RISE is committed to having a positive impact on people and the planet
RISE coffee box is a certified B Corp
We did it! As of January 2025 we have become the only B Corp coffee discovery club, and one of only a handful of UK based B Corp coffee companies. Certified B Corp businesses meet the highest standards of verified social, ethical and environmental performance, to ultimately balance profit and purpose by being as transparent as possible. Pretty cool, hey?
What is B corp?
Certified B Corp businesses are change makers and innovators that meet the highest standards of verified social, ethical and environmental performance, to ultimately balance profit and purpose by being as transparent as possible.
B Lab, who award B corp status, believes that a different kind of economy is not only possible, but necessary and that business can lead the way.
B Corps are also legally committed to bringing benefit not just to shareholders, but all business stakeholders — workers, customers, communities, and the environment.
Why did RISE apply for B Corp?
We are pretty stringent about the coffees we source and who we source from, so it made sense for us to seek external validation of this process. In fact, everything we do across the business is ethically minded and challenged ourself to get B Corp certified to have this verified. It took nearly a year to get there but now we could not be prouder to be a part of the B Corp movement and recognised as one of the most ethical coffee companies in the UK.
What does it mean for the future of RISE coffee?
We now need to continue to improve and develop our business practices which we are excited to do. Some key principles include sourcing from within 100 miles of our location, working with female and diverse coffee producers and documenting the impact of our Friendly Coffee Fund, which sees us give back 1% of every sale to coffee farmers.
Our 1% Friendly Coffee Fund(TM)
RISE are excited to have set up our very own Friendly Coffee Fund with 1% off ALL revenue across RISE coffee being given back to coffee growing communities to get children in school and off of coffee farms. Our first project helps children of coffee farmers in Western Uganda go to school and we are currently establishing our second giving back project in Costa Rica. We are proud to work directly on the ground with those that understand the challenges of coffee farmers, far better than we do.
B Corp FAQs
Certified B Corp businesses are change makers and innovators that meet the highest standards of verified social, ethical and environmental performance, to ultimately balance profit and purpose by being as transparent as possible.
B Lab believes that a different kind of economy is not only possible, but necessary
and that business can lead the way.
B Corporations: companies that meet high standards of social and environmental
performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corps are also legally committed to bringing benefit not just to shareholders, but all business stakeholders — workers, customers, communities, and the environment.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and non-profits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high-quality jobs with dignity and purpose.
The 5 impact pillars of assessment are:
- Workers: How is your company taking care of your workers, improving their lives and wellbeing.
- Environment: How is your company
prioritising and taking care of the planet - Customers: How is your company having a positive impact in your customers’ lives?
- Community: How is your company giving back and contributing positively to the community?
- Governance: How do you make sure your company’s governance considers all stakeholders?
B Lab's independent Standards Advisory Council does. The RISE application took almost one year to verify. We provide documentation, certifications, evidence and went through several interviews.
B-corp began in 2006 with the idea that a different kind of economy was not only possible, but necessary, and that business could lead the way towards a new, stakeholder-driven model. B Lab became known for certifying B Corporations, which are companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
B Corp is Building a movement to change our economic system, and to do so, we must change the rules of the game. B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behaviour, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism. They mobilise the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s most critical challenges.
By harnessing the power of business, B Lab positively impacts companies around the world, helping them balance profit with purpose. Together, we are shifting our global economy from a system that profits few to one that benefits all: advancing a new model that moves from concentrating wealth and power to ensuring equity, from extraction to generation, and from prioritizing individualism to embracing interdependence.