Introduction to our brand
Pictured left to right: Bart Houlahan, Jay Coen Gilbert, and Andrew Kassoy.
About our movement
B Lab™ began in 2006 with the idea that a different kind of economy was not only possible—it was necessary.
In our current economic system, short-term gains are prioritized over long-term value; profits over people and the planet, creating inequality, extraction, and degradation.
Our founders Andrew Kassoy, Bart Houlahan, and Jay Coen Gilbert believed there was a better way to do business: better for workers, better for communities, and better for the planet. Their collective experience as entrepreneurs, operators, and investors had shown them that business was responsible for many of the social and environmental problems we face, but that it also has a unique opportunity to address these same challenges at scale.
B Lab became known for certifying B Corporations™, companies that meet verified standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. But we do much more than that.
We help mobilize a global community of businesses committed to collective action on society’s most critical challenges. We work with leaders across industries, geographies, and sizes who have the vision to fundamentally reimagine their company’s operations: not just pursuing easy wins, but driving hard structural shifts. It’s this diversity that gives us the platform to effect wider change. As we grow, we intentionally become more representative of what a new economy can look like.
Throughout history, “big tent” movements succeed when diverse stakeholders unite around a common purpose. Ours now spans over 10,000 B Corps across 160 industries on six continents, collectively employing more than 1 million people—and growing. We’re glad you’ve joined us.
Our purpose
B Lab™ exists to transform the global economy to benefit people and the planet.
Our international network catalyzes economic systems change to support our collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
Together, we are shifting our economic system from profiting only the few to benefiting all, from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to regeneration, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependence.
Introduction to our network
Now that you’re a part of our community, these are the key definitions that will help you navigate our global organization.
Certified B Corporations™, or B Corps™, are companies verified as meeting standards for social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
B Lab™ is the global organization behind B Corp Certification. B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behavior, culture, and structure of capitalism, and mobilizes collective action to address society’s most critical challenges.
B Lab Global coordinates the B Global Network, ensuring alignment on shared objectives and outcomes to help drive economic systems change. B Lab Global facilitates communication and collaboration across regions, as well as developing and managing the B Lab Standards.
Sistema B™
Sistema B Internacional is the organization representing the B Corp movement in Latin America.
Global Partners are B Lab and Sistema B hubs all over the world that grow, engage, and mobilize their regional B Corp communities. They bring our global Theory of Change to life by driving policy change, and changing the impact of business in their regions.
Find more definitions in the glossary here.
Declaration of Interdependence
All B Corps sign the Declaration of Interdependence as part of their certification, making a commitment to embody the values of the B Corp community and work towards our collective vision of an inclusive, regenerative economy.
We envision a global economy that uses business as a force for good. This economy is comprised of a new type of corporation—the B Corporation—which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. As B Corporations and leaders of this emerging economy, we believe that we must be the change we seek in the world. That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place matter. That through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all. To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.
Download the Declaration of Interdependence here.