Why We Became a B Corp
Two years ago, our sister company I.G. Advisors was part of the UK’s second ever B Corporation cohort. Now, I’m very proud to announce that we at Social Misfits Media have also joined the ranks of the nearly 3,000 organisations in 64 countries who have earned the certification.
It’s great to see that the term ‘B Corp’ is becoming increasingly well-known — even making its way into mainstream UK press, such as The Times — but if you’re yet to come across it, Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance people, purpose and profit. Achieving B Corp status involves a formal commitment to these standards, and a robust assessment from B Lab UK.
It goes without saying that as a business whose mission has always been to help other organisations achieve a greater social and environmental impact through social media, the vision of B Corporation really resonates with us at Social Misfits Media. In particular, there are three key reasons behind our decision to undergo the Impact Assessment:
1. Our social and environmental mission is in our DNA
Even today, there are many businesses for whom social value or responsibility are merely an external communications exercise. We wanted to set ourselves apart by having a deep and independent audit of our approach to governance, workers, community, environment and customers. In other words, we wanted to prove we are committed to social and environmental good in every area of our business, not just for show.
2. We want our impact to reach beyond our trailblazing clients
Since the day we started, we have worked exclusively with charities, not-for-profits, foundations and other mission-driven enterprises who are hugely impactful. We love seeing our clients hit their online fundraising targets, receive more applicants for their funding and build larger followings and awareness of their work on social. However, as an agency, staff can sometimes feel one-step removed from the social and environmental impact, so it was important for all of us to recognise where our own work directly helps to create positive change.
Going through B Lab UK’s Impact Assessment highlighted that not only is our work impactful, but the way we run Social Misfits — from our inclusive HR policies to the way we care for our environment and work with our community — is improving society more widely too. We’d always felt like this was the case but undergoing such a rigorous assessment of our entire business really made this clear. In addition, even though we live and breathe impact work, it also, helpfully, identified areas of improvement and processes that we needed to implement to make our impact even greater in the future.
3. We want to continue building our ecosystem of social good businesses
Social Misfits Media is already a part of a network of organisations who think beyond profit, including our sister companies Lightful and I.G. Advisors, and the Brewery, parent company of freuds communications. Officially becoming a part of the B Corp community gives us more opportunities to use the power of business together to achieve great change and to be able to say, “We helped make that happen”. The exciting thing about the B Corp community members is they hail from all kinds of industries, and range from household names, such as Bulb and The Big Issue, to our friends Bates Wells Braithwaite LLP and Bubble Chamber CIC, meaning the potential for B Corps to influence business-as-usual across the board is huge.
Getting the B Corp certification is by no means an easy feat, but the process and the result were essential for us to make our social mission official. Now that I.G. Advisors and Social Misfits Media have both joined the community, our next step will be to actively encourage other friends and partners in our immediate network to do the same. You can find out more about the B Corporation Accreditation and B Lab here.
