What it Means to be B Corp Pending

Ivy Marie is proud to announce that we have achieved a Pending B Corporation Status and will be spending the next year working towards achieving B Corp Certification.

What is Pending B Corp Status?

The Pending B Corporation Certification is a special designation for start-up businesses who are on track to securing full Certified B Corporation status after 12 months of operations. To become a Pending B Corp, companies go through the B Impact Assessment (BIA) and must meet the legal requirements for certification. The BIA is a free, confidential platform designed to help measure and manage a company’s positive impact on their workers, community, customers, and environment. The BIA assesses the impact of both a company’s day-to-day operations and their business model.

What is a Certified B Corp?

Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Corp Certification is the only certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. From a company’s supply chain and input materials to their charitable giving and employee benefits, B Corp Certification proves it’s meeting the highest standards of verified performance. There are three pillars of B Corp Certification – performance, legal, and  transparency – and companies must meet all requirements that fall under these pillars.

How Do Businesses Go From Pending to Certified?

A startup can graduate from Pending to Certified status if it has a verified score of at least 80 on the B Impact Assessment within 12 months after securing Pending status. To get that verified score, the company must update the prospective BIA it completed when applying for pending status and complete an assessment review via phone with a B Lab representative, after which time the company will receive an updated score. If that updated score is over 80, B Lab will select certain questions and ask the company to provide documentation for the answers it provided. If the final score is still over 80, the company moves to Certified status after paying the applicable annual fee.

At Ivy Marie, we believe businesses can work together for positive change – so we’re looking forward to earning our B Corp Certification and to joining a community of brands that are committed to doing social and environmental good. For more information on the B Corp certification and its requirements, please visit bcorporation.net.