This article was written by Senior Business Ambassador Sindy Yeh. Arlington Economic Development.
Arlington is home to hundreds of businesses and nonprofits with a mission to make a positive impact on society, workers, communities and the environment.
Many companies have made community outreach, sustainability, and equity an integral part of their business models. But only a handful achieve the coveted Certified B Corporation status.
A company becomes an accredited B Corp only if it is accredited by the B Lab, a non-profit company that measures its social and environmental performance against the criteria of the B Impact Assessment (BIA) in five areas of impact. Become. Communities; Customers; Governance and Workers. To qualify for the full B Corporation certification, companies must score at least 80 out of his 300 points.
Arlington’s accredited B Corporations are:
- Area 2 Farms — Certified in December 2021, this organization brings farmers to your neighborhood.
- Connective Impact — An advisory firm that connects nonprofits, private sector leaders and government agencies to build more partnerships and collaborations.
- Fors Marsh Group — A market and consumer research and strategy firm that works with leading corporations and federal agencies seeking to disrupt markets, understand and influence behavior, and drive action nationally and globally.
- Gray Market Labs — Leading cybersecurity R&D and product company with a mission to protect your digital life.
- Public Democracy — Mission to develop better data and more meaningful AI systems that reflect user values, support user priorities, and enable users to share the value of the data they create. data solutions and market intelligence company.
- Serendipity Creative — A women-owned, purpose-driven creative design and branding company.
These Arlington companies join a global community that includes 400,000 workers in more than 5,000 certified B Corps across 155 industries in 80 countries, prioritizing people and planet in everything they do, and adhering to purpose and profit. We have a common mission to strike a balance. Becoming a certified B Corp is not easy. Companies must go through an intensive months-long process to provide the necessary supporting documentation to the B-labs that measure and verify their overall social and environmental performance.
Companies are very proud of this accreditation and want to demonstrate their dedication to the highest standards of business practices through a rigorous certification process. Ben Garthwaite, CEO of Fors Marsh Group, said after the company received his 2021 recertification, “This recertification is committed to impactful work and continued growth, putting people first. It confirms our position as a company that thinks about
Research shows that a growing number of employees, especially millennials, prefer to work for mission-oriented companies. In a job market where employers continuously compete for talent, the Certified B Corporation emblem is often displayed prominently on the company’s website as a recruiting tool. Emblems may provide a company with an edge when it comes to hiring by attracting people who share the same values.
