What We Learned at Champions Retreat 2026: 4 Key Takeaways for B Corps

How Does Coming Together Strengthen the B Corp movement? 

As a certified B Corp bank, we were honored to not only sponsor and attend Champions Retreat this year, but also to participate in panels and learn alongside other B Corp leaders. 

B Lab’s 2026 Champions Retreat, North America’s largest gathering of B Corps, was a reminder of our urgent need to work together as humans.  

The business sector’s profit-driven model has long been a major contributor to environmental collapse and social inequities, and we’ve reached a breaking point. Now, businesses must instead offer solutions to these crises. The B Corp movement is modeling a path forward to make that possible. 

Champions Retreat was an opportunity to unite, learn, and build upon our collective ideas and momentum – and to do it with joy. 

Our Key Takeaways from Champions Retreat  

The B Corp movement is moving from individual to collective impact measurement.  

It was no surprise that the new B Lab Standards were a trending topic at Champions Retreat this year. While the switch from a more flexible points-based system to one that requires businesses to meet baseline requirements for all impact areas has some feeling apprehensive about the change, it shifts the B Corp movement further towards collective impact measurement.  

When all businesses must meet a rigorous benchmark, rather than overperforming and underperforming in certain areas, the business sector has a larger impact. The new standards eliminate weak areas and take a holistic approach. Harder to achieve B Corp certification? Yes. But we must welcome the challenge.  

Dive deeper into the new standards in Craig Hill’s blog post, How a New Chapter for B Corp Certification Can Shift the Global Economy. 

The new standards can help businesses increase their competitive advantage.  

The Compliance to Competitive Advantage breakout session, hosted by Carolina Miranda of Cultivating Capital and Tim Frick of Mightybytes, explored the value of shifting our perspective on the new standards from viewing them as compliance requirements to seeing them as drivers of competitive advantage, and how this shift can create meaningful growth opportunities. 

For example: 

• Companies with diverse hiring practices and leadership teams have 36% greater likelihood of higher margins, 51% higher market share, and 19% more innovation revenue.  
• Companies with ethical sourcing and supply chain practices see a 20% increase in customer loyalty, 25% profitability increase, and 88% higher customer purchasing likelihood. 
• Companies that invest in sustainability initiatives reported that 70% of the time, sustainability initiatives brought them higher revenue than forecasted. 

The ROI on doing good is clear: it’s good for people, planet, and long-term financial performance. We must keep these benefits top of mind while making business decisions.  

Our responsibility to take action on climate has never been more important. 

Kenyan-American climate activist, Wawa Gatheru, gave a powerful keynote address on environmental justice. She reminded us that the climate crisis is not only an ecological crisis, but also a leadership crisis. Leaders with gazes fixed on short-term profits have led us to systemic failures, with the harmful effects of climate breakdown largely impacting our most vulnerable groups, particularly Black women and girls and gender-expansive people. 

Our responsibility as a business to meet this moment is more important than ever. The new standards help us shift from primarily focusing on our carbon footprint to a more holistic look at how workers and communities most impacted by climate change will be supported through the climate transition.  

There’s a major difference between being given permission to bring your whole self to work and being welcomed and celebrated for doing so. 

The B Proud Network, which hosted a Champions Retreat fundraising event in support of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, highlighted the importance of place and community-centering in workplaces, rather than transactional or performative behavior. The event was a celebration of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, both within the B Corp community and in the host city of Milwaukee. 

B Proud reminded us of the importance of feeling a true sense of belonging at work and why leaders need to ensure that workers feel empowered to voice concerns and advocate for evolution where needed. When we can all exist in a safe and welcoming environment, we can all thrive and tap into purpose. 

Thank You to Everyone Who Connected with Us at Champions Retreat 

As a certified B Corp bank, we are not successful when we work alone. We are successful when we work in tandem with you. Our week at Champions Retreat was truly heartening. We learned, danced, laughed, and formed deeper connections with a community so special to us – the B Corp community.  

A special thank you to those who connected with us, came to our Beneficial Happy Hour, or attended one of our panels – your energy made it all shine bright. And a huge thank you to B Lab U.S. and Canada for hosting an exhilarating event.