Thank you for your interest in the focus groups as part of the second consultation for Evolving the Standards for B Corp Certification. This form should take about 5 minutes to complete. 

Background

The updated draft of the standards for B Corp Certification will be ready for second consultation which will be carried out from mid-January until mid-March 2024. The consultation will consist of the release of the complete draft of the new standards and an accompanying survey to capture detailed feedback. In relation to this second consultation, B Lab Global will also be holding a series of virtual focus groups across multiple time zones for Certified B Corps and aspiring B Corps (in-pipeline).

While the survey will help in getting quantitative input from a broad cross section of stakeholders, the focus groups will provide deeper qualitative feedback from a smaller group of stakeholders and enable a comprehensive understanding of the feedback.

Focus Group Requirements

Participating in the focus groups will involve an estimated effort of almost 5 hours, distributed as follows:

• Reading the whole set of applicable draft standards [approx. 1 hr]

• Diving deeper into at least three specific topics within the draft [approx. 1 hr]

• Participating in a focus group between January 25 and March 19 2024  [approx. 2 hr]

• Completing the feedback form accompanying the draft standards [approx. 1 hr]

Honorarium

To recognize participants’ time and expertise in an equitable way, an honorarium of USD 175 will be offered to eligible participants who complete the focus group requirements. This amount has been informed by the Value of Volunteer time and is being offered to recognize that not all groups of people are equally able to engage in feedback processes such as this one.

You are eligible for the honorarium if you meet at least one of the following criteria: 

• Person owning or leading a B Corp or an aspiring B Corp who identifies as a person of color, a person with a disability and/or a First Nations/Indigenous person

• Person representing a B Corp or an aspiring B Corp that is based in Latin America, Africa or Asia (not inclusive of Hong Kong/Macau, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.)

Instructions for Registering Your Interest

In this form, please indicate your interest for the focus group that corresponds to your company size, region and/or ownership/leadership type, while also confirming your availability on the specific dates and times. You can indicate your interest for more than one focus group. If the date and time of the focus group that corresponds to your company size, region and/or ownership type does not suit you due to other conflicts: 

• Please consider registering for another focus group call that pertains to the same region as your company, even if the company size may be different. (e.g. micro company based in Europe, signs up for a large company focus group call in Europe)

• If the above does not work, please consider registering for a focus group call of the same size as your company in what you’d consider the "most similar" region to yours (e.g. a small company based in US/CAN, signs up for a small company focus group call in Europe)

Though you may have already provided B Lab with some or all of the information in the form in other settings, having your latest interest and availability will enable our team with the planning of the focus groups.

Please know that due to space restriction, completing this form is just a registering of your interest and does not guarantee a confirmation of your participation. A confirmation of your participation will be sent through a calendar invite and a confirmation email closer to the date of the focus groups. Participants for the focus groups will be selected in order to ensure a diversity of company region, size, sector, industry, tenure in certification, and demographic identities. 

This is your chance to help shape the future of the standards for B Corp Certification!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to standardsmanagement@bcorporation.net 

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!