Independent Banker - March 2019 - 72

banks only thrive when their
customers and communities fl ourish. "
Here, we talk to several community
banks that have determined that
B Lab's values resonate with theirs
and have sought certifi cation, a
professional designation similar to the
LEED certifi cation of green buildings.
Why community banks and
B Corps align
Mascoma Bank, a 120-year-old,
$1.8 billion-asset bank in Lebanon,
N.H., is a mutually owned community
bank without shareholders or
dividends. That governing structure
easily lent itself to the B Corp's
assessment. " We feel like we've
been using business as a force for
" You do really need
a dedicated person,
especially at a bank with
lots of data to comb
through, to answer
these questions. "
-Cynthia Newell, City First Bank
B Lab: Fast facts
Q Founded: 2006
Q Cofounders: Jay Coen Gilbert, Andrew Kassoy and
Bart Houlahan
Q Mission: To design a set of standards that would
create a legal structure for companies to hold
themselves accountable to stakeholders as well
as shareholders.
Q Certified B Corps: 2,698
Q Annual certification fees: $500 to $50,000,
depending on revenues
Q Minimum certification score: 80 out of 200
Q Funding: Early funding came from the Rockefeller
Foundation, Prudential Financial and Skoll
Foundation. In 2018, B Lab's earned revenues were
62 percent of its operating budget.
doing good for a century, " says Clay
Adams, Mascoma Bank's president
and CEO. " As a mutually owned
bank, we maximize and optimize for
our customers, community and our
employees. They are our shareholder
benefi ciaries. For B Corps, it's the
community, customers, workers
and environment, so those match
up nicely with the way mutual
governance works. "
Brian E. Argrett, president and CEO
of City First Bank of Washington,
D.C., a $350 million-asset community
development fi nancial institution
(CDFI), also saw a natural fi t with
the B Corp approach. The CDFI
designation already emphasizes City
First's mission to the community. " It's
in our DNA to serve our community,
particularly low- and moderateincome
communities, " Argrett
explains. " Our approach to being a
community bank was already fully
aligned with what B Lab was doing. "
These and other community
banks have found that their values
and practices are in such strong
alignment with the B Corp vision that
they qualify for certifi cation without
having to make big changes in how
they operate. " It wasn't a heavy lift
to get certifi ed, " Argrett notes. " We
were already aligned with the things
that B Lab was measuring for a
B Corp certifi cation. "
That said, the certifi cation process
did require signifi cant documentation
and eff ort on the part of these
banks. The bulk of the process is
the completion of the B Impact
Assessment, a survey of 200-plus
questions covering the fi ve categories
of governance, workers, community,
environment and customers.
Cynthia Newell, director of impact
and strategic partnerships for City
First Bank, says the questions could
be demanding. " One question that
was a fairly heavy lift was describing
what percentage of your supplies
and expense ratio is associated with
local, independent small businesses, "
she recalls. " You do really need a
dedicated person, especially at a bank
with lots of data, to comb through to
answer these questions. "
Bankers emphasize that they
must provide B Lab with thorough
documentation of their survey
answers, and that can be a challenge.
" In a community bank, everybody
wears many hats, " says Melanie Stern,
Community Reinvestment Act offi cer
for $185 million-asset Spring Bank
in Bronx, N.Y., which was certifi ed in
72 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q March 2019
Independent Banker - March 2019

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