What is a benefit corporation?

A benefit corporation is a for-profit business that has made a legal commitment to more than just making money. It is a business structure, recognized by most U.S. states, that requires companies to consider how their business decisions affect people and the planet, not just their bottom line. In a traditional corporation, shareholders are typically prioritized. A benefit corporation legally requires consideration of employees, customers, community, and the environment in business decisions.

What is the difference between a B Corp and a benefit corporation?

A benefit corporation is a legal business structure, like an LLC or a sole proprietorship, created by filing paperwork with a state. A B Corp is a certification issued by the nonprofit B Lab after a review of a company's social and environmental practices. Benefit Corporations for Good certification is also a third-party certification, similar to B Corp, but built with small businesses in mind. BCFG is one of only four standards recognized by the Oregon Secretary of State and is the only one based in Oregon.

Why did we start Benefit Corporations for Good?

Benefit Corporations for Good was created because small businesses deserve a way to prove what they stand for. Many purpose-driven business owners are already doing right by their people and their community, but need a trusted and recognizable way to show it. BCFG was created as a certification that is meaningful enough to matter while being built for real small businesses, not only large companies with full-time sustainability teams.

Who is certification for?

Certification is for small businesses that care about their employees, their neighborhood, and the wider world they operate in. Certified businesses include law firms, solar companies, marketing agencies, wine bars, and other industries. Applicants do not need to be perfect, but they need to be serious about their commitment. The process includes a 60-question assessment across eight standards, followed by a short interview. For businesses with five or fewer full-time equivalent employees, the fee is $299.

What Environmental Practices Does BCFG Certification Require?

What Environmental Practices Does Benefit Corporation Certification Require?

Benefit Corporation leaders gathering at Happy Hour for Good.

Green/Environmental Practices is one of the 8 standards in BCFG certification, and it’s built around one core expectation: businesses should actively work to shrink their footprint, not just avoid making it worse.

What this standard evaluates

BCFG asks businesses to strive to reduce their carbon footprint at work and at home, demonstrated through:

Staff training on environmental practices
Incentivizing green adoption among team members
Participating in environmental initiatives
Establishing a formal sustainability policy

Why it matters

A lot of small businesses already do some of this informally, recycling, remote work, a bike to work incentive, without ever writing it down. This standard pushes businesses to formalize what’s already working and look for what else is possible, at work and at home.

Where does BCFG fit?

This is the clearest expression of the “planet” piece of BCFG’s Triple Bottom Line of people, planet, and profit. It’s the standard most directly focused on environmental impact.

Environmental impact isn’t bounded by state lines, so this standard applies the same way whether you’re certifying in Oregon or any other state or province.

Ready to learn more?

See how environmental practices fit alongside BCFG’s other 7 standards on the certification standards overview, or move forward with certification. Members of the BCFG community often trade notes on affordable ways to formalize a sustainability policy, a good place to start if you don’t have one yet.