Impact Improvement Through Collaboration

Businesses Go Beyond the Norm by Working in Community

The world is currently facing difficult crises and challenges. Our environment is in rapid decline. Social justice gaps are widening, not closing. By choosing to prioritize profit over people and the planet, most businesses are contributing to the problems. 

This inspired the We Go Beyond campaign for B Corp Month in March 2023. Certified B Corporations are examples of businesses dedicated to impact improvement. B Corps go beyond the harmful status quo and take action to transform the economic system. During B Corp Month, B Corps were encouraged to invite people to learn about why and how B Corps choose to pursue a more impactful path. 

The B Corp Certification isn’t just a mark; it’s a global movement of people going beyond business as usual to make their mark on the world. The B Corp community demonstrates what’s possible when companies think beyond profit, when they go beyond the expected, and when they come together to prove that there’s a better way to do business.

“We learn from each other about innovative programs, best practices, employee trainings, and much more.” — Lorin Augeri of Florida for Good Network

B Lab U.S. & Canada and B The Change have created an impact improvement guide of B Corp collaboration examples to help more businesses and organizations find ways to go beyond their own impact to support other companies, community members, and more. The guide showcases stories of partnerships based on supply chain, place, sector, and collective action to help you and your organization go beyond.

In this downloadable guide, you’ll find examples and recommendations from collaborations, partnerships, and other relationships that have resulted in notable impact improvement for individuals, companies, and communities. Some of the topics include:

• Client, Partner, and Supplier Screening Tools for Positive Impact Supply Chains; 
• Transition to a B Corp Supply Chain Model to Increase Collective Positive Impact;
• Advocate Where You Are: B Locals Collaborate for Policy Action;
• Join a B Corp Network to Build Collaboration and Work Toward a More Inclusive Economy;
• How the Financial Industry Is Working to Close the Racial Wealth Gap: Tapping the Power of Community and Collaboration; and
• Building a Stakeholder Economy Through Policy Action and Advocacy.

All of these topics tie together to support individuals in connecting with others for company-wide, community-wide, and, ultimately, economy-wide systemic change. For example, CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada Jorge Fontanez has discussed the high value of collaboration within the B Corp community. He shared in a LinkedIn Live conversation (available in this guide) that B Lab, the organization that oversees B Corp Certification, is committed to scaling tools and best practices for purpose-driven business leaders. “The fact that we bring companies together to learn from each other helps us move the needle on how we not only affect issues related to closing the racial wealth gap, but also shift behavior, culture, and systems of injustice,” he said. “B Corps know that we have to change the system because we are also on the front lines of this work.”

The B Corp examples of impact improvement through collaboration are as inspiring as they are varied. Some of the examples shared in this guide feature small companies, large companies, private-public partnerships, community-led initiatives, and policy-focused coalitions. Get inspired to take action by learning from their examples, including:

• The Body Shop, which amplified youth voices in public life with its Be Seen, Be Heard campaign that aims to dismantle barriers for first-time voters. The B Corp’s North American stores served as voter registration hubs, and The Body Shop celebrated National Voter Registration Day with an event in partnership with fellow B Corp Tony’s Chocolonely. The Body Shop stores across North America displayed information about voting rights and voter registration.
• AMS Fulfillment partners with community organizations that serve underserved communities and connects with job-seekers through that work. Partner organizations include the Sheriff’s Department Youth Activity League, which provides opportunities to adolescents; Five Keys Charter Schools and Programs, which serves people experiencing homelessness; New Horizons, which serves individuals with special needs; and the Joint Venture Program, which operates the Prison Inmate Labor Initiative. 
• Seventh Generation’s Supplier Code of Conduct, first adopted in 2013, includes social and environmental standards that collaborating companies must meet or pursue with an emphasis on respect for people and the environment as well as practices that are ethical, transparent, and responsible. Several sections of the supplier code focus on worker rights, outlining that suppliers cannot use child labor (workers under 15) or involuntary labor, must have inclusive hiring and employment practices, and will respect the rights of employees to join associations of their choice and bargain collectively.
• And dozens more!