Now that the blame for the economic near-disaster has been fully assigned and appropriated to the best of the media’s and market’s finger-pointing ability, the search has begun to identify the next way to make money and create wealth. In recent months, this elusive New Economy has been the object of much conjecture and contemplation.

The founders of B Lab believe that now is exactly the right time for social and eco-minded businesses to gain their footing and take a leading role.

Much like the way the extinction of dinosaurs allowed small mammals to crawl out from tree nooks and dank caves, the death of behemoth companies over the past two years may lead to small businesses expanding outside of their niche markets.

B Lab is a non-profit organization created by Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan and Andrew Kassoy. The three have been friends for more than twenty years, and have enjoyed very successful careers in the private sector. Gilbert and Houlahan founded and presided over the AND 1 apparel business, and Kassoy comes from a background in private equity investing. Together they share a passion for businesses that are purpose-driven and committed beyond profits, using their influence for the benefit of their community and the environment.

In 2007 they launched B Lab, and in October of that year, published the B Ratings System that identifies companies that are valuable for not only their shareholders, but for those with a stake in the companies’ success and overall impact. These stakeholders can include employees, creditors, suppliers, customers, the community in which it resides or does business and the environment, both immediate and global.

To make these attributes easily recognizable to consumers and investors, B Lab has created the B Corporation certification; an objective method of attesting to what has been decidedly subjective.

Within a year, more than 120 entities had become B Corps, spanning 30 industries. That number has since grown to well over 200 companies, representing more than a $1billion slice of the marketplace. But the long-term B Lab vision is even more ambitious, hoping to create nothing less than a new sector in the economy that equals 5-7% of the US GDP.

Today, the B Corps range from fledgling two-person operations to nationally recognizable labels such as Seventh Generation and Numi Organic Tea, and in BusinessWeek’s recent list of the most promising social entrepreneurs, three of the five were B Corps. The coveted B Certification is quickly becoming the standard for sustainable business practices.

The B Certification begins with a survey, resulting in an honest look at a company’s performance according to certain criteria. These rigorous criteria serve as a measuring stick for businesses that aren’t satisfied by only doing well financially, but strive to do good in their community and act responsibly when providing their goods and services.

The survey was conducted by B Lab, but was written by the Standards Advisory Council [SAC], an independent panel whose members read like a who’s who of corporate citizenship. There are nine members, from Cathy Clark, the director of the RISE project at Columbia Business School, to Adam Lowry, an executive at the popular Method brand.

Points are awarded based on the answers given by the prospective company, and a minimum of eighty out of a possible 200 are required to receive certification. The survey covers employee benefits, community involvement, supply chains, office space construction, decision-making procedures and even financial reporting.

According to B Lab, the survey, although comprehensive, should take very little time to finish. Chris Roberts, owner of Barkwheats Dog Biscuits (a newly minted B Corp), had a slightly different experience. “I had a good laugh when I spoke with Bart Houlahan a couple of weeks ago, as he said it should take around an hour to complete the survey, and I told him I spent a number of days doing ours.”  But Roberts humorously blames himself for the extended time. “I guess that's the paranoia in me,” he says, “wanting to make sure I do everything by the book.”

After a passing grade, the prospect must, if needed, amend their charter documents with B Lab-directed language and obtain any requisite approval from their board before filing the new paperwork in the state of their incorporation.

Secondly, there are two documents that need to be signed: The rate sheet that scales fees according to revenue, and the Declaration of Interdependence.

The Declaration is a pledge for B Corps to rally around, or a common belief on which to stand. It states,

· That we must be the change we seek in the world.

· That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.

· That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.

· To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

It’s a bold imperative in regard to commercial endeavors—especially in these economically perilous times—and it speaks to the integrity that Numi Organic Tea co-founder Ahmed Rahim was drawn to about B Lab and its certification. “[B Lab] provides the platform of integrity, or criteria, to run your business, and I think that’s admirable.” Numi, featured in attribute’s July issue, has long been a leader in the sustainable business space, but Rahim was still “excited by the opportunities to make more change” that were discovered in the certifying process.

Many of the B Corps are smaller businesses, the type of companies that are created with blood, sweat and heart, and then often struggle to compete in a legal environment that affords them little opportunity to raise investor funds while remaining accountable to the communities and eco-systems they were constructed to protect and bolster. Whereas many state’s statues require that a company’s leadership act within the shareholders’ best interests above any others, the B Certification allows the focus to remain on all stakeholders. Even fierce free-market proponents would likely agree that for the will of the people to truly dictate the market, effectively driving the economy and its wealth, there must be a legislated playing field [the breadth of that required legislation/regulation is debatable—combustible, maybe—and will not be addressed here]. And it is in the absence of that legislation that B Lab operates.

At its core, B Lab believes that the “power of business” is not put to its best and highest use only when it’s making the largest profit. Business can be a force in “solving social and environmental problems” when individual companies can tap into a collective voice and can legally provide for its stakeholders, not just shareholders.

The marketplace is littered with “good” businesses that, when faced with changes in management or ownership, have jettisoned their original mission for more traditional practices. These growing pains and leadership torch-passes can affect corporate conduct, including, for example, the use of regional vendors, employees’ rights and fund allocation to local charities. By writing the B Corp language into the charter documents, the effects of such overhauls can be mitigated, and the original intent of the company can survive.

Beyond the legal, marketing and survival value of the certification, B Corps can enjoy potential of financial gain through investors seeking purpose-driven, sustainable businesses. Green mutual funds are relatively new to the stock exchange, and are gaining popularity. To fund managers and individual investors, a B Certification means ready-made metrics and clear financials—attractive if only for the ease of research and due diligence.

Above all other advantages the certification can offer, nearly all B Corps would cite the network B Lab has created as the primary benefit. The Sustainable Organization Advocacy Partners Group, or SOAP, a renowned marketing and brand-architecting company, is a recent B Corp community addition. John Rooks, president of SOAP Group, credits this community with “creating a new momentum in business,” as well as contributing the to valuable relationships he builds with his clients. “Simply put,” he says, “the SOAP Group is a bit of an ingredient brand for many of our clients, and the B Certification is part of our secret sauce.”

One of the relationships SOAP has forged is with Atayne Sportswear, a fellow B Corp. Atayne, run by Jeremy Litchfield, is an athletic apparel company that uses recycled materials to manufacture their products, rather than the virgin non-renewables found in other brands. SOAP selected Atayne’s Litchfield for its entrepreneur-in-residence program—a connection that has resulted in free office space for Atayne. “This,” Litchfield says, “is huge for a cash-strapped start up.”

The B Corp community is unique, Rooks believes, because it’s built around collaboration like his and Litchfield’s, not competition. Collaboration creates opportunities not only to learn from one another’s experiences, but also to find new supplies and services to strengthen their respective businesses. For SOAP, seeking the B Corp certification was “the proverbial no-brainer.”

After taking the survey, much like Rahim at Numi Organic Tea, Rooks was excited to find how much his company had yet to learn and change. He says, “We were surprised at how much further we could go to activate our commitments,” adding, “It made us articulate our values.” For Rooks, finding a certification that is on-brand, on-strategy and on-mission is hard to do. “Which is why I’m so committed to the B Corp community,” he explains.

Rooks applies a consumer’s point-of-view to the sometimes-hollow marketing efforts of many businesses, explaining that, to him, these efforts “tend to raise a flag.” B Lab shares his wary eye, and points out that there are good companies and there is good marketing, and the two aren’t always the same thing. The certification process has been carefully tailored to find and exploit the gap, and then to reward those companies who provide for the interests of all their stakeholders by networking them with the brightest of like-minded businesses. As Roberts from Barkwheat explains, “B Corp is what separates the great companies from the companies with great marketing.  We want consumers to have an easy choice in purchasing with their values.”  

Good marketing is the radio station in North Carolina that calls itself green and feels it can do so because it has in-office recycling bins and broadcasts conservation tips every hour on the hour. Good marketing is also the annual collectors’ expo in Arizona that attracts attendees with the green designation merely because it encourages the use of public transportation to the event—exactly the phenomenon that Rooks and SOAP refer to as “greenwashing.” The B Corp certification aims to expose those gimmicks for what they are, demonstrating that Do-Gooder isn’t a self-appended label.

Consumer demand is certainly shifting, and business is beginning to recognize that trajectory and is reacting to it, as pervasive green ad campaigns have shown. But soon, the thirty-second spots packed with thirty green buzzwords won’t be enough. The market is making its move to allow for companies that have a authentic bend toward a triple bottom line; the idea that a responsible corporate citizen needs to measure more than just financial profits, but also its impact on the community and environment. Or simply: People, Earth and Money.

Profit will always be the great equalizer in a capitalist marketplace, but it may not remain the only one. The New Economy is a moving target, not a mystery to be solved or destination to be discovered, but a fluid, dynamic idea to be created and shaped. B Lab is providing the framework.