Attaining Certified B Corporation Status

In December 2023, LA New Product Development Team (LA NPDT) received certification as a B Corporation, a company which has pledged to provide public and environmental benefit, in addition to pursuing profit and good business practices. Worldwide, over 8,000 companies have become B Corporations, and LA NPDT is one of the first in the product development sector. But what exactly is a B Corp, how can an organization become one, and what are the benefits of certification? Read on to learn more about this exciting trend which marries corporate benefit with social responsibility.

Since 2006, B Corp certification has been awarded by B Lab, a non-profit organization based in Pennsylvania which is dedicated to the reshaping of corporate practices. The ‘B’ in B Corp certification stands for ‘beneficial’, and at its core, becoming a B Corp means that the organization has pledged to prioritize activities beyond the maximization of profits.

B Lab provides certification to companies which meet their rigorous evaluation process for responsibility in five areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. Companies must score a minimum of 80 points (out of a possible 200) in order to qualify. Prospective B Corps must also outline their intentions for social and environmental good, submit to evaluations of their corporate records and occasional site visits, and renew their certification every 3 years. There is a nominal annual charge for becoming and remaining certified, based upon the company’s level of profit.[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.

As part of its mission, B Lab has promoted the nationwide adoption of benefit corporation legislation, and encourages B Corp certification recipients to reorganize as benefit corporations, if it is legal to do so in their state.[3]

Once certified, a B Corp will receive the right to identify using the B Corp indica on their products and official communications, and can also join B Lab’s global network of certified businesses, many of which provide discounts and collaborative opportunities to one another. Companies which have met B Lab’s standards can use the certification to indicate to the public their commitment for social and environmental good, thus building good will and encouraging customers to choose them over competitors.

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]

Some of the world’s most respected and socially-forward companies have become B Corp certified, stressing their commitment to environmental and socially-conscious action. These firms include Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Seventh Generation, The Body Shop, Danone, Divine Chocolate, Allbirds, PortAventura Entertainment Theme Parks, Meow Wolf, Coursera, Kickstarter, and Better World Books.[7]

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 certified B Corp is not only a step toward publicly affirming that commitment, but also toward encouraging entrepreneurs and product creators to consider the public benefits inherent in their own actions. Our enterprise is the creation of new things for the world – and it’s important that these creations provide not only life improvement and convenience for users and consumers, but aid the planet as a whole. We therefore hope our adoption of B Corp principles in management and development will lead our partners, present and future, toward working with us to create sustainable and genuinely helpful products that will 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 does not merely focus on environmental sustainability. We have also focused on human sustainability, ensuring communities can bounce back after disasters. The Cajun Navy Ground Force, a volunteer aid organization which responds to natural disasters throughout the American South, worked with LA NPDT to create the designs of their renowned SAFE Camps, which have been set up in parking lots and other open areas after disasters to distribute aid quickly. LA NPDT’s visual designs for the SAFE Camp concept helped the Cajun Navy receive a substantial grant from the Walmart Foundation, which in turn allowed them to implement the concept.[14] In 2022, in the wake of Hurricane Ian, the Cajun Navy rolled out the SAFE Camps in force, distributing over $265,000 worth of aid each day per location.[15]

These endeavors are a start, but by no means an end, to what LA NPDT seeks to do in the coming years. Having earned our B Corp certification, we look to continue to grow our impact and seek opportunities to work with new product creators and community organizations with similar commitment.

LA NPDT is one of the first product design companies in America to receive certified B Corp status. We hope that this public commitment will encourage other companies in our industry to follow suit by placing public good at the same level of corporate importance as profit. Every year, thousands of new products reach the marketplace worldwide, but many are not created with the long-term future of our planet and our local communities in mind. Products, like companies, are often focused on short-term gains and benefits, while overlooking longer-term consequences. As a certified B Corp, we aim to counteract that trend with the products we create, working one product at a time to effect meaningful change.

Moreover, we hope that by becoming a B Corp, we will attract likeminded designers, entrepreneurs, inventors, and future employees to seek us out and work with us. From envisioning the products of tomorrow, to the selection of manufacturing materials, the treatment of stakeholders, the selection of responsible partners, the production of packaging, and the marketing and accessibility of finalized items, we aim to place sustainability and social good at the forefront of all we will do from this point on, as designers and as a company.

We hope this explanation of the certified B Corp movement will encourage you to consider ways you, or your organization, can make a difference in the world. If you have a product to develop, or an idea you wish to bring to life, we encourage you to reach out to us and to turn your vision into reality in a responsible and beneficial way.

For a product company, most of the score sits in areas you already touch during development: material selection, supplier standards, packaging, repairability and end-of-life. Building those decisions into product design and design for manufacturing is far cheaper than retrofitting them, and our product development consulting engagements increasingly scope them from the start.

Complete the B Impact Assessment, reach a verified score of at least 80 points out of 200, submit supporting evidence for review, amend your governing documents to include stakeholder consideration, and sign the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence. Recertification follows every three years, with the standard rising over time, so certification is a continuing commitment rather than a one-off audit.

Six to twelve months for most small companies, and longer for larger or multi-entity businesses. Filling in the assessment takes weeks; the queue for verification and the back-and-forth over evidence takes months. Companies that already document supplier standards, employee policies and environmental data move through fastest, because verification is essentially a request for proof of what you claimed.

The submission fee is modest, but annual certification fees scale with revenue, starting around two thousand dollars for small companies and rising substantially for larger ones. The larger real cost is internal: the staff time to gather evidence and the operational changes needed to raise the score, which for a manufacturer often means supplier audits and packaging redesign.

It is worth it when your buyers, retail partners or talent pipeline actually weigh it, and when the operational changes align with decisions you would defend anyway. For hardware in particular the assessment forces useful discipline around supply chain transparency and product end-of-life. It is not worth it as a marketing badge alone, because the evidence requirements are heavy enough to consume attention that an early-stage company usually needs elsewhere.

B Corp certification is granted by B Lab to companies that score at least 80 points on the B Impact Assessment, verify those answers with evidence, and amend their governing documents to require consideration of all stakeholders — not only shareholders. For a product company, the operational parts of the assessment are where the points sit: supply chain, materials, and worker practices.

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.

Complete the B Impact Assessment, score at least 80 points, submit with supporting evidence for verification by B Lab, amend your governing documents to include stakeholder consideration, and pay the annual certification fee.

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.

Six to twelve months is typical: a few weeks for the assessment, several months to close gaps and gather evidence, then verification, which can itself take two to six months depending on queue and complexity.

It is worth it if you are already committed to the underlying practices, since most of the value is in the discipline of measurement and the credibility with retail buyers and talent. It is expensive theatre if the operational changes are not real.