What is a B Corporation?
B Corporations are companies that have undergone a rigorous certification process that at its core, evaluates how well the business acts as a force for good. The certification process in the United States is run by B Lab. B Lab explores each company's commitment to bettering the stakeholders it serves including workers, communities, customers, & the planet. To become a Certified B Corporation, a company must also have a legal structure that states that the company exists not just to maximize shareholder profits, but also for the betterment of the stakeholders it serves.
Who are B Corporations?
B Lab certified Paper Culture as a B Corporation (B Corp) in October 2022. Paper Culture then became the only e-commerce company in its industry to be Certified as a B Corps. The community of B Corps stretches across the globe, from big companies to small. Today, there are over 5,000 global B Corps including companies like Patagonia, Toms, Seventh Generation, and Ben & Jerry’s. Each of these companies understands that the social and environmental challenges the world faces are problems that no company alone can solve. That is why the community is so important.
Paper Culture’s Journey
At Paper Culture, we’ve always believed that Climate Change is the greatest crisis facing humanity. That’s why we’ve focused our products and our message around sustainability. Our formula is simple. With every product we make, we use sustainable materials like 100% post-consumer recycled paper for our holiday cards and wedding invitations. We minimize the use of excess materials. Naturally, we have a carbon footprint from manufacturing and transportation. We reduce what we can by distributing our manufacturing facilities as close as possible to our customers, and we offset the remaining carbon footprint. For us, that generally gets us to neutral. The planet is no worse off than when we started. But we go further, and we plant a tree with every order. Trees are amazing. They are nature's solution to carbon sequestration. But, we realized trees can be even more. Today we have expanded from planting trees to sponsoring reforestation projects that focus on both the social, economic, and planetary benefits. For example, we are currently sponsoring a project with Trees for the Future in the Tabor region of Tanzania. Together, we train local landowners to build Forest Gardens. In a Forest Garden, the landowners take their land and not only plant trees, but they plant agricultural products that can both feed and provide income for their families. We're helping them build a local economy, while also planting trees that help save the planet. Our hope is that by delivering an exceptional physical product that helps rather than hurts the planet, our customers will have an amazing experience. Our impact is not just that those customers hopefully come back to purchase from us again, but that they realize that their purchases can have impact. They change their criteria in other purchases. They tell their friends. And by the way, part of the equation is to not just vote with your wallet, but vote in elections. That’s why Paper Culture has worked with organizations like And when you are able to touch millions of people every year with that message, that's how we make our children proud.
B Corporation Resources
We encourage everyone to learn more. In fact, we’d love to hear from everyone both already in the B Corp community, but also those considering joining.
We’ve listed below a set of papers sponsored by Patagonia, one of the B Corp leaders and a company we’ve found inspiring from day one. They created these in partnership with the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, the Yale Environmental Law Association, Vermont Law School and Caprock.
An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations
Just Good Business: An Investor’s Guide to B Corps
A Legislative Guide to Benefit Corporations
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