Credit union lauded globally for social, environmental excellence

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This article was published 22/09/2020 (1859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two Manitoba companies have recently joined the ranks of the world’s most inclusive and sustainable companies.

In the past few months, Assiniboine Credit Union and Frontiers North Adventures became certified B Corp companies by the U.S non-profit that now boasts about 3,500 companies around the world who have scored high enough in a rigorous score sheet that measures social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability that balances both profit and purpose.

To become certified as a B Corp companies have to achieve a minimum verified score on about 200 different variables of a company’s impact on its workers, customers, community, and environment.

Those with just passing knowledge of how Assiniboine Credit Union (ACU) operates might not be surprised that it would qualify for membership in such a group. Its retail presence in neighbourhoods that other financial institutions have long since abandoned is perhaps the most obvious feature. The credit union also has a long track record of working with communities on projects that other banks might view as just too challenging. 

And it so happens that ACU racked up the sixth highest score globally in B Corp’s history and the highest ever in Canada.

But Kevin Sitka, the chief executive officer of ACU, said, “In true Manitoba/Canadian humility we did not spend a lot of time looking at where we ranked nationally or globally. We were pleasantly surprised. But we are a mission-driven organization. It’s something we spend a lot of time and effort on and we’re really busy doing the work that goes along with that.”

Notwithstanding the fact that there are many Manitoba companies who might qualify for B Corp certification it has not been a mass movement here.

With the two new additions, it swells the Manitoba ranks to a total of six — Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, Relish New Brand Experience Inc., Momenta and Manoverboard Inc. are the others.

But with social inequality becoming more stark and environemental stabilty more precarious, the B Corp qualities will certainly be needed even more than ever.

When the Business Roundtable, the organization representing the largest corporations in the U.S., re-wrote its own principles on the role of the corporation last year expanding its decades old singular dedication to increasing the profits for its shareholders to include caring for employees and the environment and dealing fairly and ethically with their suppliers, you know the times are changing.

“We are looking to do our part,” Sitka said. “It is who we are and who we have been for so many years. This (B Corp certification) is  just helping to bring awareness to that.”

With its stated goals of reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, creation of high quality jobs that include dignity and purpose, it is hard to argue with the benefits (the “B” in B Corp) that infers.

The idea is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good.

That means the traditional business bottom line — profits — also has to be there. It will not help the process if too many of ACU’s loans default or Frontiers North offers accommodations and tour packages that no one wants to patronize.

John Gunter, the CEO of Frontiers North, said they took at look at their organization some time ago and wanted to figure out a way the Churchill travel organization — famous for its environmentally responsible polar bear and beluga whale watching excursions — could substantiate its bona fides.  

“We were trying to find a way to do it where we could say, ‘don’t take our word for it’,” he said. “At the time my take was that a lot of it could be interpreted as ‘green washing’,” 

Frontiers North already has a lot of clients whose values align with their own. Becoming a B Corp certified company gives all the companies that achieve such status certain bragging rights.

“We consider ourselves as stewards of the community and the environment in which we operate,” he said. “With the B Corp certification it de-positions the competition. By saying clearly what we are, it distances ourselves from those who aren’t.”

For ACU, with $5.2 billion in assets, it already ranks among the largest credit unions in the country. Sitka said its drive to get involved in projects others don’t “has worked out pretty well for us.”

The triple bottom line — people, planet and prosperity — has been a good business model for ACU and Frontier North. From a competitive point of view of Sitka and Gunter would be happy if more of their competitors embraced the same strategy. 

“The more attention we can bring to that within our communities and with our own economy locally, the better it will be for all of us,” said Sitka. “We are very much of the belief we need to be the change we seek.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca