Authors: Maya Gat and David Magier, Co-founders of Branching Minds
For us, choosing to become a B-Corps in 2015 was a no-brainer. We started Branching Minds as a way to make education more accessible, equitable, and effective, and we are driven by our desire to have a positive impact on society. The governance structure of B-Corps helps facilitate our commitment to creating value for our stakeholders, including our staff, customers, and the wider education community.
From the beginning, as a small start-up working from coffee shops and supply closets, we knew that our success would not only be measured by our reach, but also by the quality of what we offered to our customers. We stuck closely to our mission of connecting learning science to the real-world classroom to make educators' work easier and more effective.
Recently, Branching Minds was recertified as a B Corporation and received an overall B Corp impact score of 130, making it the highest-scoring company across the educational support industry globally. The B Corp Certification affirms that we are a business driven to meet high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
How We Have Grown
Since our last recertification, Branching Minds’ overall impact score increased by 47%, demonstrating the company’s deep commitment to growth and excellence across each of the five areas evaluated by the B-Impact Assessment:
- Governance
- Workers
- Community
- Environment
- Customers
The B-Impact Assessment calculates the total from the individual questions in the assessment. Each question is weighted for a specific company’s track, which depends on industry, size, and geography. We are proud of our exceptionally high impact score for Customers. Our score of 60.7 in the Customer area reflects not only the quality of our product and services but also our stellar customer service and relationships, ethical marketing practices, strong data privacy and security, and effective feedback channels.
We are also thrilled to see our commitment to our staff reflected in the Branching Minds Workers score, highlighting the financial security, health and wellness, career development, and overall engagement and satisfaction of our employees. We believe that our values as leaders create a team that is highly motivated to do their best work and provide the best possible service to our partners.
Why This Matters to Us
A deep commitment to transparency and inclusivity with our team and partners has anchored us to ensure our values at every stage of our growth persist. Humility fuels our “servant-leadership” approach — rolling up our sleeves to support our incredible team so that they can do their best work. Externally, we see ourselves as learning partners with our school districts. We strive to offer best-practice guidance and thought leadership, but we know that educators are the experts in their own schools and communities, so we approach every partnership as an opportunity to learn and collaborate.
What Does This Mean for the Future of BRM
Traditionally, businesses have felt they have a choice of “Do we go this way because it’s easier or more profitable” or “Do we go that way because it aligns with our values?” But the truth is that, with intentionality and the right team making decisions day-to-day, companies can do both at the same time. It has been an enormous honor to be part of creating a business that has had such a positive impact on education. B Corps certification further enables us to continue this important work, support our incredible team's career development, and form long-lasting relationships with our district and strategic partners.
Our goals remain simple — achieve the mission, stay true to the values. We will keep innovating and expanding into new areas to continue growing our offering, our impact, and our company. We will also continue to nurture the healthy and caring culture we’ve created together. It is the dedication to both that has led to making Branching Minds both a successful business and an amazing place to work.
Maya Gat & David Magier
Maya is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Branching Minds, where she focuses on building partnerships with districts and product design. She has spent 17 years working with children, youth, and adults as an educator in various capacities both inside and outside of the school system. She has previously taught young children ages 2-3, and students in grades 2-4 in New York City. Maya has also taught English and Mathematics internationally to children, teenagers, and adults in Istanbul, Turkey, and has written math curriculum in Jerusalem, Israel. She led youth advocacy groups in Pennsylvania and directed after-school programs in California, Florida, and New York. She has also tutored students with a broad range of learning needs, from kindergarteners to college students. Ms. Gat received her M.S. in Childhood and Early Childhood Education from Sarah Lawrence College. She also holds a B.A. in Urban Studies and Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Magier is the Co-Founder and COO of Branching Minds and focuses on business, finance, and operations. David also has over five years of experience as a corporate attorney. He received his JD from the Emory University School of Law and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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