MEDIA ADVISORY: For Immediate Release
Mike Mayer, Meliora Cleaning Products – (312) 721-7961 or mike@meliorameansbetter.com
Megan Brock, B the Change Media - (785) 832-1222 ext. 208 or megan@bthechange.com
Meliora Cleaning Products Honored as Best for Community,
Creating Most Overall Positive Community Impact
Evaluated by Comprehensive B Impact Assessment
September 8, 2016: Chicago, IL
Today, Meliora Cleaning Products was named a Best For Community honoree by B the Change Media. The award indicates the Chicago-based manufacturer of people-friendly and planet-friendly home cleaning products has earned top scores in the area of Community Impact. Scores are based on an independent, comprehensive assessment administered by the independent nonprofit B Lab. Honorees were honored at the first-annual Best for the World Celebration & Awards Ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas Business School. They are also featured in the upcoming fall issue of B Magazine, on B the Change’s digital platform, bthechange.com.
Meliora Cleaning Products is honored in the Best for Community list, which includes businesses that earned a Community score in the top 10 percent of more than 1,800 Certified B Corporations on the B Impact Assessment. The full assessment measures a company's impact on its workers, community, customers and the environment. The 141 winning companies in the Community category come from 18 industries and 24 countries. B the Change Media simultaneously released separate lists recognizing B Corporations as Best for the World (overall impact), Best for the Environment, Best for Customers and Best for Workers.
The Community portion of the B Impact Assessment evaluates a company’s supplier relations, diversity, and involvement in the local community. It also measures the company’s practices and policies around community service and charitable giving, including whether a company’s product or service is designed to solve a social issue, such as access to basic services, health, education, economic opportunity and the arts. Honorees scoring in the top 10 percent set a gold standard for the high impact that business as a force for good can make on communities around the world.
“Being a Best for Community honoree is something our company is very proud of.” says Founder Kate Jakubas. “From working with Chicago-based suppliers to donating 2% or more of annual revenues to nonprofits, engaging with our community has made us a stronger company. We focus heavily on improving the People and Planet aspects of our business, and we always see concurrent improvements in Profit. For example, so far in 2016 we have embarked on an ambitious project to become the cleaning product company with the most robust ingredient screening criteria, driven down the waste created by our operations, and more than doubled our 2015 revenues.”
A total of 515 Certified B Corporations were named 2016 Best For the World Honorees, including: Warby Parker, Cooperative Home Care Associates, and Iroquois Valley Farms LLC. Additional 2016 Best for the Community honorees include: A to Z Wineworks, Beneficial State Bank, and Greyston Bakery.
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Meliora Cleaning Products, led by Founder, Kate Jakubas, and President, Mike Mayer, has manufactured people- and planet-friendly home cleaning and laundry products in Chicago,since its founding in 2013. Meliora Cleaning Products is dedicated to full transparency in business, surpassing current US laws by fully disclosing all ingredients in its products and adhering to a triple-bottom-line approach to business that considers people, planet, and profits in all major business decisions. Meliora is a member of Women’s Voices for the Earth’s “No Secrets” Campaign since 2014, a Certified B Corporation since 2015, and MADE SAFE certified since 2016.
Meliora (meh-lee-OR-ah) is the Latin word for “better.” Meliora Cleaning Products are sold direct to consumers at meliorameansbetter.com, and via wholesale partners including Whole Foods Market and online retailers such as amazon.com and mightynest.com. Tours of the Meliora production facility are part of its approach to transparency and are available by appointment.
For more information and product details, visit meliorameansbetter.com.
B the Change Media was formed as a partnership between B Lab, the community of B Corporations, and Bryan Welch, former CEO of Ogden Publications. B the Change Media is a multiplatform media company whose mission is to build the world's largest engaged audience of people with a passion for using business as a force for good. B the Change Media has editorial and operating independence and covers compelling stories about business as a force for good, not just stories about B Corporations. B the Change Media has independent investors and is a subsidiary of B Lab.
B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.
B Lab drives this systemic change by: 1) building a community of Certified B Corporations to make it easier to tell the difference between good companies and good marketing; 2) passing benefit corporation legislation to give business leaders the freedom to create value for society as well as shareholders; 3) helping businesses measure, compare and improve their social and environmental performance with the free B Impact Assessment; 4) driving capital to impact investments through use of its B Analytics and GIIRS Ratings platform.
For more information, visit www.bcorporation.net.