Attaining Certified B Corporation Status

In December 2023, the LA New Product Development Team (LA NPDT) became a B Corporation. This means we pledged to help the public and the environment while making a profit. Over 8,000 firms worldwide are B Corporations. LA NPDT is one of the first in the product development sector. What is a B Corp, and how do you become one? Read on to learn how this trend joins social good with business.

Since 2006, B Lab has granted this status. They are a non-profit group in Pennsylvania that wants to change how firms work. The ‘B’ in B Corp stands for ‘beneficial’. At its heart, it means the firm puts more than just profit first.

B Lab certifies firms that pass a tough test in five areas. These areas are Workers, Community, Environment, Customers, and Governance. You must score at least 80 points out of 200 to qualify. Firms must show their plans for good and let B Lab check their records. You must renew the status every 3 years. There is a small yearly fee based on the profit of the firm.[1]

B Corp certification does not impose legal requirements or require a company to change its organizational structure. Rather, it is a public pledge to provide benefit via corporate activity, measured against a third-party evaluation of how effectively the company’s purpose and goals are being realized.

B Corp certification should be distinguished from the legal status of a benefit corporation, which in the United States is a type of corporate entity which explicitly identifies in its bylaws the prioritization of activities not related to profit.[2]

Benefit corporations are legally-recognized in 36 US States, and many B Corp-certified companies go on to become benefit corporations, with the certification being a step in the process toward legal reorganization.

In contrast to a B Corp, a benefit corporation expands the fiduciary duty of the company’s officers to consider the effects of the company’s activities for non-stakeholders.

This is both a requirement, and an empowerment, as it protects companies from bad-faith lawsuits alleging they have not maximized profits at all times and to the exclusion of all other activities.

From a taxation standpoint, benefit corporations are classified as either C corporations or S corporations, but have the added advantage of receiving tax reduction for charitable contributions the company may make as part of its benefit-focused mission.

B Lab helps states pass laws for benefit corporations. They ask B Corp firms to switch to this legal form if their state allows it.[3]

Certified B Corps can use the B Corp logo on products and official messages. You can join a global network of firms that offer discounts and work together. Use this status to show your focus on social and green goals. This builds trust and helps customers pick you over rivals.

In a 2019 data research project commissioned by AFLAC, 77% of American consumers and 73% of investors were strongly motivated to select companies dedicated to making the world a better place via environmental and / or socially responsible practices.

Furthermore, more Americans felt it was more important for a company to “make the world a better place” than it was for it to “make money for its shareholders” (49% to 37%).[4] These numbers become even more substantial when considering Millennial and Gen Z consumers.

In a 2023 survey commissioned by Tom’s of Maine, 80% of young consumers said they select which companies to buy from based upon their mission, purpose, and stated goals. The survey’s organizers identified B Corp certification status as a key way for consumers to identify such companies.[5]

Finally, B Lab itself has conducted surveys demonstrating a strong consumer awareness of the B Lab certification indica and meaning. A 2022 survey indicated that 37% of American consumers, and 31% of Canadian consumers, were aware of the B Corp indication and meaning on products, while 63% specifically purchased from companies because of their certification.[6]

Top firms are B Corp certified to show they care about the earth and people. These firms include Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Seventh Generation. Other members are The Body Shop, Danone, Divine Chocolate, Allbirds, and PortAventura. Meow Wolf, Coursera, Kickstarter, and Better World Books are also on the list.

Since our foundation, LA NPDT has been focused on the dual goals of empowering inventors and entrepreneurs who might not otherwise have access to quality product development services, and to create new products in a sustainable and responsible manner.

This desire led us to create 3D-printed healthcare supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic,[8] to support and develop connections between local entrepreneurs,[9] and to maintain close relationships with Louisiana’s leading technical educational institution.[10]

As our business has continued to grow, so too has our commitment to achieving the societal benefits we’ve long sought to create in our community and beyond.

Becoming a B Corp proves our goals to the public. We want to help creators see how their work helps everyone. We build new things for the world every day. These items must help users and the planet at the same time. We hope our use of B Corp rules will lead our partners to join us. We want to build helpful products that benefit all people.

In our first year of certification, we are pleased to have earned a score of 96.8 on the B Corp evaluation scale.[11] Our strongest areas are Workers and Environment, with a particularly high score for workforce development.

Since the start of LA NPDT, we have emphasized the advancement of opportunities for our employees and partners; after all, our founders established the company as enterprising engineering students.

Looking forward, LA NPDT seeks to continue to improve our impact in the environmental and sustainability focal areas, in part through the selection of the products we choose to develop, as well as through our business practices and prototyping / production.

We also are strongly committed to further aiding the development and improvement of our Northern Louisiana community and its stakeholders.

Among the partners we have aided in sustainable environmental practices are the skincare products company Gelato for Your Face, for which we developed the product’s eco-friendly packaging and cases.[12]

We also participated in the design of the Evera Bottle, a fully-reusable beverage container which includes utensils. Each bottle is estimated to prevent over 1,000 single-use items from reaching landfills annually.[13]

In both cases, the entrepreneurs who came to us were local to our operations.

Gelato for Your Face founders Vanessa Lyon and Carlos Calderón approached us from our Miami offices, developing and launching their business while raising a young son, while Evera Bottle’s founder Steffek Rainey started his company as a Louisiana student, working with us to develop the bottle from scratch.

Both these products have gone on to receive recognition for their environmentally-sensitive and waste-reducing designs.

LA NPDT also focuses on human needs. We help towns recover after disasters. The Cajun Navy Ground Force is a volunteer group. They respond to storms in the South. We helped them design SAFE Camps. These camps sit in parking lots to give out fast aid. Our visual designs helped the group win a big grant from the Walmart Foundation.[14] In 2022, they used SAFE Camps after Hurricane Ian. They gave out over $265,000 in aid each day at each site.[15]

These tasks are just the start for LA NPDT. We now have our B Corp badge. We want to grow our impact. We seek to work with new creators and groups who share our goals.

LA NPDT is one of the first U.S. design firms to earn B Corp status. We hope this move leads others to value public good as much as profit. Thousands of new items hit the market each year. Many do not care about the planet or local towns. Most firms focus on short-term gains. They ignore long-term effects. As a B Corp, we want to change that trend. We work one product at a time to create real change.

We hope to attract designers and inventors who think like us. We want to find new staff who care. We will put social good first in all we do. This includes picking materials and treating staff well. It also covers picking partners, making packages, and marketing. We will put social good at the front of our work from now on.

We hope this talk on B Corps helps you find ways to make a difference. Do you have a product to build? Do you have an idea to bring to life? Please reach out to us. We can turn your vision into a reality in a responsible way.

For a product firm, most points come from steps you already take. These include picking materials, supplier rules, packaging, repair, and end-of-life needs. Adding these to product design and design for manufacturing is cheap. Fixing them later costs much more. Our product development consulting now adds these goals from the start.

Finish the B Impact Assessment and earn at least 80 points out of 200. Send in proof for review. Change your legal papers to show you care about all stakeholders. Then, sign the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence. You must recertify every three years. The rules get harder over time. This makes the badge a long-term promise, not just a one-time test.

Small firms take six to twelve months. Larger firms take longer. Filling out the test takes weeks. Waiting for proof checks takes months. Firms with clear supplier rules, staff policies, and green data move fast. The check phase just asks for proof of what you claimed.

The cost to submit is low. Annual fees grow with your sales. Small firms pay about two thousand dollars. Large firms pay much more. The biggest cost is staff time to find proof. You may also need to change how you work. For a maker, this often means checking suppliers or changing packaging.

It is worth it if buyers, stores, or new hires value the badge. It works best when the changes match your own goals. For hardware, the test builds good habits for supply chains and product end-of-life. Do not do it just for a logo. The work takes a lot of time that a young firm may need for other tasks.

B Lab gives B Corp status to firms that score 80 on the B Impact Assessment. You must prove your answers and change your legal papers. You must care for all stakeholders, not just owners. For a product firm, points sit in operations. These include the supply chain, materials, and how you treat workers.

Caption: fee bands are indicative; B Lab revises its schedule periodically and standards were updated for the current cycle.

Much of the environmental score is designed in, not bolted on — repairability, material choice and part count are settled during product engineering and framed even earlier in discovery.

Finish the B Impact Assessment and score at least 80 points. Submit your evidence for B Lab to verify. Update your legal papers to include all stakeholders. Pay the yearly fee to stay certified.

A one-time submission fee of roughly $250-$500, plus an annual fee that scales with revenue — around $2,000 for companies under $1M and rising into five figures above $5M. Optional consultant support adds $5,000-$40,000.

This process usually takes six to twelve months. Spend a few weeks on the assessment. Spend months to close gaps and find proof. Verification then takes two to six months based on the queue.

It is worth it if you follow these practices. Most value comes from strict measurement and trust with buyers. It is just costly theatre if you do not make real changes.