prove that we reach the highest standards of social and environmental impact as a business. The B Corp process is all about 3 P’s: People, Planet and Purpose. At Green Island Creative, we’re all about 4 C’s: Coastline, Culture, Community & Creativity.
We’ve demonstrated accountability, performance and transparency on a wide range of factors across governance, workers, customers, community and the environment. To show this commitment we monitored our impact, gave financial statements, crafted policies, created benefits, and donated a significant amount of time and money to prove our salt as a truly low impact business.
Why is having a B Corp Certification important?
B Corp certification helps us to build trust with our clients, suppliers and wider community. It also aligns us with a cohort of other amazing B corporations in Australia, and worldwide, that are a force for good.
Being a B Corp means that we have:
Demonstrated high social and environmental performance on a B Impact Assessment
Made a legal commitment by changing our structure to be accountable to all stakeholders
Displayed transparency by allowing our performance to be publicly displayed on B Lab
So you filled out some forms, was it really that hard?
Getting our certification was a lengthy process. We (mostly Alexis, thank you!) put in over 80 hours to get our B Corp badge. This process, though laborious, helped us to formalise our business structure and commitments, and taught us a lot about the areas in which we could improve. B Corp forced us to develop systems of accountability and impact monitoring that we wouldn’t otherwise have.
If you’re thinking about getting your business B Corp Certified, you can visit the B Corp website for more information. Otherwise, if you need help with your application or have any questions, get in touch with us. We would love to mentor other businesses through the process where we can.