A corporation with a social purpose is one whose enduring reason for being is to create a better world. It is an engine for good; it creates societal benefit simply by conducting business, and its growth is a positive force in society.
The Social Purpose Practices Kit is your portal to effective, authentic, and impactful social purpose implementation. This kit gives you 40 implementation examples and two case studies from 15 social purpose companies. All featured companies have successfully completed the United Way British Columbia’s Social Purpose Implementers Program to learn how to authentically and impactfully implement a social purpose across their operations, value chains, relationships, and business ecosystems.
The list of Social Purpose Practices, with two accompanying Case Studies, shows these steps. Each Practice includes a description, the reason for its adoption, when to adopt it, and how to implement it.
For more resources and information on Social Purpose, please click here and here.
B Corporation Certification
The “B (beneficial) Corporation” movement began in the United States and has since expanded internationally. A certified B Corporation (B-Corp) is a business that meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Lab, a global non-profit organization, confers B Corporation certification.
Credit unions were among the first financial institutions & cooperatives to become Certified B Corporations in Canada. B Corporation certification highlights the important difference credit unions play in Canadian communities and provides a recognized model encouraging credit unions to strive for even greater local community impact. It also offers publicly available performance indicators in the following areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers.
Please click on a credit union below to view their B-Corp score:
B Corporation Commitment to Stakeholders
To be granted and maintain B Corporation certification, corporations must, among other things, amend their corporate articles to integrate B Corporation commitments to stakeholders.
CCUA worked closely with credit unions and B Lab to receive B Lab’s approval of a model by-law wording suitable for Canadian credit unions wishing to receive B Corporation certification. This wording clarifies and elevates the existing duty of credit union directors to act in the credit union’s best interests and consider the interests of all stakeholders, including the community and natural environment when making corporate decisions.
To learn more about B Lab, visit the B Lab website here.