Lesson plan

B Lab

B Lab is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2006 in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, by Andrew Kassoy, Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan. B Lab created, and awards, the B corporation certification for for-profit organizations. The "B" stands for beneficial and indicates that the certified organizations voluntarily meet certain standards of transparency, accountability, sustainability, and performance, with an aim to create value for society, not just for traditional stakeholders such as the shareholders. B Corp evaluates applicants on five criteria: governance, workers' rights, community impact, environmental impact and "stewardship of its customers". To be certified, companies must achieve a score of 80 or higher out of 200 in each category. Once a company passes the B Lab's "Impact Assessment", it must then pay an annual fee which is based on its location and gross annual revenue. The waiting list for assessment can be up to two years. In addition to awarding B Corporation certifications, B Lab also administers the B Impact Management programs and software, and also advocates for benefit corporation statutes at the state level. (The B Corporation certification should not be confused with state-sanctioned benefit corporation status.) In 2020, B Lab created an SDG Action Manager to help companies adopt the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

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Article summary

B Lab is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2006 in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, by Andrew Kassoy, Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan. B Lab created, and awards, the B corporation certification for for-profit organizations. The "B" stands for beneficial and indicates that the certified organizations voluntarily meet certain standards of transparency, accountability, sustainability, and performance, with an aim to create value for society, not just for traditional stakeholders such as the shareholders. B Corp evaluates applicants on five criteria: governance, workers' rights, community impact, environmental impact and "stewardship of its customers". To be certified, companies must achieve a score of 80 or higher out of 200 in each category. Once a company passes the B Lab's "Impact Assessment", it must then pay an annual fee which is based on its location and gross annual revenue. The waiting list for assessment can be up to two years. In addition to awarding B Corporation certifications, B Lab also administers the B Impact Management programs and software, and also advocates for benefit corporation statutes at the state level. (The B Corporation certification should not be confused with state-sanctioned benefit corporation status.) In 2020, B Lab created an SDG Action Manager to help companies adopt the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Key claims

  1. date of foundation: 2006 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the date of foundation is "2006". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377962404

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.