3BL Media and Governance & Accountability Institute Announce Partnership to Improve Distribution and Benchmarking of Corporate Sustainability Reports

NEW YORK, Jan. 14, 2016 /3BL Media/ – 3BL Media and Governance & Accountability Institute (G&A Institute) announced today a data analysis and distribution partnership to increase awareness of corporate sustainability reporting, and to better enable companies to benchmark their sustainability reporting versus their industry and investing peers.

The new multi-platform offering is aimed at corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability officers at public companies worldwide.  Both firms will actively market the services.

“Three quarters of S&P 500 Index companies are now publishing sustainability reports, up from only 20% in 2011,” said Louis D. Coppola, co-founder and executive vice president of G&A Institute. “Due to the growing number of reports being released on a daily basis, it is increasingly difficult to make sure important stakeholders are aware of the release of the report.  It is also increasingly important that companies benchmark their sustainability reporting versus their industry peers, especially if the organization's goal is to stand out to important stakeholders as a sustainability leader.”

The complementary services designed by 3BL Media and G&A Institute address these two increasingly relevant challenges to clients of both organizations:

• 3BL Media's ReportAlert Stakeholder Communication Service allows the publishers of sustainability reports to reach the largest and most comprehensive group of important stakeholders including over 250,000 sustainability influencers located around the globe.  Three recent 3BL Media acquisitions – CSRwire, Ethical Performance and ReportAlert – have created global, opt-in audiences passionate about sustainability.
   
• G&A Institute's GRI G4 Disclosure Benchmark Report utilizes the Institute's extensive sustainability reporting data and methodologies, which leverage its experience as the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) data partner in the US, UK, and Ireland, to benchmark the GRI G4 disclosures of the reporting organization against three selected peers identifying strengths and weaknesses.

“CSR and sustainability are relatively new functions inside companies, and there is strong demand for data that allows peers to benchmark each other,” said Greg Schneider, CEO of 3BL Media.  “We believe 3BL Media’s clients will be strong proponents of G&A Institute’s data and methodology, while G&A Institute clients will avail themselves of our large, global distribution capabilities.”

About 3BL Media

Founded in 2009, 3BL Media is a corporate communications platform exclusively for the distribution of corporate social responsibility and sustainability news and content. The company works with corporations and non-profits to distribute multi-format media assets through social, traditional and new media channels. 3BL has grown organically and through acquisition, operating a network of focused, authoritative sites including CSRwire, Justmeans, SocialEarth, Ethical Performance and ReportAlert. Content issued by 3BL Media clients also appears on hundreds of thousands of Bloomberg and Reuters terminals. Visit 3BL Media at http://3blmedia.com

About Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc.

Governance & Accountability Institute is a sustainability consulting firm headquartered in New York City, assisting corporations in executing winning strategies that maximize return on investment at every step of their sustainability journey. The G&A team helps corporate and investment community clients recognize, understand and address sustainability issues to address stakeholder and shareholder concerns. G&A Institute is the exclusive Data Partner for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in the USA, UK and Ireland. A G&A team of six or more perform this pro bono work on behalf of GRI. In 2014, they analyzed more than 1,200 sustainability reports in this role and databased more than 100 important data points related to each report.

G&A’s sustainability-focused services and resources include: counseling & strategies for the corporate sustainability journey; sustainability reporting assistance; thorough materiality assessments; stakeholder engagement; benchmarking; enhancing investor relations; sustainability communications; manager coaching, team building and training; issues monitoring & customized research; advice on third party awards and recognitions.  Visit G&A at www.ga-institute.com

Contacts:

Dave Armon of 3BL Media, +1.866.508.0993, ext. 123, or darmon@3blmedia.com

Louis D. Coppola of G&S Institute, +1.646.430.8230 ext 14 or lcoppola@ga-institute.com