When we incorporated TEA three and half years ago, we spent a lot of time thinking about the kind of company we wanted to be… both intellectually and on paper. While the former is seemingly the more important of the two, the latter is the mechanism that turns an idea or a statement into action. We knew three things; we were likely to work almost exclusively with nonprofit organizations, we wanted to be values based and values driven, and we hoped someday to become a certified B Corp. With these understandings in mind, we did three things:
- We founded as a public benefit corporation which is generally defined as “a corporation created to generate social and public good, and to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner.”
- We made our value statements public. They are:
- We believe everyone deserves a living wage; our partners and contractors will be fairly and adequately compensated.
- We believe in racial equity; our practice will strive to promote a just society for all.
- We believe that diversity, inclusion and accessibility will make us stronger; we commit to building a staff and partnership base that is representative of all people.
- We believe that climate change is a critical issue; we will work to highlight environmental concerns whenever possible and build a sustainable approach to the work that we do.
- We believe that love and respect matter; we commit to seeing the humanity/whole selves of our staff, partners, clients and audiences.
- We committed to giving back a certain percentage of our profits to organizations we hope to see thrive.
Three years, fifteen projects, and a rigorous nine month submission and review process later, we are delighted to announce that TEA is now a certified B Corp!
According to the B Corp website, a B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. In order to achieve certification, a company must:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or above and passing our risk review.
- Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.
We are honored to join the ranks of socially responsible companies from around the world, including Patagonia, Warby Parker, and Kickstarter. Many B Corps were founded right here in New England, including Ben & Jerry’s, Boloco, Cabot Creamery and Stonyfield Farm. Search for B Corp’s here to find out who has joined the movement for sustainable, equitable business practice. We hope you’ll join us…as a partner, a client, or a fellow certified member!
