Taking time to reflect, celebrate achievements, acknowledge challenges, and learn from experiences is a practice we support with our clients and one I have engaged in personally since long before Practical Insight was launched. There are many approaches to this process and I have my favorites, but that’s a topic for another article. For now, a reflection on the last year.
As I look back on 2024, I have to acknowledge that it was hard, y’all. On a professional level, it was amazing – Practical Insight achieved or surpassed all of our goals, saw strong growth and we were fortunate enough to work with some incredible leaders in the mission driven ecosystem. I attended and took the stage at conferences across the continent.
Milestone Accomplishments
Demonstrating commitment to our values can be done in many ways. When launching Practical Insight in 2023, there were some important certifications I wanted to obtain to ensure we were holding ourselves to high standards and being verified by third parties to meet those standards. Last year, we accomplished all three of them.
It was a big year for us, and these three certifications are an important part of who we are.
B Corp
At the intersection of purpose and profit stand certified B Corporations, for profit businesses certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet the most rigorous of good business standards. In community with stalwarts like Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Asheville’s own Big Path Capital, we completed the B Impact Assessment, which evaluates performance in five categories – governance, workers, community, environment, and customers.
After years as an employee at B Corporations and a long-time volunteer in the community, it’s an incredible honor to own a B Corp. The ground work was laid early at Practical Insight for this certification, but it still takes dedicated time and effort. We received support from Profitable Purpose Consulting, and certified with an impressive 104.1, well above the minimum score of 80 needed to certify.
1% For The Planet
Long before a hurricane (a hurricane!) swept through western North Carolina, I’ve been passionate about being a steward for our planet. I have long been impressed with the work that 1% For The Planet does to help companies take simply replicable actions to give both time and money to non-profits engaged in critical climate related work. Founded in 2002, this organization verifies that member companies contribute 1% of company revenues to nonprofit organizations. In 2024, we increased the percentage of our giving to 1.7% AND increased our revenue resulting in an overall 40% increase in our contributions.
Last year, we were present for the launch of the B1 Network along with the CEOs of both B Lab and 1% for the Planet. This community of certified B Corps who are also 1% for the Planet members share our values and priorities.
Certified Carbon Neutral
The last important milestone for us was to achieve carbon neutrality. While we don’t have a massive supply chain or a small army of consultants catching flights every week, we do know that everything we do creates a carbon footprint. From the energy we consume to the servers our data is stored on, our business has a measurable impact on the environment. We worked with We Are Neutral to calculate our footprint and invest in their portfolio of verified carbon offsetting projects. We are committed to making this an annual practice.
We publish an Annual Impact Report as part of our commitment to being accountable to our community. You can find our reports for 2024 and 2023 in our website.
Finding Community
In 2024, I was fortunate enough to be involved with some incredible conferences as a speaker and organizer. I was honored to be a co-presenter at Champions Retreat, the gathering of North American certified B Corps and at MO Summit, an annual convening of impact CEOs with Flip Brown of Conscious Business Consultants.
As a volunteer, I worked with B Corp leaders across the Southeastern United States to organize and hold BLD Southeast in Atlanta, GA. What started in 2020 as an idea has grown into an annual in-person gathering that brings 250 of the most passionate business leaders from across the region together to learn, to grow, and to build.
These events provide connection to my fellow mission-driven business leaders and I find each experience to be incredibly enriching. I leave having learned, been inspired, and feeling seen for the work I am committed to do in the world.
Hurricane Helene
The list of reasons to celebrate is long, yet it is overshadowed by Hurricane Helene which devastated my beloved Asheville, NC in late September. Simply put, our community will never be the same. Recovery and rebuilding will take years. Our collective trauma is deep. In the midst of tragedy, destruction, isolation, and challenge I also witnessed resilience, creativity, collaboration, and support.
My gratitude to the B Corp community for their support for me personally and for the business community here can not be put adequately into words. Monetary donations, organizing and transporting needed supplies, teary hugs in parking lots, information sharing, and understanding when we simply could not show up physically or mentally helped carry us through a deeply challenging time.
Our clients could not have been more gracious – telling me to take all the time I needed in the immediate aftermath, checking in to ensure I was clear that my family’s safety and basic needs were priority over any meetings or deadlines, and personally supporting fundraisers. You know you do business with the right people when they show up for you come hell or high water.
Thank you to everyone for helping me, and us, navigate 2024. We look forward to working, building, and collaborating with you all in 2025, and wish you a healthy, prosperous, and purpose-filled year ahead.
To read our full impact report, please click here. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, we’d love to hear from you.