Social Atlas is excited to officially be part of the Business for Good movement, having recently become a Certified B Corporation.
Joining a community of over 1,600 Certified B Corporations; 120 industries in nearly 50 countries with 1 unifying goal – to redefine success in business.
What is a B Corp?
B Corporations® or B Corps™ are for profit companies who are certified by the independent B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social, environmental performance, accountability and transparency and aspire to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.
It is about acknowledging that we can use the power of business to create positive impact on the world and generate a shared prosperity for everyone not just shareholders.
By going through the certification process B Corp™ practices are reviewed with a detailed “for purpose” lens. The process is rigorous, independently audited and reconfirmed to ensure the high standards are being met.
In Australia we join B Corps™ such as Tom Organic, Whole Kids, Who Gives a Crap® and many more. Check out our profile and search for other B Corps here.
Here is our thoughts on how Social Atlas sees the B Corp in the context of our story so far.
Social Atlas – B Corp™ certification another milestone in our journey
It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since Michelle and I first met and decided to launch Social Atlas. So much has happened since then its hard to know where to begin so we decided to begin with today. Today we announced our certification as a B Corp™. You can read all about B Corporations and their role in the global movement of people using business as a force for good™ on the B Corp™ website. Importantly for Social Atlas you will see that it was nearly one year ago today that I posted the first of our Interesting Things and it was all about the value of the B Corp movement.
It is no coincidence that right now, as we celebrate our first anniversary we are able to make this announcement. It is reflective of the journey Michelle and I have been on, and of the place Social Atlas holds in the evolving landscape.
When we first met, Michelle and I shared a vision for unlocking the power of effective collaboration across sectors and for using the potential of the market to bring about positive social impact. We had a theory of change. We knew that if we could help all players in the market communicate effectively and develop effective partnerships where social impact was an explicitly acknowledged goal, we could deliver real social impact. Our approach is to get to know good organisations really well, to embed ourselves and be the extra set of hands needed to focus on strategy, shared value, purpose and organisational effectiveness. From there we build and broker relationships with other organisations, whether they are in the same sector or another sector. The same approach applies to corporate, government and for purpose organisations (we don’t call them not for profit anymore but more on that later….). And the results are speaking for themselves.
For Michelle and I, this milestone is important as we can see that our vision is becoming a reality. In the current landscape where the spectrum of organisations is being blurred, we have had the privilege of working with amazing examples across this spectrum. For Purpose Organisations like First Peoples Disability Network Australia (FPDN) evolving to adapt to the new order, looking at income generation, improved efficiency and effectiveness of impact. And organisations like Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership CGEP, a new breed of social enterprise using the market to tackle global poverty at scale.
These new approaches are seeing a growth in hybrid organisations.
Not for profits moving towards income generation, growth in enterprises with a social mission and corporations adding a social lens to their everyday strategic process. As we help organisations understand and navigate this new landscape, B Corp Certification just feels right for Social Atlas and is a way of letting the world know that we live and breath the practices that we work on with our clients.
Additionally, being a part of the first Australian Shared Value Consulting Affiliate training program, I learnt more about how Social Atlas can deliver the benefits of collaborations as our corporate clients look to execute against their own purpose visions.
While we know that the market is not the solution to every one of societies problems and challenges, at Social Atlas we are excited by the opportunity to unlock the resources of the market for the benefit of society wherever we can. We are excited to see what our next year has in store. Watch this space…