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If Not Now, When? B Lab Releases 2011 B Corp Annual Report, including the first B Corp Index

If Not Now, When? B Lab Releases 2011 B Corp Annual Report, including the first B Corp Index

Published 03-09-11

Submitted by B Lab

The nonprofit B Lab, in partnership with Sustainable Industries, released the 2011 B Corp Annual Report highlighting the year's progress in building a new sector of the economy which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

The 2011 B Corp Annual Report features the first B Corp Index, providing comparable metrics on the social and environmental performance of more than 1,300 sustainable businesses. Data shows that B Corporations score 25% higher than Other Sustainable Businesses on the B Impact Rating System, which assesses corporate impact on employees, consumers, community and the environment.

A second finding is that little data is available on how ordinary businesses stack up in their social and environmental performance. Research suggests that few measure impact, let alone use a common yardstick.

"The ongoing B Corp ad campaign asserts that B Corps are better companies. The B Corp Index backs up that claim", says B Lab co-founder Jay Coen Gilbert.

Other highlights include: the first case study of companies improving their social and environmental performance to achieve B Corp certification; B Corps saving over $1 MM last year through discounts included with their certification from companies like Salesforce, NetSuite, and Intuit; B Corps acting as a powerful constituency to pass Benefit Corporation legislation in Vermont and Maryland and introduce it with bipartisan support in nine states; and the first GIIRS Progress Report, detailing the path to launch for B Lab's Global Impact Investing Rating System, which will help scale what JP Morgan calls the emerging asset class of impact investing.

Download the 2011 B Corp Annual Report here.

About B Lab and GIIRS

B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab drives systemic change through three interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier for all of us to tell the difference between "good companies" and just good marketing; 2) accelerating the growth of the impact investing asset class through use of B Lab's GIIRS impact rating system by institutional investors; and 3) promoting supportive public policies, including legislation creating a new corporate form and tax, procurement, and investment incentives for sustainable business.

GIIRS is a ratings agency that provides social and environmental impact ratings for companies and funds seeking to raise capital from impact investors. GIIRS stands for the Global Impact Investing Rating System. GIIRS gives institutional investors for the first time the rigorous, comparable, third party metrics they need to channel more capital into the emerging asset class of impact investments. GIIRS is a project of the nonprofit B Lab.

Learn more at bcorporation.net and giirs.org.

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B Lab

B Lab

B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement to redefine success in business. It's vision is that one day all companies will compete not only to be the best in the world, but best for the world.

B Lab drives this systemic change through a number of interrelated initiatives: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations who lead this movement and make it easier to tell the difference between “good companies” and good marketing; 2) passing benefit corporation legislation to create a new kind of corporation legally required to create value for society, not just shareholders; 3) helping investors invest for impact through use of the B Analytics data platform; and 4) helping businesses measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance through use of the B Impact Assessment as a free powerful educational tool.

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