Libro is proud to use business
as a force for good
At Libro, we believe in using business as a force for good, and that it’s time for businesses to measure purpose beyond profit. Businesses should compete to not only be the best in the world, but to be the Best for the World. That’s why we joined the B Corp community in 2018, and are proud to continue to be a part of it today.
B Corp Certification is “the only certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance.” The B Impact Assessment evaluates how a company’s operations and business model impacts their workers, community, environment, and customers. To maintain certification, companies are required to complete an updated, verified B Impact Assessment every three years. In 2018 our score was 126 and in 2021 we achieved 129.2! To put this into perspective, B Corp requires at least 80 points to be certified. For those businesses who complete the assessment, the median score is only 50.9. Click here to see the details of our B Impact Report. We will be going through our recertification process in 2024.
More than a score, being recertified means we are holding ourselves accountable to our purpose, measuring our progress, and living our values every day.
Highlights of our performance per impact area:
Governance: Libro is a democracy where your voice matters and makes a difference.
- We have a strong and unique governance structure in place. Our practices in ethics and transparency are robust in all aspects of governance and business operations. Click here to see our annual report.
- While we’ve always had a social purpose as a financial cooperative, our commitments to creating positive social and environmental impact are now formally integrated into our by-laws. This helps to preserve these commitments overtime.
Employees: Creating a positive culture, and positive outcomes for our staff is a top priority for Libro.
- This is one of our strongest impact areas. Libro’s practices ensure we are contributing to the financial, physical, professional, and social well-being of our staff.
- We were named Best for the World in the Workers category in 2019.
Community: Libro exists to grow prosperity in southwestern Ontario.
- Through our products and services, operations, business practices, profits, partnerships, and collaborations we can positively impact our communities and help address some of the most challenging issues that they face. We identified four Libro pillars as the key areas we will focus on to deliver our promise to grow prosperity in southwestern Ontario.
- We understand that social justice, equity, and inclusion are integral components to delivering on our purpose. We made a recommitment to these components and are actively seeking to improve our practices in building inclusive local economies that benefit all community members.
- In 2020, we provided more than $1.3 million dollars in direct funding to community organizations and students through our community investment programs. Staff also contributed their time and skills to multiple initiatives.
Environment: Libro is committed to taking a strategic response to climate change.
- Libro does not invest in the oil and gas industries. Our investment policy does not allow for any equity investments in oil or gas companies. As a management practice, we would not lend directly to the fossil fuel industry.
- We recognize this is an important issue because climate change is a real and pressing problem.
- Libro is committed to taking a strategic response to climate change to identify and address key climate related risks and opportunities and help our Owners become more resilient in the face of climate change. We are currently doing work to better understand our direct carbon footprint and our current state of climate action under the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) framework including governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets.
Customers: We are a member-owned and purpose-based cooperative. There is no conflict between what is best for Libro and what is best for our Owners.
- We work together to help our Owners achieve prosperity through our coaches and digital tools.
- 100% of our profits stay in southwestern Ontario, and Owners share in those profits.
- We adhere to strict regulations for maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of your personal information, and we’re accountable, by law and to Libro Owners, for respecting and safeguarding private data. Our policy is publicly available.
- We are the first Canadian credit union to exclusively offer Responsible Investments for all new mutual fund accounts.
- In 2020 we achieved a score of 4.5 out of 5 in our Owner satisfaction survey!
Let’s Make Money Better
Doing good is good for business. Libro Credit Union is growing faster than we ever have’ and we are doing this balancing financial, social and environmental outcomes.
As a social enterprise that also happens to be a $5 Billion financial institution, the values we’ve built into our financial services and local commitments make Libro Credit Union different – a unique, localized approach to banking and how it works for good: for you, your family, and your community. That’s how we make money better.
