Our First B Corp Impact Report
We've just published our first B Corp Impact Report - an exciting, if vulnerable, moment. As a B Corp, this annual reporting is a requirement, but it's also a reflection about who we are as a business and where we're headed.
Impact reporting can feel overwhelming, especially when it’s the first one. But we've learned it serves a purpose beyond compliance. And the process of creating the report taught us a number of things to help us in the future.
For us, the report became three things:
Reality Check: Comparing our goals with the actual outcomes revealed gaps we hadn't noticed. Some areas performed better than expected; others needed serious reflection as to why we hadn’t hit our targets.
Learning Tool: The process forced us to connect dots between different areas of our business that we'd been treating separately.
A Commitment Device: Publishing our progress publicly creates accountability that internal reviews simply can't match.
An engagement opportunity: Rather than on team member sitting down and writing the report, we used it as an opportunity to get the whole team to reflect on how our B Corp accreditation shapes their experience.
We organised our report around the five C’s: Colleagues, Control (aka Governance), Community, Customers, and Climate. For each section, we followed the suggested three-part framework: what we said we’d do, what we actually did, and what we’re going to do next. This approach kept us grounded in reality; being transparent about challenges faced and lessons learned builds trust and shows commitment to continuous improvement. We also started each section with a general overview of that area at Purpose Union; as the first report, we felt that it was important to set the context for where we were coming from.
Our report concludes with team stories because they illustrate what our policies actually mean in practice. When a team member shares how company culture & policies helped them through a personal situation, we're seeing real impact beyond numbers.
Creating this report required going through all our internal strategies and policies from the past year and beyond. The methodology revealed insights that surprised us:
Baseline Gaps: We discovered we'd been tracking some metrics inconsistently, making year-on-year comparisons difficult. This means we know we need to set baselines moving forward.
Connections: Impact measurement revealed how seemingly unrelated initiatives actually reinforced each other; whether that be community work linked with employee engagement, or how our ethical client framework complemented social or environmental goals.
Different Perspectives: Including voices from team members provided context that simple data couldn't capture.
This report marks the beginning of our impact reporting journey. B Corp Certification is holistic and requires ongoing commitment to meet standards on an ongoing basis. We're working on better measurement systems, deeper stakeholder engagement, and embedding impact consideration into everyday business decisions. Most importantly, we're committed to sharing what we learn; both successes and failures.