Giving Compass' Take:

• The author writes about her experience attending a workshop on 'B Corporations and Doing Business for Good' in which they discussed the success and challenges of running  B Corporations.

• Will the incorporation of social good practices in bigger businesses stay trending in the future? Are we already starting to see the rise and shift to B Corporations and social enterprises? How will this affect growth for the social sector and corporate field?

• Read about the matchmaking between sustainable corporations and social impact start ups to achieve the most social good. 

Last week I attended a workshop hosted by AVPN on B Corporations and Doing Business for Good, the new buzz word within the socially responsible and sustainable investing markets. They explored ideas about how they can attract more companies who have the intent of fostering a greater social outcome.

The term refers to a company that uses the power of business to solve environmental and social issues. Instead of adopting the conventional model of maximizing shareholder value, companies look at running their businesses from a different approach.  Companies which focus instead on generating positive stakeholder value will ultimately lead to a more sustainable business, in turn leading to increased shareholder value in the long run.

They operate with a need to align business with society and have coined the term ‘best for the world, not best in the world.’

The challenge is there are many companies, who are conscious of their social impact and who want to be part of the initiative driving this change of business practices, but unsure as to where to start. As such, B Lab developed the B Impact Assessment (BIA) to help companies asses their business practices in line with a set of metrics.

B Lab found using the BIA leads to concrete behavioral change, providing a peer group comparison as well as an assessment on how to improve business practices. Even though many companies which take the BIA may fail, we see they are at least thinking about making a change and trying to work towards better practices, and this is the movement we would all like to keep driving.

Read the full article about B Corporation by Meeta Misra at avpn