Beyond Certification: Our B Corp Re-Certification Journey

Episode 2: Building an AI Consultant to Guide Our B Corp Re-Certification Journey

In Episode 1, we shared why Make The Change is embarking on our B Corp re-certification journey under B Lab’s new standards and why we decided to document the process publicly.

As we moved from reflection to action, we quickly realized something.

The new standards are comprehensive.

There are multiple impact topics, detailed requirements, supporting evidence, policies, and documentation to review. For a small social enterprise, keeping track of everything can quickly become overwhelming.

So we asked ourselves a simple question:

Could AI help us navigate the process more effectively?

Creating Our Own B Corp AI Consultant

To help us stay organized, we decided to create a custom AI assistant using Gemini Gems.

Rather than using a generic AI chatbot, we wanted to build a specialized consultant that understands the B Corp re-certification process and can provide guidance based on the actual requirements we need to meet.

To do this, we fed the AI assistant with a range of reference materials, including:

• Documentation related to the B Corp certification and re-certification process

• Resources explaining the new B Lab standards

• Guidance documents and supporting materials

• Our own internal plans and organizational information

But we wanted to go one step further.

Turning the Assessment Into a Working Database

One of the most useful things we did was download the assessment questions and organize them into a Google Sheet.

By structuring the questions in a searchable format, we created a working database that our AI consultant could reference when providing recommendations.

This means the AI is not simply giving generic sustainability advice.

Instead, it can:

• Reference actual assessment requirements

• Suggest evidence we may need to prepare

• Identify potential gaps in our documentation

• Recommend next steps based on specific standards

• Help us prioritize actions based on our current progress

In many ways, it feels like having a consultant available whenever we need guidance.

Why This Matters

One of the biggest challenges in any certification process is not necessarily understanding what needs to be done.

It is staying organized and maintaining momentum over time.

By combining AI with structured data and official guidance materials, we are creating a system that helps us break a large and complex project into manageable actions.

The goal is not to replace human judgment.

The goal is to augment our capacity to learn, analyze, and make better decisions.

Early Lessons

Although we are still in the early stages of our re-certification journey, a few lessons have already emerged:

1. Good AI Starts With Good Data

The quality of the outputs depends heavily on the quality of the information you provide.

Providing actual standards, assessment questions, and supporting documentation dramatically improves the usefulness of the responses.

2. Structure Matters

Organizing information into a format that AI can easily access and reference has been just as important as the AI itself.

The Google Sheet has become a surprisingly valuable part of the process.

3. AI Works Best as a Thinking Partner

The most valuable role of our AI consultant is not giving answers.

It is helping us ask better questions, identify blind spots, and think more systematically about impact.

Looking Ahead

As our re-certification journey continues, we plan to further develop this AI-powered approach and explore how technology can support organizations pursuing sustainability and impact goals.

In future episodes, we’ll share:

• How we are mapping the new standards

• The biggest gaps we discover

• What surprised us most about the requirements

• Practical tools and workflows that other organizations can use

• Lessons learned from implementing improvements across the organization

One of the exciting things about this journey is that we are not only learning about B Corp re-certification.

We are also learning how AI can support mission-driven organizations in creating greater impact.

And that may be one of the most valuable lessons of all.