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Etsy Announces B Corporation(TM) Certification

Online platform for independent, creative businesses commits to rigorous third-party standards

Etsy Announces B Corporation(TM) Certification

Online platform for independent, creative businesses commits to rigorous third-party standards

Published 05-09-12

Submitted by Etsy

Etsy Brooklyn Office

Over the last seven years, Etsy has been building the global platform for independent, creative businesses — driving a new, people-powered economy. Today we are proud to announce our certification as a B Corporation™. B Corporations are a new kind of company that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. We are excited to join a community of more than 500 B Corporations from over 60 industries, such as consulting, solar energy, and law. Etsy will be among the biggest, in good company with Patagonia and Seventh Generation. Certified companies are rated on rigorous standards of transparency, accountability and performance.

Etsy took this step because we believe that business has a higher social purpose beyond simply profit. As CEO Chad Dickerson explains, “we believe becoming a Certified B Corporation is one of the most important things Etsy has ever done. It helps us keep an eye on the mindful, transparent, and humane values we aspire to. The B Corp assessment gives us a framework for measuring our success against rigorous values and responsible practices as we scale as a company.”

Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures, a long time Etsy investor, adds, “Etsy is a prime example of the Internet-based networks and marketplaces that are reshaping our economy and society.  We believe that the best long term stewards of these networks will focus on value creation for all participants instead of solely on shareholders. B Corp provides a measurement framework and ultimately a legal foundation perfectly supporting this much more comprehensive outlook.”

Etsy welcomes the challenge to build upon our current conscientious practices, which include offering loaner bicycles to employees, hiring local small food businesses that incorporate in-season ingredients, donating office compost to a Brooklyn community farm, and regulating office energy consumption.

"We're thrilled Etsy is joining the growing community of Certified B Corporations,” says B Lab co-founder Andrew Kassoy. “Their business model, which supports a community of micro-enterprises at scale, is an example of the kind of business that is redefining success and building local, living economies.”

About Etsy
Etsy is the marketplace we make together. We enable people anywhere to easily build and directly exchange with independent, creative businesses. As of May 2012, Etsy has 15 million members and 875,000 sellers in over 150 countries. In 2011, our sellers grossed more than $525 million in sales.

About B Corp
Certified B Corporations 1) meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance; 2) legally expand their corporate responsibilities to include consideration of stakeholder interests; and 3) build collective voice through the power of the unifying B Corporation brand. As of January 2012, there are over 515 Certified B Corporations from over 50 industries, representing a diverse multi-billion marketplace.

About B Lab
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 creation of a new corporate form and tax, procurement, and investment incentives for sustainable business

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy is the marketplace we make together. We enable people anywhere to easily build and directly exchange with independent, creative businesses. As of May 2012, Etsy has 15 million members and 875,000 sellers in over 150 countries. In 2011, our sellers grossed more than $525 million in sales.

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