With this shiny new status, we’re joining a community of 3,235 companies—including Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, and Tony’s Chocolonely, that use business as a force for good. 

As a sustainable and responsible tech company, we aim to balance people, planet, and profit. WeTransfer was built with empathy at its core. Since the beginning we’ve proudly supported the creative communities, giving away 30% of our advertising space to support artists we admire and causes we care about. 

While we've championed causes like climate change, gun reform, and ending crushing medical debt, there’s so much more we can and should do. We need to learn more about our impact, as a company, on communities around the world. And we need to do more to ensure a better future for everyone.

Just showing up is not enough. We need to be there for our communities today and every day. 

Yes, doing this will take sustained, focused, hard work and—that’s okay. Being a B Corp is not a destination but an ongoing journey. Last November, we made the first steps by completing an in-depth Impact Assessment covering five key areas: governance, customers, workers, environment, and community. 

Based on this, we have been given an overall score based on a range of things, from our high-level vision, mission, and business ambitions to employee diversity, energy use, and the way we clean our kitchen. 

Companies who score more than 80 points (out of 200) are officially certified and, to ensure we all maintain our commitment, must be recertified every three years. For a bit of context, Patagonia, the mothership B Corp, has 151.5 points, while Toms comes in at 96.3, and Alpro has 87. With a score of 80.4, we’re confident we’re on the right track, but we also see a lot of room for improvement. 

Anyone can read our assessment report which offers more transparency into how we are running our business.

So, what are we committing to? 

Our long-term ambition is to have a positive impact on our environment, our community, our employees, and the wider world. We also want to invite fellow tech companies to follow suit and join us in using business as a force for good. This B Corp announcement is part of that journey, and we’re excited to get started with these key goals:

• Become carbon neutral. This is the first step in our ongoing environmental efforts and will be made possible by investing in renewable energy and offset programs.

• Create meaningful change. We’ll continue to use our platform to empower people and give voice to those who are trying to raise awareness and drive change within their communities. 

• Set more ambitious goals. We’re now a powerful example of a brand balancing its commitment to users, stakeholders, employees, the planet, and social good (phew!). We want to continue our efforts by setting yearly goals to keep building an inclusive, sustainable, and generally better tech industry that works for everyone.

• Choose the right partners. We’ll find more partners like Doteveryone, a non-profit think tank we already work with, to define a responsible and values-driven approach to business, growth, and the way we handle data. 

Going through this whole process has been extremely valuable. It’s forced us to reflect on where we are in terms of social and environmental impact, and ask ourselves: How can we do better? And yes, we have a long way to go, but as we know from our creative community, starting is often the hardest part. 

I’m proud of the work we’re doing and eager to keep moving forward. I also want to thank all the people that contributed to this achievement. I’m thrilled WeTransfer will join a network of like-minded organizations using the power of business to address our greatest challenges.

Illustration by Mark Conlan