We at Merry Go Rounds are proud to announce that we have officially become a B Corp! We are so excited and so grateful to everyone who helped us make this happen.
So what, exactly, is a B Corp?
According to the B Corp website, “certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.”
Unlike many businesses, our fundamental business model – extending the life of existing kids’ goods – is inherently sustainable. The more our business grows, the better our environmental impact is! We’re very proud of this fact, and it certainly helped us with getting certified. But we still needed to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability and responsibility in every aspect of our business: employees, customers, community, and governance, as well as direct environmental impact.
We wrote an entire blog post about why we wanted to become a B Corp, but essentially, we wanted to formally join the movement for sustainable business and become an active member of the B Corp community. Being a B Corp means joining a wonderful network of businesses around the world striving to make change.
We also want to serve as a model for similar small businesses considering the process. Companies that go through certification tend to be larger and better-resourced, which makes sense, because the process requires a lot of time and energy outside of your normal business functions. But we wanted to show that small businesses can do it too, and we are happy to share advice with others!
We strongly believe that being a business is about more than making a profit. We aim to bring value to our customers, employees, community, and planet, and help move the community one step closer to sustainable living. As a whole, businesses have massive potential to be a positive force in society, and B Corp certification is one of the best ways to prove that you are actually doing so. Independent third-party verification is important to combat “greenwashing” (companies saying they’re having a positive impact, but not doing much in reality). The standards are so rigorous that you simply cannot become a B Corp unless your business is actually, tangibly, demonstrably doing good work. We’ve known that to be true about our business for a long time – but now, we have proof.
Some talented, generous, and passionate people helped us throughout this process. Alli Chlapaty, who led Bigelow Tea’s certification process and then applied her knowledge to ours, is the all-around MVP. The team from Seams to Fit, the first resale business to have been certified, offered to help right away and shared lots of resources and tips; our friends at Hugo & Hoby, who went through the application process just before we did, did the same. We’re also grateful to the Center for Business and Environment at Yale, both for publishing our blog series and for offering helpful resources (like the Entrepreneur's Guide to Certified B Corporations and Benefit Corporations). And the B Lab staff we worked with throughout the process were professional and supportive.
This is a truly special community and we’ve already had such a warm welcome – we can’t wait to see what else is in store, and we’re excited to welcome even more businesses into it! To that end, we’re more than happy to support others who are going through the process or have questions. Feel free to contact us and we’ll help however we can.