B Corporation
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What is a certified B Corporation?
Fund Boards Council (FBC) were delighted to become a certified B Corporation (or B Corp) in March 2024.
Verified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, this achievement demonstrates that Fund Boards Council meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
To become a certified B Corp, companies must complete a rigorous assessment of the impact of their operations and business model on their internal team, their customers, the community and the environment.
“We are extremely proud to have achieved B Corp status. As an organisation dedicated to advocating high standards of governance in the asset management industry and supporting our corporate members in this capacity, some of whom are also B Corps, it’s an external validation of our high level of service and responsible practices. Additionally, we feel privileged to join the global B Corp community – a respected group of forward-thinking companies reshaping the role business plays in society.”
L to R: Fiona Evans (Head of Operations), Shiv Taneja (CEO) and Catherine Battershill (Managing Director) of FBC
How we achieved it
The FBC team worked hard to achieve the B Corp accreditation – here are some examples of how we were able to attain certification:
Find out more about our responsible business commitments.
Our future plans
Our approach is to continue to expand our responsible business objectives and effectively continue – and improve on – the achievements that enabled us to achieve our B Corp certification.
Over the coming months, we are building an FBC impact report – a requirement of B Corp certification – which will detail our current and ongoing progress in terms of our impact on the five pillars of being a Responsible Business.
We’ll be sharing the report with our team, corporate members and clients.
Our People
As a remote team, we are always thinking of innovative ways to support our people. Our ever-evolving people commitments currently include:
- flexible working hours to suit the teams' work-life balance
- a schedule of Lunch and Learns with a wide range of presentations and life skills, from CPR training to good nutrition, AI & gender equality to Net Zero investing
- a Wellness Programme which includes a weekly online Pilates class for the team and fund raising events for the charities we support based on physical activities such as walking, running and cycling. For example, we have recently launched our FBC 2024 Charity Challenge. During which FBC team members will be clocking up any walks, runs or bike rides to make it around the UK on a tour via everyone’s hometown.
The Community
We’re advocates for supporting our local communities. Each year, FBC raises money for different charities that have been chosen by members of the team. Our 2024 charities are the British Red Cross, Cancer Research, Computers for Kids and Mind.
Find out more on our Responsible Business Page.
The Environment
To reduce our impact on the environment, FBC has made a pledge to:
- Where possible, only purchase marketing collateral that is eco-friendly. Examples of FBC-branded collateral that we have purchased for our event attendees are:
- Eco-pens made from recycled plastic and cork
- Recycled cotton tote bags
- Notebooks made from recycled paper
- Lanyards made from recycled plastic
- Use train/tube travel where possible
- Reuse or recycle any IT equipment that is no longer needed by the team (in fact – take a look at one of our 2024 charities – Computers 4 Kids – which is now a permanent feature of our E-Waste policy).
- Track our CO2 footprint in order to identify where we can improve our impact on the environment as an organisation.
Our Members and Clients
Our internal governance consists of robust set of policies and practices that are regularly reviewed and overseen by our Board of Directors which includes a non-executive member. These policies include a Code of Ethics (shared with both FBC employees and consultants that we work with regularly), a whistle-blower policy and financial controls.
We also regularly review our social and environmental performance at board level and regularly implement new programmes and projects on these topics that support our Responsible Business Strategy.
Governance
Our internal governance consists of robust set of policies and practices that are regularly reviewed and overseen by a Board of Directors, who meet regularly and includes a non-executive member. These policies include a Code of Ethics (that requires signatures from both employees and consultants that we work with regularly), a whistle-blower policy and financial controls.
We also regularly review our social and environmental performance at board level and regularly implement new programmes and projects on these topics that support our Responsible Business Strategy.
Be a part of it
There are now over 2,000 B Corps in the UK. Businesses that become B Corps have seen great results: committed and motivated employees, increased customer loyalty, higher levels of innovation, and market leadership.
With an ever-growing community in the UK and around the world, there are B Corps you can buy from, work for, do business with and invest in. Browse B Corp products and services on the global directory, or find out more about the movement and what you can do to get involved.
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