Ask us anything.
Frequently Asked
Questions
About Decade
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Decade Impact is a fractional sustainability and impact strategy studio. We work alongside founders, operations leads, and sustainability champions inside small and purpose-driven businesses to build the systems, strategies, and stories that make their impact real - not just certified.
Think of us as your sustainability department. For companies without a dedicated impact lead, we fill that role. For companies that already have someone carrying this work, we support and strengthen them. Either way, we're a long-term partner, not a one-time project.
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We work with purpose-driven small businesses that are serious about building long-term impact into the core of how they operate and grow. Our clients are founders, B Keepers, sustainability leads, and impact champions inside fashion and apparel brands, wellness companies, food producers, digital studios, and creative businesses across Canada.
The businesses that get the most from working with Decade are the ones looking for more than compliance. They want their values embedded in their culture, reflected in their operations, and told through their brand in ways that build genuine trust with customers.
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Workshops and facilitated sessions are one of our greatest strengths - and they run through almost everything we do.
Kristy and the Decade team have facilitated thousands of hours of in-person and online sessions, bringing design thinking, collective inquiry, and structured team engagement to the businesses we support. We work with leadership teams, cross-functional groups, and impact champions to surface what matters, align around what's next, and build the internal momentum to actually get there.
We believe you can measure impact through standards, but you create it through culture. Facilitation is how we make that real.
Sessions are tailored to where your team is - whether you are just beginning to articulate your values, navigating a significant transition, or ready to go deeper on strategy and implementation.
B Corp Certification
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The first step is understanding what B Corp certification actually measures and what it will require from your business specifically. The B Impact Assessment covers five areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. How you score - and what you need to build - depends entirely on your size, sector, and existing practices.
Decade helps you start with a clear picture of where you are, what gaps need to be addressed, and what a realistic path to certification looks like for your business. We then support you through the implementation, documentation, and submission process.
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Certification is a meaningful milestone - but the most valuable thing it gives you is not the badge. It is the measurement framework behind it. B Corp certification unlocks data and accountability structures that matter to customers, employees, investors, and partners. The businesses that get the most from it are the ones that use what they learn to keep building, not just to pass the assessment.
We will help you get certified. We will also help you understand what that data means and how to use it to grow a stronger, more aligned business.
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The new B Corp standard replaces the previous points-based model with mandatory requirements across multiple impact areas including governance, climate, labor practices, human rights, and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion). Where the older standard gave businesses flexibility in how they accumulated their score, the new standard asks for clearer policies, stronger evidence, and demonstrated implementation.
For small businesses, this means existing approaches may need to be revised, new documentation is required, and some areas that were previously optional are now mandatory. It is a more rigorous standard - and one that creates a clearer, more credible path for businesses that want to lead with integrity.
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The new B Corp standard is a significant shift, and many certified B Corps are finding that their existing policies and documentation no longer meet the updated requirements. Recertification under the new standard is not a simple refresh - it requires a genuine review of your practices and in many cases new or updated policies across multiple impact areas.
Decade supports recertifying B Corps through that process, whether through our New Standard Circle cohort program or through direct 1:1 recertification strategy work.
Impact Strategy and Storytelling
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This is one of the most common questions we hear - and one of the most important to get right. The answer is: B Corp is not the story. Your impact is the story.
B Corp certification is a credibility signal. It tells the world that your claims have been independently verified. But the story that builds customer trust, drives loyalty, and differentiates your brand is the specific, human, data-backed account of what your business is actually doing - the workers you are investing in, the environmental commitments you are keeping, the community relationships you are building.
Decade helps you find and tell that story in ways that are grounded in your real results, aligned with your long-term goals, and designed to resonate with the customers and communities you care most about.
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It looks like knowing which of your impact metrics matter most to your customers and leading with those. It looks like annual impact reporting that people actually want to read. It looks like product pages, social content, and brand communications that connect your values to your operations in specific, credible ways - not vague claims.
We help you build the data foundation first, then shape the narrative around it. Impact storytelling without the underlying data is just marketing. With it, it becomes one of the most powerful trust-building tools your business has.
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Yes - and this is often where we do some of our best work. Internal sustainability leads and B Keepers are doing important, often underresourced work. Decade can support them with strategic frameworks, implementation tools, external perspective, and the kind of structured accountability that is hard to create internally.
We are not here to replace the people already carrying this work. We are here to make their work more effective and more sustainable.
Working with Decade
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It depends on where you are and what you need. Some clients work with us through the New Standard Circle, our group cohort program for companies navigating the new B Corp standard. Others engage us directly for 1:1 certification support, recertification strategy, or ongoing impact and brand strategy work.
In all cases, we are a long-term partner. The businesses we work best with are not looking for a one-time deliverable. They are building something - and they want a team alongside them that understands both the strategic and human dimensions of that work.
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We work best in long-term relationships. Impact strategy, certification, and brand storytelling are not one-time projects -- they are ongoing practices that evolve as your business grows. Most of our direct client engagements run six months to a year and often continue beyond that. The New Standard Circle is a 10-month program by design, because meaningful implementation takes time.
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We work with companies that are determined to prove purpose and profit are a natural fit. Size and revenue are not how we define who belongs here. Courage, creativity, and ambition are.
Our clients range from emerging independent brands to established companies with global reach. What they share is a belief that doing business well and doing good are not in tension - and a commitment to building the systems, culture, and story to prove it.
If you are a sole proprietor or small business specifically navigating the new B Corp standard, our New Standard Circle cohort program was built for you.
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We start with a conversation. Like every other great relationship.
Let’s take your impact work further.
Whether you're deep in the work or just beginning, we meet you where you are. If you're ready to bring clarity, credibility, and momentum to your impact journey, drop us a line. We’d love to explore what’s possible, together.
Complete our contact form or email
Hello@decadeimpact.com
