B Corp

LEAP has always strived to show how design and creativity can be a catalyst for environmental and social change. Becoming a B Corp was a natural step in that.

We certified as a B Corp as part of the very first UK cohort in 2015/16. Since then, we’ve recertified 3 times with consistently high scores reaching our highest one – 138.2 points – last year.

It’s tempting to think of B Corp as a stamp of approval, which in a way, it is. But the more useful part for us is the framework behind it. It looks at the whole business. How you work, how you treat people, how you govern, what you prioritise, where the money goes. That’s what makes it valuable.

B Corp Award for Year 1 cohort

What it looks like in practice

  • The kinds of organisations we choose to work with. We’ve built our client base around organisations trying to create positive change.
  • How we define value and success.
  • Transparency and how we hold ourselves to account. We report on our impact each year, and use it to push ourselves to do better.
  • Our business model. We commit 5% of turnover to pro bono work for environmental/social good projects through our Grant for Good.
  • Being part of a wider community of businesses working together for planet and people.

To us, this isn’t extra, it’s the only viable way to do business.

b corp design agency lap founder matt hocking and managing director simon thomason at b the beat in amsterdam

How it’s grown

B Corp has been part of LEAP’s story for over a decade. Our founder Matt was following the movement before it reached the UK and became one of its early ambassadors here. Now, with more than 2,700 businesses certified, the UK is home to the largest B Corp community in the world, and Cornwall has more than 80 of them. Both Matt and our MD Simon are qualified B Leaders and have supported hundreds of businesses with their certification over the years.

That’s part of why Cornwall has one of the highest concentrations of B Corps outside London. It’s been both a positive contagion and a business community supporting, learning from, and pushing each other to do better.

What’s next

2025/26 brought the biggest shift in the B Corp standards since the movement began. The points-based system has gone, replaced by a set of universal requirements designed to raise the bar and push businesses to take action where it matters. You can’t score highly in one area and coast elsewhere.

Some of the detail is still a bit unclear, particularly around impact reporting for different sized organisations. And there are areas we care about, like the impact business models, that may not be the same going forward. That’s a shame, they’ve been a big part of how we think about the business. Either way, our approach hasn’t really changed. We’ll keep using the B Impact manager (previously BIA) as a tool that helps keep us on course.

B Corp is the most useful certification we have found because of its rigor and holistic system. It shows people considering working with us that we’ve been through a process and met a certain standard. But for us internally, the framework, community and accountability matter more.

If you’re a business thinking about B Corp, or want a chat about what it involves, feel free to get in touch with Simon.