Have you ever wondered how companies become B Corps? B Corps—like Warby Parker, New Belgium Brewing, and Patagonia—are “for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.” For the last three years, the NC State B Corp Clinic, a multi-school collaborative program has helped North Carolina companies achieve B Corp certification by working with teams of graduate and undergraduate students from universities across the state.

Companies are matched with a team of students (intentionally designed to include students from multiple schools and disciplines) to go through the assessment process and identify strategies they can take to improve their BCorp scores. Students gain hands-on consulting experience and the chance to learn about social and environmental impact assessment and sustainable business models.

Interested in learning more? NC State’s Poole College of Management Business Sustainability Collaborative administers the B Corp Clinic, and will host an info session for the Spring 2019 B Corp Clinic on Fri., February 8, from 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM at the Frontier. Students can either attend in person in RTP or participate virtually to learn more about the timeline, process, and companies involved; you can decide afterwards if you’d like to apply to participate on a team.

Over the last three years, the B Corp Clinic has worked with over 230+ students on 41 projects and helped companies make progress on 1800+ points towards certification, including 6 companies that have become B Corp Certified. You can read more about our past B Corp Clinic projects and hear from past students participants in our new B Corp Clinic video. The B Corp Clinic launch event will feature an introduction to B Corporations, an opportunity to learn more about the Spring 2019 B Corp Clinic projects, student expectations and how to get involved.