Sheffield digital agency Evoluted has been certified as a B Corporation™, having met rigorous requirements to prove their high standards of social and environmental impact.

The certification makes the agency one of only five companies in Sheffield, and fewer than 8,000 worldwide, to have met the strict criteria since it was launched in 2007.

It’s a project that has been in the works for over a year, with Evoluted’s application started back in November 2022.

The certification is administered by B Lab™, a non-profit network aiming to change our economic system into one that uses business as a force for good, benefiting communities and the planet.

The evaluation criteria includes business mission and ethics; commitments to staff career development, health and financial security; diversity, equity and inclusion;  economic, civic and environmental impact; and services to clients.

“Our ethos is fiercely ‘People over profits’ - it always has been since day one and always will be,” says Evoluted MD Giorgio Cassella.

“We pour significant resources into shaping our culture and giving back to our community and the environment because we firmly believe there’s more to business than making money,” he adds.

“An enormous amount of work has gone into our application and evidencing our impact between our CSR Officer Matt Cotton, myself and my co-MD, Sam Biggins, so it’s hugely rewarding to have gained the certification - it’s been the North Star of our CSR strategy for well over a year now!”

“This is a really proud moment for Evoluted.”

The certification follows the agency, which provides award-winning web design, development and digital marketing services, winning “Best Company Culture” at the 2023 unLTD Business Awards.

Cultural initiatives at Evoluted include mental health coaching through Sanctus, a £2,000 annual cost-of-living payment for all staff (introduced in 2022 and maintained since) and a range of cultural officer roles - including CSR - which can be held by anyone at the company to ensure culture is led bottom-up.

Since 2019, Evoluted have funded the planting of almost 17,000 trees across Africa, the Amazon and elsewhere through monthly contributions to Ecologi. 

Spare client capacity is allocated to pro-bono work for good local causes, with recent examples including building a website for the Bangers and Cash Art Trail to raise funds for Sheffield youth homelessness charity Roundabout, SEO support for community events programme Flux Rotherham, and marketing advice for Rare Charity, which improves education access for people from tea communities.

And the agency runs Sheffield DM, a bimonthly free-to-attend marketing meetup aimed at upskilling and promoting local talent, which is expanding to another UK city next month. The events have educated over 1,000 different marketers from all over the UK since launching in 2018.

“It’s brilliant to be leading the way locally as one of the first South Yorkshire companies to achieve the certification,” says CSR Officer Matt Cotton.

“We’ve made a concerted effort recently to work with more B-Corp companies wherever possible, be it suppliers or clients, who share our ethos.

“B-Corp status will keep us publicly accountable for our social and environmental impact, ensuring we maintain the high standards we’ve set and keep refining our culture.”