Stepping Stones to Sustainability – Embedding purpose through your corporate governance
Introduction
Sustainability is increasingly high on people’s agenda and has become a buzz word in business circles. Measurable performance and tangible outcomes are becoming the standard across all sectors.
But what does this really mean in practice, and how do you make your business more sustainable in a meaningful way?
We break sustainability challenges down into manageable chunks to help our clients meet their ESG aspirations and to help them to take action on climate change and social injustice through the way that they operate.
Our Stepping stones to sustainability series will walk you through practical services that we can offer to help you make efficient and effective changes, and ultimately build more purpose and impact into your organisation.
Embedding purpose through your corporate governance
An embedded purpose can sustain a founding vision as your company grows and expands. It can reduce the risk of mission drift and culture shift and can provide an anchor for strategic decision making, safeguarding the mission in the face of challenges and opportunities.
If you’re setting up a new entity with a purposeful focus, we’ll help you to find the right legal form to support your vision. If you’re part of an established business looking to embed your purposeful or ESG commitments, our team of experts will advise on the best governance structures to cement your corporate purpose and take into account the needs of your stakeholder groups.
So how can you do this? Our team includes some of the country’s leading specialists in legal structures that deliver purpose, from traditional social enterprise-style models through to new, innovative approaches that will transform your ideas into a structure to suit your needs.
Embedding purpose through your corporate governance
We’re a proud partner in Purposely, a free online tool that provides guidance and template documents for new organisations looking to embed purpose. You might want to look at the options here or reach out to us to find out how we can help you to embed purpose.
#1 B Corp
Do you want to become a certified B Corp? This will require you to meet stringent standards around purpose and values and will embed a triple bottom line into your articles.
#2 Mission Lock
Would mission-locked forms like community interest companies (CICs)/social enterprises be better for you? These are businesses that use their profits to reinvest or donate them for the purposes of making a positive impact
#3 Golden Shareholder
You could consider adding a golden shareholder, who may be entitled to a financial return, but can have a veto right over strategic decisions that could compromise the corporate purpose.
#4 Steward-ownership
A steward-owned structure gives voting rights that are limited to those close to the mission rather than to third party investors.
#5 Employee ownership
You might want to shift to employee-owned structures thereby giving all employees a financial and a strategic stake in the organisation.
Making a profit is core to all businesses but our goal is to combine this with a real social purpose. Our values are pivotal to us, they shape our decisions and the way we live and work.
We focus on positive social impact as much as we focus on being a successful law firm. Our top tier legal advice is coupled with a real desire to drive change and we were the first UK law firm to achieve B Corp certification, awarded to businesses that balance purpose and profit.
Today, our clients are diverse – from corporate household names, to public bodies, to start-ups. We’re also the firm of choice for thousands of charities and social enterprises. We continue to lead the market we helped to shape.
Bates Wells challenges what is possible in legal expertise delivery.