B-Corp Certified PR Firm
We’re a certified B Corp. — What does this mean?
We were born on a mission to do good in the world. Our people are driven to work with clients motivated to change how we think and do things on a larger scale. We never sought to label our commitment to social change however, as we continued to evolve and laser-focus our intention on working with changemakers, this also motivated our desire to be connected to a network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.
As of May 2023, we are proud to be a certified B Corp – the first woman of colour-owned full-service public relations agency on Vancouver Island to attain this status. This cemented our commitment to conducting work in a responsible and sustainable way, by joining more than 6,200 companies in over 90 countries across 160+ industries.
Measuring our Impact
As a Certified B Corporation, 50th Parallel joins over 200,000 other for-profit organizations dedicated to using business as a force for good. This means the company has met highly verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. These standards make up 50th Parallel’s B Impact Assessment, which examines a company’s overall impact on its stakeholders.
To qualify for B Corp Certification, organizations must have a score of 80 – 50th Parallel’s overall impact score is 115.7, through focusing on engagement and satisfaction of its employees (33), supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in the communities (25.5) it serves and serving clients (35.9) from marginalized and underserved communities (16.2).
B Corps are also legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders: customers, workers, communities and the environment. Attaining a certification demonstrates that companies “walk the talk” in a range of business areas, from employee benefits to ethical supply chains and charitable giving.
WAYS WE ARE MAKING AN IMPACT
- Offer a sliding scale to clients identifying as Indigenous communities and organizations, BIPOC or not-for-profit organizations.
- Donate a percentage of our revenue to pro bono hours for community organizations
- Policies that celebrate and support return to work for new moms (i.e. breastfeeding policy)
- Provide paid volunteer days to permanent and contract staff to support local social change and not-for-profit organizations.
- Co-create a Code of Ethics standard with our team.
- Annual team workshops to disrupt our bias – Indigenous cultural protocol, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Diversity
- Prioritize working with diversity-focused, purpose-driven, local vendors.
- At least 80% of our clients identify as or work with historically marginalized communities.
- Release an annual Trends Report on Indigenous Relations to share learnings from our work and relationships with Indigenous communities.
- Capacity-building programs and training for Indigenous individuals working for communities in a communications-focused role
