Category: B Corp Movement

As we step into March, we join a global community in celebrating B Corp Month, a time dedicated to honoring businesses committed to using their influence as a force for good. This year, the celebration feels even more significant for Vista Global as we recently completed our fifth B Corp recertification achieving our highest score of 146.9.

What is B Corp Month?

B Corp Month is an annual event where Certified B Corporations collectively raise awareness about building a more inclusive and sustainable economy. It’s a global effort to showcase how businesses can balance purpose and profit, ensuring their operations benefit all stakeholders, including employees, communities, and the environment. This celebration highlights the belief that companies can be a catalyst for positive change in the world.

Since our founding, Vista Global has partnered with individuals and organizations to create the world we want to live in. In 2012, we took a significant step by becoming a Certified B Corporation, solidifying our commitment to social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. This certification is more than a credential; it reflects our ongoing dedication to upholding the highest standards in our work and interactions.

Being a part of the B Corp community aligns with our core values and enhances our ability to drive impactful change. It provides a framework that guides us in evaluating our practices and ensures we consistently strive for improvement. Our B Corp status reinforces our pledge to operate with integrity, prioritize the well-being of our stakeholders, and contribute positively to our community.

As we celebrate B Corp Month, we reflect on our journey and the collective impact of the B Corp community. Beyond our work, we are honored to serve on the Leadership Circle of WeTheChange, a network of women leaders of certified B Corps and other purpose-driven businesses. This incredible community emphasizes the role women play in using business as a force for good, advocating for social justice, environmental sustainability, and collective well-being.

As part of our commitment to this work, we’re looking forward to the upcoming WeTheChange Retreat in April 2025, a powerful gathering of leaders focused on connection, collaboration, and deep impact. If you’re a woman purpose-driven business leader seeking to engage with a community of like-minded change-makers, we encourage you to join us. We invite you to celebrate B Corp Month by partnering with companies committed to a more equitable and sustainable future.

Since launching in 2018, Vista Global has been a dedicated member of WeTheChange, a community actively working towards an equitable and just economy for all. 

The WeTheChange declaration, crafted by women CEOs of Certified B Corporations and other purpose-driven enterprises, fosters collaboration and commitment to our shared values and principles. Signatories of this declaration personally, and on behalf of their companies, pledge to uphold these ideals, reflecting our core values and the B Corporation community’s commitment to the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

WeTheChange hosts monthly member meetings, focusing on topics that align with our mission. Our Spring 2024 offering introduces the Impact Finance Center “Magic Money: Financial Innovation and Impact Investing” learning series. The Impact Finance Center is on a mission to channel $1 trillion into social ventures by leveraging the successful model pioneered in Colorado. It aims to transform interested individuals and organizations into impact investors, while also building community platforms like Impact Days and the Impact Investing Institute, to foster a vibrant ecosystem for financial innovation.

In the April 24th meeting, Dr. Stephanie Gripne will interview Colleen LaFontaine, who has extensive experience with The Women’s Foundation of Colorado, to discuss the practical use of impact investing tools for profit maximization. To finish the series on May 29th, Dr. Gripne will conduct a 90-minute session on reenvisioning your business’s financial strategies.

Become part of the innovative WeTheChange community as a Collaborator, Changemaker, or Catalyst by visiting WeTheChange Membership, where you’ll gain full access to our insightful monthly meetings.

If you’re not ready to commit to membership, you can still attend each meeting by registering for a one-time fee of $25. To register for the April 24 meeting click here. To register for the May 29 meeting click here.

Together, let’s forge a path towards a just and equitable economy, empowering women-led businesses and communities that drive  meaningful impact.

It’s B Corp Month, a time to celebrate the companies that are using business as a force for good! Certified B Corporations are dedicated to creating positive social and environmental impact, and they are certified by the nonprofit organization B Lab based on their social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. 

Vista Global is proud to be part of the B Local Wisconsin community and is happy to be celebrating our 11th year as a certified B Corp. We recently completed our 4th recertification with our highest score yet! 

In order to become a B Corp, companies must meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance, and undergo a rigorous assessment. With every recertification the bar has risen for verification of practices in five different categories: governance, workers, community, the environment, and customers. 

One of the key ways that certified B Corporations can improve their social performance is by creating diverse and inclusive workplaces. In February, B Local Wisconsin was proud to partner with Cream City Conservation & Consulting, the first Black woman-owned certified B Corporation in Wisconsin, to offer JEDI (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion) training. In the first workshop of this 2-part series, August M. Ball led an incredible discussion about racial equity and environmentalism. The second part of this series will take place on March 21, 2023 and will highlight recruitment and retention for the 21st century. Please join us by registering here. 

Whether you’re a business owner looking to connect with like-minded peers, or a consumer interested in supporting companies that prioritize social and environmental responsibility, B Local Wisconsin is a great resource. To learn more about how you can get involved in building a more sustainable and equitable Wisconsin, visit www.blocalwisconsin.org. 

My whole life I have volunteered, it is just who I am. In elementary school I volunteered at a local nursing home.

In high school I served as an aide in classes for students with developmental disabilities and beginning in college I was volunteering for months in Latin America.

Fast forward a couple of decades and I founded Vista Global, certifying as a B Corp in 2012.  One of the categories for B Corp certification is Community. This category evaluates a company’s engagement with and impact on the communities in which it operates. Topics include diversity, equity & inclusion, economic impact, civic engagement, charitable giving and supply chain management.  

In addition, the Community category recognizes business models that are designed to address specific community-oriented problems, such as poverty alleviation.

Vista Global has worked with community-based organizations from the first day we hung out our shingle and will continue to do so until the last day we operate. It is in our DNA.  Another way that we work to improve the community is to offer pro bono services to community-based organizations.

Recently, I joined the Pro-Bono Business Advising program of Pacific Community Ventures. This incredible program facilitates mentorships between Small Business Owners and advisors who have unique and hard-earned skills to support small business owners to elevate their ideas to thriving businesses. It is exciting to be part of expanding businesses fighting for economic, racial and gender justice that propel thriving communities with equitable jobs.

To learn more about how other B Corps collaborate to amplify social and environmental good in their communities, check out the weekly B The Change article on “How Collaboration Empowers the B Corp Community”. 

In 2018, Sara Schley, CEO of Seed Systems, and Eileen Fisher, CEO of EILEEN FISHER, along with over 80 other B Corp women leaders joined together to take action. What can we do together that none of us can do alone? Rose Penelope Yee, CEO of Green Retirement, and Kim Coupounas, B Lab’s Global Ambassador, stepped up to co-found WeTheChange with Sara. Since then, I have been an active member of this group, fighting for an equal and just economy for all.

WeTheChange is a collaborative declaration written by women CEOs of Certified B Corporations and other purpose-driven enterprises.. The leaders who have signed this declaration personally — and on behalf of her/their company — affirm and support the articulated vision and principles. This community spans a broad spectrum of gender identities, including cis-gender, transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming leaders in business. We acknowledge intersectionality and the reality that we need to change systems and structures that marginalize certain identities.

Our values are also in harmony with the social and environmental practices embraced by the B Corporation community of businesses who meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental sustainability.

WeTheChange is committed to a world where women are equally represented in positions of power and influence. The issues of equality and social justice are prevalent in our society now more than ever, which is why I am honored to be part of a group of businesses and people willing to tackle these challenges every day to make the world a better place. 

Up until now, WeTheChange has relied solely on volunteering from founders and other members of the community. This model has carried us over the last four years, but it is time we take the next step forward in order to advance our mission and voice.

Between now and December 2 we are seeking 50 WeTheChange signatories and allies to give big and support this important shift by becoming an Activator.

This fundraising initiative will allow WeTheChange to hire our first staff member. This step is crucial for our group as we continue to evolve towards a more ethical, sustainable, and impactful future!

Click here to learn more about supporting WeTheChange and becoming a WeTheChange Activator.