Inside Dr. Bronner’s new community for redefining corporate ‘purpose’

Dr. Bronner’s made headlines in February when it stepped away from renewing its B Corp Certification, a recognition the 75-year-old soapmaker has marketed prominently since 2015. 

The company is instead putting its energy into an emerging initiative, called Purpose Pledge, that it started developing two years ago with impact consulting firm Lift Economy and nonprofit One Step Closer, which represents a network of natural products companies. 

Purpose Pledge isn’t intended to replace existing certifications that recognize specific environmental, social or governance practices, and Dr. Bronner’s departure from B Corp at roughly the same time is coincidental, said Les Szabo, chief strategy and impact officer at the company. 

The initiative aims to answer two deep questions: What does it truly mean to be a “purpose-led” business when it comes to philanthropy, labor and supply chain policies, climate strategy and other social issues? And what will it take for more companies to incorporate this ethos into day-to-day operations?

“We’ve been thinking about these issues and this idea of creating a community of practice,” said Szabo. “How do we learn from each other? We don’t need to spend six figures to hire external consultants to figure out these issues. We have these leading-edge companies that have made this work. They have the operating models. We just need to discuss and share and develop these best practices, and then support other businesses that are on this path.”

10 core principles

Dr. Bronner’s, which logged some of the highest scores earned under the B Corp framework, was vocal about the reason for moving on: it believes large corporations should be held to a higher level of scrutiny than B Lab’s framework requires. It still maintains other certifications, such as the one managed by the Regenerative Organic Alliance, which Dr. Bronner’s co-founded; and Climate Pledge Friendly, the label program created by Amazon. 

Twenty companies from the natural products sector are piloting the Purpose Pledge initiative throughout 2025 — including supplement maker Gaia Herbs, cereals company Nature’s Path Organic Foods and Numi Tea — representing $1.5 billion in collective sales. 

“We like to think this is elite but not elitist,” said Szabo. “These are companies that take purpose very seriously. We’re really trying to define more clearly what purpose is and have appropriate ways, real, stake-in-the-ground criteria.”

Each company specializes in at least one of the 10 commitments required by the pledge, and the pilot aims to define criteria for these areas. They aim to:

• Produce high-quality products that align consumer well-being with the wellbeing of planet and people.
• Ensure board majority control is stewarded by purpose-led owners and management.
• Require primary products meet or exceed high bar eco+social standards through benchmarking or certification
• Adopt fair and balanced compensation, including a 20:1 pay ratio (or better) between highest and lowest paid employees.
• Pay employees a living wage as calculated by the Living Wage for U.S. benchmark.
• Instilled a culture where each employee feels valued and respected regardless of their role.
• Allocate a minimum of 1 percent of company net revenues or 10 percent of net profits to philanthropy.
• Reduce emissions in line with recognized science-aligned targets.
• Achieve an average waste diversion rate of 90 percent or greater from landfill.
• Support other members in achieving all Purpose Pledge commitments.

As an example of the last commitment, Dr. Bronner’s will contribute insights on the living wage issue. It pays a starting salary of $27.28 per hour, which is 70.5 percent higher than its home state of California’s minimum wage. It caps executive compensation at five times the amount earned by its lowest-paid, vested employees that have been with the company at least five years. The average gap for U.S. companies is 290-to-1. 

That philosophy also applies to the company’s supply chain, which includes more than 18,100 smallerholder farmers. Dr. Bronner’s paid a premium of $1.9 million for ingredients sourced under the Fair Trade system, compared with the price it would have paid to buy the products from other suppliers.

Collective expertise

Pilot member Lundberg Family Farms, which grows organic rice and quinoa, is sharing its practices for supply chain integrity, seed development and land management. 

For example, instead of burning off the rice stubble on its California fields post-harvest, Lundberg Family Farms turns them into wetlands that are migratory habitat for thousands of birds including snow geese and raptors. It’s part of a larger commitment to regenerative agriculture techniques, including planting cover crops.

Lundberg Family Farms joined the Purpose Pledge pilot to counter the challenging public discourse around ESG practices and join “like-minded companies to explore definitions of what it means to be a sustainable community,” said Lundberg Family Farms CEO Craig Stevenson.

“We believe that despite short-term challenges, that long term, the business practices and farming practices that many of these companies embody are the right things to do,” he said. “We are seeking constancy of purpose.”

Kuli Kuli Foods, which sells nutritional supplements made from “superfoods” moringa and baobab that are sourced from Africa, will contribute its knowledge about how to cultivate a more inclusive work culture.’

For example, the company hired a firm to rewrite its job descriptions to eliminate language that could discourage certain individuals from applying, said Co-founder and CEO Lisa Curtis. The word “pioneer,” for example, could have negative connotations for Native communities. 

Deeper in its supply chain, Kuli Kuli supports investments in schools and maternal health clinics, and looks closely at how its farmers impact local habitat. These actions are increasingly important for customers including Target and Whole Foods.

“It’s never going to be the reason they bring in our products, but it can lead to much bigger partnerships,” Curtis said.

What’s next

The initial pilot for Purpose Pledge will wrap up at the end of 2025, and the participating companies will decide whether or not to become official members. There won’t be a fee to join, Szabo said, but there may be costs involved for companies to create the baselines — such as a Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions inventory — to commitment to which will demonstrate that they’re serious. 

Within each commitment, companies will be required to maintain certain certifications. For example, the pledge requires that at least 70 percent of the raw materials sourced by each company be organic.

All of the participating companies are private. The Pledge’s independent governance requirement, which requires approval from a majority of each company’s board, may be a tough hurdle for public companies, Szabo said.

The organizers are exploring the creation of a fund that would help Purpose Pledge companies finance sourcing and investments in models that are less extractive than industry norms, while staying true to their mission. And they’re considering how to engage on policy, as a counter to existing organizations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, that have fallen short on supporting ESG.

“We don’t have a true voice for progressive business in this country,” Szabo said.