B Impact Clinic

B Impact Clinic
student and clients at presentation

60+

Hours per student spent engaged in experiential learning each semester


100%

Hands-on learning


100%

All participating client companies have improved their impact scores


What is the B Impact Clinic?

Since 2019, we've partnered with New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility (NHBSR) to offer UNH’s B Impact Clinic to students each semester. Students from ALL majors serve as consultants and gain hands-on experience serving as consultants for regional companies that are working to assess their social and environmental impacts. Supported by UNH faculty and experienced peer mentors, you'll be matched with a team of peers and a client company to help them work through the B Impact Assessment. The assessment is an open-access, rigorous assessment tool – widely regarded as a comprehensive way to assess a company’s impact and is the first step to becoming B Corp certified. Clients set a goal to become certified, maintain certification, or simply better understand how they perform.

 Get more details in the FAQ sections below or reach out to Kat.Hand@unh.edu with additional questions.

Thank you to our B Impact Clinic partner: Responsible Governance & Sustainable Citizenship Project/College of Liberal Arts 

Henry David Thoreau Foundation logo

This program is possible thanks to the generous support of the Henry David Thoreau Foundation.

Important Dates & Reminders
 

STUDENTS

  • Spring Participation Application Deadline: November 15
  • Fall Participation Application Deadline: April 22

Fall 2024 Interest Form

Questions? Contact kat.hand@unh.edu 

Are you with a company looking to participate?
Learn more about the program and how to apply to participate as a client:
B Impact Clinic for Clients

QUESTIONS? Contact Kat.Hand@unh.edu

Past B Impact Clinic Clients

Student teams have worked with a wide range of clients!

client logos

FAQs for students

The work and scope of projects vary from each group and client company. Work completed for your client shouldn’t exceed 1-3 hours per week.  

The commitment to course logistics is like any class at UNH, with a 1 hour, 20-minute course session that meets weekly.

We also hold three in-person events per semester with the participating clients:

  • Client Kick-off: Clients present their businesses and goals for the semester to the student consultant teams.
  • Mid-semester meeting: A chance to meet in person with your client to reflect on the progress you’ve made and plan for the final few weeks.
  • Final Presentation Showcase: Each team shares their completed work and the lessons they learned from the Clinic in a 10-minute presentation to clients, UNH faculty and staff, family and friends, followed by networking.

While experience is a plus, it is certainly not a requirement.

A commitment to change and contributing to businesses acting as a force for good will make your Clinic experience successful! We’ll give a thorough introduction to the B Impact Assessment before you begin working with your client, allowing you to ease into the consulting process. Plus, you have the support of your Peer Mentor and Business Advisor.

We match students with clients based on preference and team workability. Our goal is for you to get your first or second choice. 

Student team sizes range from 2-4 and each team is led by a Peer Mentor and Business Advisor. The Peer Mentor is a student who serves as the group lead and chief student consultant – they’ve completed the Clinic in a previous semester, so are a great resource for you. The Business Advisor is a business professional who has experience as a local B Corp owner or independent consultant with years of experience in the sustainable business field, another great resource to help you succeed. 

You’ll gain many employable skills and get real-world experience – a great resume builder! From consulting experience, team building, responsibility for deliverables, communication and organizational skills, to a greater understanding of implementing sustainable business policies.  

You’ll become versed in the B Impact Assessment, the first step for a company to become B Corp Certified – a growing demand from companies and consumers – there's over 5500 companies now certified!  

You’ll also gain an understanding of what it’s like to work on a team of people from different academic backgrounds and have the chance to network with local business leaders. 

And if you've already completed the Clinic and want to repeat it, we not only encourage it, you're welcome to apply to be a paid Peer Mentor! The Clinic can only be used to satisfy major requirements once; however, it can be repeated for general credit. 

No, you do not need to be a PAUL student and we encourage students of ALL majors and backgrounds to apply! We strive to create interdisciplinary student teams to bring a wide range of knowledge and perspectives to the experience. 

Yes! This is a 2-credit course for ALL majors.
It also satisfies: 

  • 670 B.I.P. credit for PAUL business students 
  • An elective credit for the Sustainability Dual Major

Please note for participants who repeat the class: the Clinic can only be used to satisfy major requirements once; however, it can be repeated for general credit. 

I’ve also heard about the Climate Action Clinic. Can I take both? 

Yes, however students are not allowed to take both Clinics in the same semester due to the nature of the Clinics and time conflicts that will arise. 

The Clinic has limited seats each semester. Because you'll be working with community businesses, we ask that you apply for the Clinic so we can understand your experience, interests and make the best matches. After you apply, we'll reach out to schedule a meeting with you to get to know you better, and then we offer seats to most applicants. We do have a waitlist if we have many more applicants than seats, or if all seats aren’t filled, we'll refer to our waitlist to fill any remaining seats.

Application due dates: 
To participate in the spring, apply by November 1 
To participate in the fall, apply by April 1

Impact by the Numbers

50 clients 
200 students 
11 certifications 
7 re-certifications

Creating 
> $336,000 of value
for the community

Get experience and skills while helping regional companies

The Clinic has been both hands on and challenging and it's been a real pleasure of just having real world experience working to assess ethical business practices and systems, sustainability methods. 

Fall 2021 B Impact Clinic Student Consultant

I don't think this team will ever understand the impact that they made both for me personally, and for my business. They helped me create such a strong foundation to build our business on and their effort will positively impact Bona Fide forever. 

Fall 2021 B Impact Clinic Client

Watch Team Bona Fide present their end of semester reflections

About the B Impact Assessment & B Corp Certification

The B Impact Assessment is administered by B Lab, a nonprofit that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The assessment examines a company's impact on their workers, community, environment, and customers along with the company's governance structure and accountability. To become a certified B Corp, a company must score 80 out of 200 available points.

Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

B Corp certification is about a decade old. There are now over 5500 companies across 150 industries that are certified including Patagonia, Danone,  Ben & Jerry’s, Cabot, Seventh Generation and Eileen Fisher. New Hampshire is proud to be home to several leading B Corps including Stonyfield, W.S. Badger, Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs, ReVision Energy, Veris Wealth Partners, and Mascoma Bank. 

Benefit corporations and Certified B Corporations are often confused. The B Corp Certification is a third-party certification administered by the non-profit B Lab, based in part on a company's verified performance on the B Impact Assessment. The benefit corporation is a legal structure for a business, like an LLC or a corporation. Benefit corporations are legally empowered to pursue positive stakeholder impact alongside profit. Some companies are both Certified B Corporations and benefit corporations, and the benefit corporation structure fulfills the legal accountability requirement of B Corp Certification. Learn more about the difference.

The standards for B Corp Certification are overseen by B Lab's independent Standards Advisory Council. Members of the Standards Advisory Council bring industry and stakeholder expertise to bear during the three-year update cycle for the B Impact Assessment, complaints made against Certified B Corps, and material disclosures made by companies pursuing B Corp Certification.

  • Melissa Duggan Headshot
    Spring 2022 B Impact Clinic
    Melissa Duggan (she/her) was a Business Administration major with a dual option in Marketing and Information Systems & Business Analytics. Melissa applied to the B Impact Clinic because she was passionate about sustainability and its role within companies. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors and listening to music. This was her first semester in the B Impact Clinic and worked on the…
    Learn More
  • Isabella Cruz-Krahn Headshot
    Spring 2022 B Impact Clinic
    Isabella was a Forest Technology major with an interest in sustainability initiatives. She volunteered at various nature preserves, participated in the National Student Leadership Conference for environmental science, and worked with the City of Mequon Forestry department. Isabella was also a tutor for elementary students at the Durham Community Literacy Center. In her free time, Isabella…
    Learn More
  • Moe Festa Headshot
    Spring 2022 B Impact Clinic
    Moe Festa (She/Hers) was a Business Administration major with a focus in Marketing and a dual major in Sustainability. This was her first semester joining the B Impact Clinic. Her pastimes included woodworking, snowboarding, and finding new ways to reduce her carbon footprint (such as making her own lotions and face creams). During the spring 2022 B Impact Clinic, Moe worked on the EmVision…
    Learn More
  • Amanda Kelly Headshot
    Spring 2022 B Impact Clinic
    Amanda Kelly (She/Her) was a Business Administration major with a focus in management and a dual major in Sustainability. She participated in the clinic twice before, and ecstatically served as a peer mentor the Spring 2022 semester. She greatly enjoyed the clinic and the ability to work with students from different disciplines interested in socially responsible businesses. In her free time,…
    Learn More
  • Tyler Distefano Headshot
    Spring 2022 B Impact Clinic
    Tyler Distefano (he/him) was a Political Science major in the College of Liberal Arts. His studies focused on American political systems, foreign policy, and comparative government. Spring 2022 was his first semester in the B-Impact Clinic, where he brought his new knowledge in sustainability into the political world. He has held internships with regional planning commissions and nonprofits in…
    Learn More