Purpose of the Company

All Purpose is dedicated to helping impact-driven organizations foster positive change through award-winning storytelling and design.

All Purpose Creative is a Vancouver-based creative design and storytelling agency delivering exceptional digital experiences to drive impact at scale. At its core, the company is driven by a commitment to integrity, sustainability, and community engagement, guided by a vision of a better future for all. The 40+ changemakers that make up the All Purpose team are united by a shared vision for a world where businesses prioritize and clearly communicate their social and environmental responsibility, bringing their positive impact to life through design and delivering measurable results. From its inception in 2014, co-founders Robin, Leena and Jason had clear intentions to build All Purpose into an industry-leading impact company, championing the paradigm shift towards a more sustainable and equitable future. All Purpose became a certified B Corporation in 2020, realizing a long-term goal with advisory and guidance from Decade Impact.

The Opportunity We Activated

Since the early days of All Purpose, B Corp Certification was always on their impact roadmap. All Purpose was familiar with the challenges that face companies with certifying, including the complexity of the assessment, the work needed to build out impact policies & practices, and especially, determining their Impact Business Model(s) as a service-based company. All Purpose was seeking a firm with the specific expertise to help them better understand the material impact they had on the world - and understand how to do better.

“Our expertise is in storytelling, crafting beautiful websites and engaging media. Decade's expertise structuring policies, creating an impact business model and navigating the B Corps assessment helped us set, measure and achieve our goals better and faster than we could have ever managed on our own.” ~ All Purpose Leadership

How All Purpose and Decade Worked Together

Decade first met All Purpose in 2019, and worked with the company to support their initial B Corp Certification in Spring 2020. This project included policy development, an impact gap analysis, multi-faceted data review, coordination and support during the verification process with B lab, and several design thinking workshops to facilitate widespread team involvement in the journey to B Corp.

“The workshops are beautifully designed and led by Kristy; she is a warm, intelligent and fun facilitator. These workshops were an opportunity for our team to align on a common shared vision regarding our impact - and they were joyful! By the end of the workshops, it felt we were much more clear as a team about where we were headed and why.” ~ All Purpose Leadership

After initial certification, All Purpose realized they needed more intentional socialization with their team around B Corp, and what it really means to be an impact company. To meet this need, Kristy O’Leary, Decade’s Chief Strategist, returned to facilitate a suite of in-depth team engagement workshops with All Purpose, covering a spectrum of impact topics including Theory of Change, and how they could approach impact in the world of COVID-19. Kristy has since continued to work with All Purpose’s leadership team as a facilitator in key strategic planning sessions & discussions.

“Impact is core to everything we do and having Kristy's leadership as a fractional Chief Impact Officer has helped us light the path forward and execute on our strategy.” ~ All Purpose Leadership

In 2023, All Purpose’s first B Corp Recertification arrived, and Decade was there to help. In this project, Decade supported All Purpose in better understanding the company’s impact through the nature of their creative design services, and who they serve, leaning into the Education & Support for Purpose Driven Impact Business Models. Decade understood the nuances of All Purpose’s client services and people-focus on their workforce and community stakeholders, ultimately helping translate their actions and activities into a higher B Corp score than at their initial certification.

Short & Long-Term Outcomes

Over the four years All Purpose and Decade have been engaged together, the company has experienced a variety of both short and long term outcomes. In addition to the company’s B Corp Certification & first Recertification, the All Purpose team has reflected that they were successfully guided towards an understanding that even without having a significant, material environmental impact, its nature as a service-based business allows the company to have a unique and equally important impact through the nature of their client services, and those they serve. All Purpose has since developed their own set of impact-focused criteria to guide their screening and vetting of clients for mission alignment and shared purpose.

All Purpose underwent a values-focused exercise early in their partnership with Decade, the outputs of which have provided a guiding star for the leaders of All Purpose in decision making, and a cornerstone the organization continually comes back to when analyzing what mission alignment and achievement looks like. In tandem with crisping up their Reason for Being over the years of working with Decade, All Purpose has, on their own accord, lovingly adopted Decade’s mantra - “Perfect is the Enemy of Good”, recognizing that impact is a journey, and striving for progress rather than perfection will more efficiently mobilize their business to be an even greater force for good.

Finally, when All Purpose first began working with Decade and actively pursuing B Corp, Decade introduced them to the Vancouver B Local community of like-minded impact organizations and certified B Corps. Today, All Purpose has grown to be a stand-out leader in its B Local chapter, hosting events and truly championing what it means to build the impact business community.

“It's cliché, but it really does take a village. Decade introduced us to the wider B Corp community and it provides us with inspiration and motivation every day.” ~ All Purpose Leadership

Decade’s Reflections

Decade envisions a bright future ahead for All Purpose Creative. The company has an inspired, driven, and delight-filled team of leaders who are driven to continue transforming the company into the most impactful creative design firm it possibly can be. The company’s recognition that widespread team engagement and understanding is critical for advancing the principles of impact business has been an ongoing learning process for All Purpose, and something the team is continually working to improve and develop. Decade’s facilitated team engagement sessions and ongoing strategic advisory has supported All Purpose in keeping a focal point on this priority.

All Purpose’s Reflections

“There is an unmissable spiritual alignment between All Purpose and Decade - a shared passion for connecting the impact dots to paint beautiful and inspiring stories of change.

The Decade team truly believes that it is this alignment that has fostered such deep and engaging work between the firms over the last number of years, and well into the future. Looking ahead, the opportunities for partnership, collaboration, and cross-pollination between All Purpose and Decade are boundless…with some initiatives already underway!”

Case Study: All Purpose Creative