iilo Benefit Report, Year 5

Leaning into what we do best: elevate and amplify

iilo Creative Alliance focused on deepening our service offerings and role as a strategic partner in our fifth year in business. We continued the important work of clarifying purpose, strengthening accessibility, and supporting our clients to continue making meaningful change. We’re proud to reach this milestone and share our highlights from year 5 in this report.

B Corp recertification underway

It’s been over three years since we became a Certified B Corp. We’re in the midst of learning and understanding the new, comprehensive B Corp assessment. The new B Corp standards go beyond policies and checking a compliance box. They aim to provide a solid framework for values-driven businesses to build for resilience and growth. We will continue working through the recertification process to be recertified in 2027.

We continued our participation in the B Corp promotional campaign in March 2026 during B Corp Month. Our blog post explaining why iilo is a proud women-led B Corp was re-shared, and we amplified B Corp messaging all month through social media and our monthly e-newsletter.

We continued using LinkedIn as our primary social media channel to celebrate our fellow B Corps and champion our clients throughout the year.

We’re a registered Benefit Company

Since our launch in 2021, iilo has been a registered Benefit Company in BC. This means our core values are fundamental to our operations. We’re dedicated to amplifying impact-focused organizations and businesses, particularly those committed to environmental and social sustainability. As a Benefit Company, we also publicly report on our annual impact.

We’re aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

We aim to align our impact with the United Nations’ global Sustainable Development Goals: #5 Gender Equality, #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and #10 Reduced Inequalities.

Deepening our expertise and human-centred work

Year 5 was all about nurturing our team members, leaning into the “we”, and activating our team values. We worked on many projects that required multiple team members and skill sets and pushed us creatively.

Our collaborators were thoughtful and intentional in delivering their best work, while also expanding their skills in areas like accessibility and exploring AI efficiencies.

We continued building on our hybrid employee/contractor team model. Our core team of four full-time employees provides a solid foundation for us to fl ex. We assembled larger project teams with our roster of specialist contractors as needed for client projects.

In our annual team survey, 100% of team members reported that working with iilo allowed them to have a healthy self/work/life balance. This number reinforces that our efforts to create a positive, supportive and flexible team culture are being well received.

We remain a proudly BIPOC, women-owned and operated creative studio. We continue hearing from clients that they engage iilo because we’re a values-driven and women-led business that serves impact-focused clients.

Our impacts and actions

Our goals for year 5 (as stated in year 4 report)

• Keep increasing the number of impact-driven and values-aligned clients on our client list
• Continue increasing in-house learning opportunities, sharing our learning, and operationalizing best practices
• Implement operational efficiencies, including leveraging ethical AI solutions
• Continue building leadership within iilo’s core team
• Retain our KPI of 100% of our team reporting that we helped them maintain their life/work balance
• Retain our KPI of 100% of our clients reporting that we helped them amplify their missions with our work together

Governance

• Learning from other business owners has been valuable for us this past year. We were invited into a Mastermind group with other impact-focused business owners. Their insights and generosity have helped us lean into our strengths this year 
• We continued participating in The Forum Mentor Program and are deeply grateful to our mentor, Chin Hing Chang, for his generosity, wisdom, and steady guidance.
• We also worked with business coach Audrey Kwan, whose profound understanding of our needs as a creative studio helped us navigate the year with intention and clarity.
• We were recertified as a Living Wage Employer in BC, and take pride in the fact that our workforce can make a decent living by collaborating with us.
• We continued to work with professional service partners dedicated to serving B Corps and values-driven businesses. HR consultants Reimagine Work helped us to enhance our people management practices. Lift CPA supported our accounting. We’re continually looking for values-aligned partners to support our business.
• As a member of the Community of Accessible Employers, iilo is dedicated to promoting accessibility in our work and in our workplace. We continued to learn about and apply accessibility best practices in how we operate our business, engage with our team and clients, and produce our work. This year, we continued working on our internal accessibility standards guide and a one-pager resource, which will be ready in early fiscal year 6.

Community

• Our annual team survey showed that the percentage of iilo team members who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a person of colour, immigrants, or members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is 58%.
• We met our KPI: 100% of our team reported that we helped them maintain their life/work balance.
• We continued working on how to create efficiencies for the business using AI tools and switched from ChatGPT to Claude AI for better values alignment.
• Leaning on principles of intuitive design and creativity, Lisa Hemingway led a hands-on vision boarding workshop with collaborator and friend Megan Sheldon of Be Ceremonial at her annual New Year Ritual Retreat.
• iilo graphic designer Keiko Lee-Hem hosted a drawing lunch-and-learn for the team, intending to connect back to our love of art, creativity, and inspiration through nature.
• iilo was nominated for an Untapped Workplace Inclusion Award in the Inclusive Culture Champion – Small Business category. It was an honour to be nominated alongside our colleagues working to make the world more accessible.

Environment

• Our environmental footprint is relatively small as a virtual-forever creative studio. We consistently meet virtually, but when we do travel for work, we align a few meetings in the same location to minimize our carbon footprints. We also prioritize reducing, reusing, and recycling materials and equipment in our workspaces.
• Prioritizing sustainable design is core to iilo’s mission. Therefore, we refine and improve our workflows and processes on an ongoing basis.
• We continued adding to our team’s internal resources library to educate our collaborators on sustainable design principles and accessibility.
• On Earth Day 2026, iilo co-owner Lisa Hemingway and design strategist Steven Cretney gave a webinar for DesCan Sustainability on how to integrate sustainability into everyday design practice. Lisa and Steven co-chair the volunteer DesCan Sustainability committee. The webinar highlighted how designers can create work that supports communities and contributes to long-term positive impact. We often take for granted that designers consider the environment in their work, so it was great to hold space to inspire others and connect with other values-led professionals in our design community.

Customers

• We continued to measure the revenue generated from mission-aligned clients. We’re excited to share that in year 5, 100% of our revenue came from clients who led with their mission to make the world a better place.
• Our clients’ impact areas leaned toward the social space in fi scal year 5, with 86% of clients focused on addressing social causes, and 14% who focused primarily on environmental causes.
• Thanks to increased customer awareness of our wide range of services, we completed more branding, website and communications projects this year.

Workers

• After making our first hire in 2023, we have continued transitioning our core team from part-time to full-time. We now have a full-time graphic designer and a full-time project manager in our core team of 4 employees.
• There was movement within our team this fiscal year, with team members exiting and others entering. We navigated these transitions smoothly and with minimal disruption for clients. Whether they’re in the room with us or not, we’re always cheering on folks we’ve had the privilege of working with.
• We continued to work transparently and recognize our team’s contributions to our client work publicly and with respect, highlighting the creativity of the talented people we get to collaborate with.

Steady foundation, same values

From a new B Corp assessment to accessibility built right into our workflows, our year 6 goals are about growing stronger without losing sight of what matters: our team’s balance, our clients’ missions, and the values we act on together.

Our goals for year 6

• Use the new B Corp assessment to establish a solid framework for our business’ resilience and growth
• Keep increasing the number of impact-driven and values-aligned clients who are committed to acting on their values with more accessible design and communications
• Continue making space for learning opportunities, sharing our learning with our team members and clients
• Leverage ethical AI solutions to create value for our clients
• Update our Asana templates to further integrate accessibility principles into our workflows
• Retain our KPI of 100% of our team reporting that we helped them maintain their self/life/work balance
• Aim for 100% of our clients reporting that we helped them amplify their missions with our work together

Looking forward to the year ahead!

To learn more about our vision, mission and values as a company, explore iilo Creative Alliance’s brand platform and subscribe to our newsletter to stay connected.