Media Release
Our Community’s global business-for-good award
June 12, 2018
For the third year running, Our Community has been honoured in the annual B Lab list of companies that set the gold standard globally for how business can be a force for good.
“Best for Community” is an award made to “B-Corp” businesses that have scored exceptionally well on B Lab’s assessment of a string of activities, including: supplier relations, diversity, involvement in the local community, community service and charitable giving, including whether a company’s product or service is design to solve a social problem.
B-Corps are certified as sustainable businesses, tested through a rigorous “B Impact Assessment” and declaration of higher accountability for social impact, environmental impact, transparency and governance, all aimed at business with a positive impact on the world.
Our Community made the list on the grounds of its exceptional practices and products including the commission-free charitable donations service GiveNow, the training courses it offers to not-for-profits nationally via the Institute of Community Directors Australia, and the Communities in Control conference, which provides inspiration and thought leadership to the community sector.
The managing director of the Our Community group, Denis Moriarty, said it was gratifying to have external validation of the benefits Our Community was generating.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to pause for a minute and reflect on the outcomes of our work,” he said.
“When we started Our Community back in 1999 the notion that you could have a business that could do good was very unusual. I am incredibly proud to be helping to prove that the model is viable.”
The organisation that conducts the assessments and makes the awards, B Lab, is based in Pennsylvania, USA, but reaches worldwide.
“With the rise of anger at a system that feels rigged, people are hungry for companies like Our Community, who are changing the system by building businesses that seek to create the greatest positive impact,” said B Lab co-founder Jay Coen Gilbert.
The 226 winning companies on the Best For Community list come from 90 industries and 34 countries revealed today. The full list can be found at bthechange.com/bestfortheworld
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