B Corp Certiﬁcation
Guide for SmallEnterprises
How small businesses can become
Certiﬁed B Corporations

Contents

1

Requirements ofBecoming a
Certiﬁed B Corp●

Performance●

Transparency

●

Legal

2

Timing3

Impact &Information© B Lab 2024

What to expect from start toﬁnish

What you’ll need foreach impact area of
the B Impact
Assessment

4

Build Your B Team●

Who’s on your team?

●Strategies for overcoming
obstacles along the path toCertiﬁcation●

Tips to keep in mind
before you begin

5

Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

6

Recertiﬁcation FAQs

Overview of 11 steps to B Corp
Certiﬁcation

Commonly asked questions
related to recertifying

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Requirements ofBecoming a Certiﬁed
B Corporation3

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Requirements ofBecoming a Certiﬁed
B Corporation

Getting started
This guide will provide you with a general overview of the internal processes
and tools used to achieve B Corp Certiﬁcation, as well as clear expectations of
the workload and resources that you’ll need to accomplish your goal of
becoming a Certiﬁed B Corp. We’ve developed it with input from businesses
that have gone through the process, gleaning useful tips and practices toaddress commonly experienced barriers and challenges.
The guide will serve as your resource during the certiﬁcation journey;
however, we at B Lab and Sistema B will also work directly with you along theway. Use the map on the B Lab Global website to ﬁnd the B Lab or Sistema B
organization near you.

Understand the requirements of becoming a Certiﬁed
B Corporation
The ﬁrst step towards becoming a B Corp is to complete the free andconﬁdential B Impact Assessment online. We’ll review your B Impact
Assessment so that we can best apply our performance-based standards toyour application. If you are recertifying, please review the FAQs on the ﬁnal
page of this guide.
Performance: Certiﬁed B Corporations must earn a score of at least 80 points
on the B Impact Assessment. Scores are veriﬁed through a review process,which includes documentation, calls, and, possibly, onsite visits. B Corps mustrecertify every three years.
Transparency: B Corps are required to make their B Impact Assessment score
reports public through the B Corp Directory on the B Lab Global website.
Legal: B Corps must amend their corporate governing documents or adopt a
corporate form that explicitly requires the considerations of all stakeholders,
not just shareholders, in their decision-making — this is known as
stakeholder governance. You can learn more by visiting the Legal
Requirement page on the B Lab Global website. Please note: Small enterprisecompanies must complete the legal requirement before ﬁnalizing theircertiﬁcation.

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Requirements ofBecoming a Certiﬁed
B Corporation

Another important requirement for becoming a Certiﬁed B Corp is theDisclosure Questionnaire, which is an unweighted group of Yes/No questions
that allows a company to conﬁdentially disclose any sensitive industries,
practices, ﬁnes, or sanctions related to its business or partnerships. For
companies pursuing B Corp Certiﬁcation, the Disclosure Questionnaire is usedin conjunction with background checks and B Lab’s public complaints process
to identify material negative impacts. The disclosures that are deemedmaterial may, in rare circumstances, result in ineligibility, but morecommonly result in no further action, additional transparency on the B Corp
Public Proﬁle, or required remediation.

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2 Timing© B Lab 2024

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TimingTiming Considerations
B Corp Certiﬁcation project timelines vary widely depending on resources dedicated tothe project, operational complexity, target deadlines, marketing considerations, andother strategic objectives.
Timelines can range from three to twelve months, as some companies choose todelay certiﬁcation in order to maximize their B Impact Assessment score, while others
apply and begin the certiﬁcation process as soon as they reach the 80-point thresholdthat is the minimum for certiﬁcation.
Please note that timelines are approximate and subject to change based on
submission rates and B Lab’s capacity. After you have submitted your company’s
assessment, you and your colleagues will be able to reference the status of the review
directly through the B Impact Assessment.

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Impact &Information8

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Impact &Information

Keep in mind that for every answer you provide through the B Impact
Assessment, you’ll need to provide supporting documentation. Check out thisKnowledge Base article for documentation tips.
This chart shows the areas that B Corp Certiﬁcation may impact, and where
information may be found in order to fulﬁll speciﬁc information requests.

Impact area

What’s covered

Information found

Governancemission andengagement; ethics
and transparency

c-suite, finance, legal

Workers

financial security;
health, wellness, andsafety; careerdevelopment;
engagement andsatisfaction

human resources

Community

diversity, equity, andinclusion; economic
impact; civic
engagement andgiving; supply chain
management

corporate social
responsibility; humanresources;
procurement

Environment

environmental
management; air andclimate; water; land
and lifepurchasing;sustainability; facilities
and operations

Customers

customer stewardshipsales and marketing;customer experience© B Lab 2024

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Build Your B
Team

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Build Your B Team

Before you begin the certiﬁcation process, you’ll need to establish your B Team— the internal stakeholders and partners who will get you across theCertiﬁcation ﬁnish line.
We’ve identiﬁed several roles below; however, one Project Manager canmanage all of them. We know that for many small businesses, their B Team will
be a team of one. We’re here to help B Teams of all sizes.

Role, alphabeticallyResponsibility

Finance

Answer revenue and expenditure questions

Human Resources

Answer employee benefit and demographic
questions

Legal / GeneralCounselAnswer questions related to transparency andothers needed to fulfil the legal requirement of B
Corp Certification

Marketing &Communications

Answer education and communication questions

Procurement

Answer supply chain questions

Project Manager

The Project Manager or “B Keeper” or “B Champion”
leads the B Team and is the most important role in
the B Corp Certification process as they will work togather the information necessary to complete the B
Impact Assessment

Senior Leadership

Because certification involves a substantial timecommitment and significant public transparency, we
recommend securing the support of Senior
Leadership

Sustainability

Answer environmental and social impact questions© B Lab 2024

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Build Your B Team

Project managers may experience pushback when they request data and/or ask
others to implement changes in order to meet B Corp Certiﬁcation requirements.
The table below highlights some strategies that other companies have found tobe helpful in addressing these obstacles:

Strategies for Overcoming Obstacles
Educate employees about B Corp Certification, sharing specific details on
how their contribution matters to the process.
Show colleagues how the B Impact Assessment might help them achieve
their goals and support their work.
Request support from B Lab for legal and transparency requirements.
If your operations are global, consider including a B Team member fromeach language group.
To receive answers, provide a list of questions in advance and/or conduct
one-on-one interviews with information holders.
Consider dividing the work among B Team members; when asking for dataor policy change, select the B Team member best suited to make therequest.
Having a target date for certification will help keep the project moving
forward.
Keep senior leaders informed about progress and the support needed tomeet certification goals.

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Build Your B TeamAs you begin collecting data, it’s helpful to start educating your colleagues
about what B Corp Certiﬁcation is and why it’s important. Answering thequestion, “What’s in it for me?” for each part of your company is critical to
the success of the project.
Team meetings help build excitement and engagement, which oftentranslate into faster turnaround times for data collection. Establishingregular B Team meetings — with clear deadlines and resources for support— can help maintain the momentum needed to complete the assessment
and build understanding of the importance of becoming a B Corp.
The B Corp community can also provide support. Use the B Corp Directory
to research and reach out to companies in your industry. Within thesecompanies, the individuals involved with the certiﬁcation process are
typically enthusiastic ambassadors and more than happy to help.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Before you begin:
Here are some tips to keep in mind:●●●

You should accurately indicate the scope of your operations. For
example, if your company has operations in multiple countries, thepolicy or practice in question should refer to at least 80% of youroperations, employees, and facilities.
Answering questions with “no” or “we don’t track this” is acceptable
when completing the B Impact Assessment.
Responses should reﬂect the reality of business operations, not theaspirations of the company. We are more than willing to recognize
policies, practices, or programs that are in nascent stages, but cannot
assess those that have not yet been implemented.

Step 1: Register for the B Impact Assessment
This step will kick off the data collection phase in which the project manager
will collect information required to complete the B Impact Assessment.

Step 2: Gather data & collect documentation
It is vital to keep detailed records of supporting documentation that you intend
to submit through the B Impact Assessment. As you gather data, it’s
imperative that you track your methodology and back-up information, as you
will be required to show your work at many points in the certiﬁcation process.
It also may be helpful to maintain a record of who provided the information
and where it came from. You’ll be able to track this with the commentsfunction in the B Impact Assessment, along with any other notes.

Step 3: Take the B Impact Assessment
You can save and return to your assessment at any time. The information thatyou share through the B Impact Assessment is kept completely conﬁdential.
Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 4: Establish a Company Proﬁle and Start theDisclosure Questionnaire
Once you have completed the majority of the assessment, you will beprompted to establish a company proﬁle and begin the disclosure
questionnaire (both contained within the B Impact Assessment). At this step,
you may need the assistance of your legal team to answer the questions, assome request sensitive information.
Review your baseline score with your B Team and prioritize improvement
areas by evaluating the available points, implementation difficulty, andfeasibility. The Improvement Report and Goals functionality within theAssessment platform can help you get started.
Once you are over the 80-point benchmark (we recommend 85), you’re readyto submit your B Impact Assessment!

Step 5: Submit your B Impact Assessment for Review
At this point, your company name will be visible in the reviews tab of the B
Impact Assessment platform. There, you can see active tasks, respond to
additional requests for action, and view due dates as your submission passes
through multiple stages of review.

Step 6: Evaluation Queue
Now your submission will enter the evaluation queue, where a B Lab
Evaluation Team analyst will review your B Impact Assessment and determine
your company’s eligibility for B Corp Certiﬁcation.
You will also need an executive to sign the B Corp Statement, a quality
assurance measure that ensures all responses were provided honestly andaccurately. This is accompanied by a text description of how the B Impact
Assessment was completed.
You will also be prompted to begin the process of meeting the Legal
Requirement, which must be completed by the end of the review process (seestep 9 for details).

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 7: Evaluation
When your submission reaches the evaluation stage, you will no longer beable to make changes to information you have submitted through the B
Impact Assessment. If you notice that something is incorrect, simply leave acomment on the question, indicate your proposed new answer, and provide
supporting documentation; the analyst will take this new information into
account. A note on communication & notiﬁcations: often the analyst willcommunicate with you via comments in the B Impact Assessment, and you'll
receive an email when you have a notiﬁcation. Be sure that your notiﬁcations
are enabled so you don’t miss a message from us.
During evaluation, the analyst will look over these aspects of your business inthe following ways:
1.
2.
3.

4.

5.

Complex Structure Review analyzes ownership and the structure of allentities and brands associated with your company.
Controversial Industry Review assesses your company’s involvement inany of the industries B Lab has determined are controversial.
Assessment Track Conﬁrmation looks at your selected B Impact
Assessment track — including market, sector, size, industry, andindustry category — to make sure that it is appropriate according to ourstandards. If the analyst determines that you need to change tracks,
your submission will move back into the Review stage, which may resultin additional questions to complete the assessment and/or a change toyour company’s score.
Preliminary Scoring Screening will include review of the Impact
Business Model(s) that you selected in your B Impact Assessment. The
questions associated with Impact Business Models are unique to ourassessment and can be challenging; their review may result in a request
for additional information and/or a change to your company’s score.
Deﬁne Veriﬁcation Requirements is the ﬁnal check to make sure thatyour company is on the appropriate path for certiﬁcation before
entering the veriﬁcation queue.

Please note that the analyst may close the review. If so, you will need to re-submit a
B Impact Assessment and begin a new review process.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 8: Veriﬁcation Queue
The veriﬁcation stage is the most intensive and includes multiple rounds ofreview. Don’t worry when your B Impact Assessment score changes — thishappens to all companies during veriﬁcation.
Once your submission has moved through the evaluation stage, you will be
asked to complete the Operational Highlights section, which requests
rationale for your Veriﬁcation Report answers. You will need to select twoquestions in each impact area section of the B Impact Assessment —Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers — and detailyour company’s practices as related to that topic. Operational Highlights may
represent practices that you:●●●●

Currently report or market publicly through a website, social media,
impact reports, etc.
Are most proud of.
Recently implemented to improve your company’s impact.
Believe to be unique in relation to your company’s industry, size,
geographic location, etc.

Step 9: Veriﬁcation
Once Operational Highlights are completed and B Lab assigns an analyst to
work with you, you’ll continue to the veriﬁcation process:
1.
2.
3.

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Veriﬁcation Report: The analyst will begin by customizing yourveriﬁcation report.
Review Call: Then, the analyst will schedule a review call to clarify
information and make edits to your B Impact Assessment.
Documentation: Finally, the analyst will request documentation to
verify your Impact Business Model and information presented in the B
Impact Assessment.
○
Documentation can include policies, reports, web links,
presentations, agendas, or even photographs of why answer
options selected apply to your company.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

○

○

○
○

You may use comments to clarify questions that were notaddressed in the call or through documentation, and may include
rationales, explanations, clariﬁcations, and examples of why eachanswer option selected applies to the company.
Although only one document can be uploaded per comment,
questions may require multiple documents. Please leave multiplecomments to upload multiple documents, indicate the pages
within the uploaded document in which topics related to eachanswer option can be found, and provide a brief summary of whatis stated in the document and why the document is relevant forthe speciﬁc answer option selected.
Your analyst may share additional instructions through thecomments section; please follow these closely.
In order to consider an answer veriﬁed, supporting evidence in theform of comments or documentation must be provided for each of
the checkboxes selected within a question. When no evidence orcomment is provided, those answers will be deselected and will
negatively affect your score.

4. Follow-Up: Your analyst will provide at least one opportunity to provide
follow-up documentation and comments after the review call.
By the end of this stage, all questions in the veriﬁcation report will show acheckmark icon to indicate that they have been fully veriﬁed. At this point, if
your company has not achieved a veriﬁed score of at least 80 points, theanalyst will provide instructions on how to improve your B Impact Assessmentscore. You will also need to have fulﬁlled the Legal Requirement in order tomove on to post-veriﬁcation and certiﬁcation.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 10: Post-Veriﬁcation Stage
If your company has met the veriﬁed 80-point threshold as well as the Legal
Requirement, you will move into the certiﬁcation stage. There may be a few
places in your B Impact Assessment that still require clariﬁcation and/or you
may need to ﬁnalize steps related to the disclosure questionnaire section or
the complex structure review.
Once all questions have been resolved, you will sign the B Corp Agreement,
which states the terms of the B Corporation Certiﬁcation, including thecertiﬁcation fee. This is an annual fee that is determined by your company’s
location and revenue; you can determine your certiﬁcation fee by visiting thewebsite of the B Lab or Sistema B organization in your region.

Step 11: Certiﬁcation
In order to comply with the transparency requirement of B Corp Certiﬁcation,
you must create a public proﬁle that includes your company’s score andimpact report in the B Corp Directory. For certain companies, additionaltransparency requirements, as outlined in the B Corp Agreement, may apply.
After certiﬁcation, you can add the B Corp logo to product labels, printed
materials, packaging, uniforms, email signatures, and more. Check out ourbrand guidelines for more information.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 12: Launch!
Congratulations, you made it! At this point, you may want to plan theannouncement of your B Corp Certiﬁcation — both internally with employees,
board members, and shareholders, and externally with suppliers, vendors, andthe public.
Certiﬁcation launches are as unique as the companies that certify and should
reﬂect your brand and corporate culture. Working with your marketing, public
relations, and human resources teams, you can determine your short- andlong-term communications goals. Customer and employee engagement withyour announcement can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the process.
The next page has some ideas that other businesses have found helpful. Be
sure to review our brand guidelines before taking action and connect with the
B Lab or Sistema B organization in your region.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Internal Communications
●

●

●

●

●
●

●

Announce your B Corp
Certiﬁcation on:○
Internal messaging
system / Intranet
○
Email
○
Company newsletter○
Staff meetings○
Flyers or posters○
Host a certiﬁcation
celebration with
employees
Incorporate B Corp values into
employee onboarding andtraining programs.
Invite employees to join the B
Hive if you’re based in the US& Canada, and to follow B Lab
Global and your local B Lab or
Sistema B organization onsocial media.
Include social andenvironmental metrics in
employee job descriptions andevaluations.
Post job openings on the B
Work platform.
Invite employees to join yourinternal B Team and focus on
impact improvement.
Add the B Corp logo to yourcompany’s email signature.

External Communications
Public relations:●●●

Submit a press release to
newswires; pitch a story to media
contacts and trade publications.
Invite journalists, industry leaders,and other stakeholders to yourlaunch party and plan apresentation sharing why you
became a B Corp.
Seek speaking engagements at
trade shows, conferences, andother public events where you canhighlight your B Corp Certiﬁcation.

Website:●●●●Create a landing page announcing
your B Corp Certiﬁcation.
Feature the B Corp logo on yourwebsite.
Update your mission and/or visionstatement to reﬂect your status.
Write a series of blog posts about
your journey to certiﬁcation.

Social Media:●●●

Announce certiﬁcation on yoursocial media channels.
Tag B Lab Global, your Global
Partner, and allied B Corps forcross promotion.
Share posts about your journey tocertiﬁcation.

Newsletter: Share the news withstakeholders through a personal email or
newsletter.
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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation Steps

Step 13: Continuous Improvement & Preparing forRecertiﬁcation
Many companies use the B Corp Certiﬁcation process as an ongoing
methodology and tool for continuous innovation and improvement.
Certiﬁcation may also serve as a catalyst for your vendors and suppliers to
improve their social and environmental impacts, and provides another way for
you to engage customers and employees.
Some companies repeat the B Impact Assessment annually in order to closely
monitor their goals and their path to recertiﬁcation, which occurs every three
years. The best practice is to begin your recertiﬁcation a year before it is due;
this will give you enough time to implement new practices that can raise yourscore.

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Certiﬁcation &Veriﬁcation StepsIn conclusion
Companies report exponential beneﬁts from B Corp Certiﬁcation. There’s noquestion that the process is rigorous — and, at times, even onerous — butthey agree that the rigor is what makes the process worthwhile and paves theway for more collaborative and inspired work. The B Impact Assessment serves
as an excellent tool for breaking down silos, fostering innovation, andconstructing a roadmap for continuous improvement. Some companies also
develop stronger external relationships — with community members,
vendors, suppliers, peers, and more — because of the certiﬁcation process. But
more importantly, they report how gratifying it is to serve as leaders in the
movement that’s transforming our global economic system to beneﬁt all
people, communities, and the planet.

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Recertifying
FAQs

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Recertifying
FAQs

When is the best time to submit the recertiﬁcation B Impact Assessment?
It is important to submit the B Impact Assessment six months before yourrecertiﬁcation date. This will ensure that your recertiﬁcation is completed or inprogress by the recertiﬁcation date. You can ﬁnd your recertiﬁcation date on yourdashboard when you log into the B Impact Assessment platform. Since the assessment
is an annual reporting tool, please update the assessment with the most recently
completed ﬁscal year information.
When will my company's recertiﬁcation assessment be reviewed?
After you submit, the initial evaluation may take as much as two months; the full
review may take up to three months. Delays can be experienced if new company
information requires signiﬁcant changes to be made to the B Impact Assessment.
Can you give me the name of the analyst who will be working on the assessmentwith me?
Once you complete the initial evaluation, you will be connected with the analyst who
will be working with you on the review. In the meantime, you can ask questions
through the B Impact Assessment platform, which will be addressed once the review
process begins.
Can I delay recertiﬁcation?
Companies should submit their assessment 6 months prior to the recertiﬁcation date,posted on the B Impact Assessment platform dashboard, but no later than that date inorder to remain in good standing. A Certiﬁed B Corp may forfeit that status if thesubmission has not occurred by the recertiﬁcation date. If your company has any
extenuating circumstances, please reach out to support@bcorporation.net.

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