B1G1 is a global community of over 3,500 businesses globally that have chosen to make giving a natural part of how they operate, woven into the ordinary rhythms of doing business. When a member sends an invoice, closes a project, or onboards a new client, a small contribution goes to a vetted cause somewhere in the world: a child gets a day of education, a family gets clean water, a farmer gets the tools to build something sustainable. That's the Business for Good movement. And if you've arrived here wondering whether B1G1 is what it claims to be, the two credentials on this page — Certified B Corp and Full Environmental Partner of 1% for the Planet — are worth understanding properly.
What Certified B Corp Status Actually Means
B Corp certification is not something a company awards itself. It's issued by B Lab, an independent nonprofit organisation that assesses businesses against a rigorous standard called the B Impact Assessment — a comprehensive evaluation spanning five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
To become certified, a business must score at least 80 out of 200 on that assessment. Every claim is verified by an independent assessor. And certification doesn't last indefinitely — recertification is required every three years, which means the standard is something a company has to keep meeting, not something it can earn once and quietly move on from.
Around 8,000 businesses worldwide currently hold B Corp certification, according to B Lab. That's a small number relative to the hundreds of millions of companies operating globally, which is precisely what gives the designation its meaning. The companies in that group have been examined closely and found to operate at the standard they claim. The ones that don't make the cut — or stop making it — lose the certification.
The B Corp movement is built around a demanding idea: that business can be used as a genuine force for good in the world, and that the bar for what "good" looks like should be high, measurable, and verified by someone other than the company itself. It's not enough to have good values. The way a business is governed, how it treats its people, what it does with its environmental footprint — all of it has to hold up to scrutiny.
Why B1G1 Is a Certified B Corp — and What It Signals
B1G1 has been a Certified B Corp since its early years and the alignment isn't incidental. Both B1G1 and the B Corp movement are asking the same underlying question: what does it actually look like when a business holds itself accountable to something beyond profit?
For B1G1, certification means an independent body has examined how the organisation operates, not just the impacts it helps create for others, but how it governs itself, how it treats its own team, and how transparent it is with the world and found it to be operating at the standard it claims. That's a meaningful distinction in a space where many organisations present credentials that don't hold up to close inspection.
B Lab describes B Corps as businesses that aspire to use "the power of markets to solve social and environmental problems." That language sits close to B1G1's founding premise: that when thousands of businesses give as a natural part of how they operate, the cumulative result is something no single organisation could achieve on its own. The B Corp certification is external confirmation that B1G1 is living that vision.
For businesses in the B1G1 community who are pursuing their own B Corp certification, giving activity tracked through B1G1 can contribute to the B Impact Assessment, particularly in the community and environmental categories, where measurable, documented impact carries real weight. B1G1's real-time dashboard gives members the data they need to demonstrate that impact clearly.
What Is 1% for the Planet?
1% for the Planet is a global movement of businesses, individuals, and nonprofits committed to directing at least 1% of annual revenue to environmental causes. It was founded in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia and Craig Mathews, built on the belief that the natural world is the foundation that all business ultimately depends on, and that a minimum contribution to its health is simply the right thing to do.
Member businesses choose from a network of approved environmental nonprofit partners, direct their 1% accordingly, and have those contributions independently verified each year. The commitment is consistent and recurring practice, embedded into how a business measures its own responsibility.
Over two decades, the 1% for the Planet network has channelled hundreds of millions of dollars toward environmental organisations worldwide. The businesses that join are not doing so for optics. The verification process is real, the contributions are tracked, and the standard for what counts is maintained carefully.
B1G1's Journey to Full Environmental Partner Status
B1G1 began working with 1% for the Planet in 2020. In the years that followed, the two organisations found themselves asking increasingly similar questions, and in 2026, that collaboration reached a meaningful milestone: B1G1 was recognised as a Full Environmental Partner of 1% for the Planet.
What that means practically: contributions made through B1G1 can now count toward a business's 1% for the Planet commitment. And the scope of what qualifies has expanded significantly.
Previously, only contributions to projects categorised as strictly environmental — reforestation, ecosystem conservation, biodiversity protection — were eligible. That was a reasonable starting point. But through five years of collaboration, a deeper understanding emerged.
Deforestation often happens because communities facing economic pressure have no viable alternative. Land is abandoned or degraded when farmers lack access to stable income. When immediate survival is uncertain, long-term stewardship of the land becomes very difficult to sustain. Environmental resilience and human resilience are not separate challenges — they're the same challenge at different points in the same chain.
That understanding is now reflected in 1% for the Planet's expanded framework, and in B1G1's Full Environmental Partner status. B1G1 members can now allocate contributions to any of B1G1's 450+ carefully vetted projects and have those contributions count within the 1% for the Planet verification process. That includes projects supporting clean water access, sustainable livelihoods, regenerative agriculture, environmental education, and wildlife protection, alongside the reforestation and conservation work that has always been central to 1% for the Planet's mission.
The giving is still intentional, still fully tracked, and still meaningful. The scope has expanded to match how environmental sustainability actually works.
What Both Credentials Mean for Businesses Joining B1G1
For a business discovering B1G1 for the first time, these two certifications answer a specific and reasonable question: is this community what it says it is?
The B Corp certification says yes, an independent body has examined B1G1 against high, verified standards and found it to operate with integrity. The 1% for the Planet partnership says the same thing in a different register: B1G1 has been recognised, through years of demonstrated work, as a channel through which giving can be verified and trusted.
Together, they establish something that matters more than any single credential: that B1G1 is accountable. Not just to its own community, but to external organisations with their own rigorous standards — organisations that have no incentive to hand out recognition lightly.
For businesses that are already 1% for the Planet members, giving through B1G1 simplifies the process considerably. You gain access to 480+ vetted projects, a real-time dashboard showing exactly where contributions are going, and the flexibility to give across causes that reflect your values — all within your verified 1% commitment. Explore the full project list at b1g1.com/b1g1-projects.
For businesses pursuing B Corp certification, B1G1 membership provides documented, trackable giving that can strengthen the B Impact Assessment — particularly in the community and environment dimensions where evidence of real-world impact matters.
And for businesses that are simply beginning to think about what responsible giving looks like, both credentials offer orientation: this is what it looks like when a giving community has done the work, and kept doing it.
The Impact Visualizer is a good place to see what giving could look like for your own business, and b1g1.com/how-it-works explains the mechanics in more detail.
