If you’re considering becoming a B Corp this B Corp month, you will already know the importance of putting purpose at the heart of your organisation. Here’s why we became certified as a B Corp back in June 2017 and continue to be proud members of the B Corp community today.
Becoming a B Corp
Our mission is to help purposeful organisations communicate their positive impact. As a sustainability PR agency based in London and Kenya, we know that purpose is what drives business forward and defines it. By becoming a B Corp, we wanted to hold ourselves accountable to the highest standard of overall social and environmental performance and transparency – to our colleagues, to our clients, and to the world.
Gong’s commitment to #BetterBusiness
The process to become a B Corp is rigorous but companies starting the journey may find that they don’t need to change significantly. This blog outlines some of the changes that we made, and how formalising some of our existing practices helped to embed them throughout our company DNA.
These practices hold true today. In our latest company Impact Report, we outline that to play our part in shaping a better future, we look for clients working to solve the ‘wicked’ problems facing society and the planet and use our expertise to help accelerate their impact.
Alongside the big themes such as renewable energy, food security, ethical investing, ESG, carbon markets and climate risk, we are also privileged to work in sectors such as diversity & inclusion at work, global health and economic development. Being a B Corp and being independent means that we can say ‘no’ to certain types of brief. We can’t in good conscience work for big carbon emitting organisations with their heads in the sand that aren’t committed to a Net Zero future. This is important to everyone at Gong.
Good Governance at Gong for #BetterBusiness
As part of our company impact assessment, we track our clients’ focus in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We aim to work with more changemakers and innovators using business as a force for good.
Board diversity is important to us. 80 per cent of our Board are women and 40 per cent are from Ethnic Minority backgrounds. We are committed to bridging the social mobility gap prevalent in our industry.
B Corp benefits
If we haven’t yet convinced you that your business should become a B Corp, here are a few more benefits from joining the community:
- Improved impact, through participation in working groups and sharing best practice with other B Corps
- Collaboration through partnerships with other B Corps
- Networking opportunities at exclusive community events
- Support from B Lab on global issues
- Recruitment and retention benefits by engaging employees in your company’s mission
So how do you certify as a B Corp?
First businesses must measure, manage and report their societal impact using the B Impact Assessment, which looks at five key areas:
- Governance
- Environment
- Customers
- Workers
- Community
Businesses need to score 80 points or more to certify, considering the impact of decisions on all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
Once certification is complete, you will have joined more than 3,800 B Corps worldwide. We look forward to welcoming you to the B Corp community!
