Business should leave something positive behind.
If we're going to encourage other businesses to improve, we should be prepared to hold ourselves to the same standard.
For DBIM, responsible business means understanding the impact we create, supporting the community around us, reducing our environmental footprint and being transparent about where we're doing well and where we still need to improve.
Our aim is simple: make commitments we can measure, then publish how we've performed.
Start small.
Measure properly.
Improve every year.
DBIM is a small business. Our footprint isn't comparable with an organisation employing hundreds of people, but being small isn't a reason to ignore it.
We want to understand the impact we create, make specific commitments we can actually deliver, measure what happens and improve them as the business grows.
That also means being careful about the claims we make. We'd rather show genuine progress than call ourselves sustainable simply because it sounds good.
Evidence before claims. Progress before perfection. Honesty about what we haven't achieved yet.
Four areas.
One responsibility.
Responsible business isn't one environmental target or one charitable donation. We're building our approach around four areas that together reflect the impact DBIM has as a business.
People.
Look after people.Create safe, fair and responsible ways of working, invest in development and leave people more capable than we found them.
Community.
Give something back.Use our money, time, knowledge and relationships to make a useful contribution to the communities around us.
Planet.
Reduce our impact.Understand our environmental footprint, reduce what we can and take credible responsibility for what remains.
Governance.
Do things properly.Operate ethically, protect information, use technology responsibly and create accountability for the commitments we make.
People and Community describe the contribution we make. Planet describes the footprint we leave. Governance makes sure we're accountable for both.
Support the community we're part of.
Giving back should mean more than putting a charity logo on a website. We want DBIM's contribution to be practical, measurable and capable of growing alongside the business.
Bury Hospice.
A local cause we want to support for the long term.DBIM has chosen Bury Hospice as our principal charity, giving our community support a clear local focus.
Rather than treating charitable support as a one-off donation, our aim is to build a longer-term contribution through fundraising, financial support, volunteering and, where useful, our professional skills.
As DBIM grows, we want that contribution to grow with it.
Give.
Commit a defined share of DBIM's success to charitable and community causes, with Bury Hospice at the centre of that support.
Volunteer.
Contribute practical time as well as money and introduce paid volunteering as DBIM begins to build a team.
Share.
Make DBIM's professional knowledge and skills available where they can create meaningful benefit for charitable or community causes.
Bury Hospice will be our principal charity, not necessarily our only cause. DBIM can still support other local organisations and projects where our contribution can make a useful difference.
Turning good intentions into something measurable.
We don't want community support to depend on whether somebody remembers to do something charitable that year. We're building it into how DBIM operates, so the contribution can grow as the business grows.
Share our success.
Our target is to contribute at least 1% of annual pre-tax profit to charitable and community causes.
Build a meaningful relationship.
Bury Hospice is our chosen principal charity, giving our community support a clear local focus.
Give more than money.
Make professional time and knowledge available where DBIM's expertise can create genuine community benefit.
Give people time to contribute.
Once DBIM begins employing people, our aim is to provide one paid volunteering day per person each year.
The contribution should scale with the business. As DBIM becomes more successful, the value it puts back into charitable and community causes should grow with it.
These are DBIM's intended community commitments and will be measured through our annual Impact Scorecard as the programme develops.
Measure it.
Reduce it.
Take responsibility.
We don't want to put a "carbon neutral" badge on DBIM without understanding the footprint behind it first. Our approach is to establish the evidence, reduce the impact we can control and be transparent about what remains.
Measure.
Establish DBIM's annual greenhouse-gas footprint and understand where our emissions actually come from.
Reduce.
Set practical actions around business travel, energy, equipment, purchasing and waste, then measure whether they're working.
Address.
Where emissions cannot yet reasonably be eliminated, consider credible ways of taking responsibility for the residual impact without treating that as a substitute for reduction.
Report.
Publish the footprint, progress against reduction actions and what we're doing next through DBIM's annual Impact Scorecard.
Claims second.
The long-term aim is to minimise DBIM's climate impact as far as reasonably practicable. Any future carbon-neutral or similar claim should be supported by a measured footprint, credible reductions and transparent treatment of residual emissions.
DBIM's first published carbon figures will be added once a verified baseline has been established. Until then, we won't publish estimated numbers as though they were measured results.
Carbon is part of the story.
Not the whole story.
Environmental responsibility goes beyond a carbon figure. As DBIM develops, we want to understand the wider impact of how we travel, what we buy, what we use and what we leave behind.
Travel
Measure business mileage and make sensible lower-impact choices about when, where and how we travel.
Energy
Understand the energy associated with our operations and look for practical opportunities to reduce consumption.
Equipment
Extend the useful life of devices and equipment, prioritising repair, reuse and responsible recycling where practical.
Waste
Avoid unnecessary materials in the first place, then prioritise reuse, recycling and responsible disposal.
Purchasing
Consider environmental and ethical performance alongside quality, suitability and cost when making purchasing decisions.
Digital
Use cloud services, AI and technology deliberately rather than assuming digital activity has no environmental impact.
Make better choices where we have influence. Not every impact can be eliminated, but each one can be understood, questioned and improved where a sensible alternative exists.
Good intentions need something behind them.
Responsible business isn't just about what we choose to support or how much carbon we produce. It also depends on how DBIM is run, how decisions are made and how we protect the people and organisations that trust us.
Ethics & conflicts of interest
Make decisions openly, identify potential conflicts and put good advice ahead of short-term commercial gain.
Anti-bribery & corruption
Maintain proportionate controls around gifts, hospitality, financial relationships and inappropriate influence.
Data & confidentiality
Protect personal information and client data, and handle confidential business information with care.
Information security
Use appropriate technical and organisational controls to protect the information and systems DBIM relies on.
Responsible AI
Use AI transparently and appropriately, with particular care around confidentiality, data handling and human oversight.
Fairness & inclusion
Build fair, respectful and inclusive working practices as DBIM develops and begins to employ and work with more people.
Environmental management
Set objectives, understand significant impacts and review environmental performance rather than relying on good intentions.
Responsible suppliers
Consider ethics, environmental performance and responsible business practice when selecting suppliers and partners.
Objectives & review
Set measurable ESG objectives, review performance and publish progress through DBIM's annual Impact Scorecard.
Responsibility currently sits with the business owner.
As DBIM grows, governance will evolve with it through clearer responsibilities, review and oversight. But being a small business isn't a reason to wait before putting the right principles and controls in place.
The aim isn't bureaucracy. Governance should give clients, suppliers, future employees and community partners confidence that DBIM's commitments have something real behind them.
Our impact doesn't stop at our front door.
The businesses we buy from become part of DBIM's wider impact too. As we grow, we want to consider how suppliers operate as well as what they cost, while keeping the approach practical and proportionate.
Buy thoughtfully.
Consider whether something is genuinely needed, how long it should last and whether repair, reuse or refurbishment offers a sensible alternative.
Look beyond price.
Consider environmental performance, ethical practice, quality and long-term value alongside the initial cost.
Know who we work with.
Where appropriate, consider how suppliers approach areas such as labour standards, environmental responsibility, information security and business ethics.
Keep it proportionate.
Responsible procurement shouldn't mean creating unnecessary bureaucracy for small suppliers. The level of scrutiny should reflect the relationship and the risk.
We'll develop clearer supplier expectations alongside the business. The long-term aim is a simple DBIM Supplier Code covering environmental responsibility, ethical conduct, fair employment, information security and responsible business practice.
Publish the evidence.
Not just the promise.
Each year we'll report against the same core commitments so progress can be compared properly over time. That includes showing where we've fallen short, not just celebrating the targets we've achieved.
Making the Bury Hospice contribution visible.
Once reporting begins, we'll publish the amount donated or raised, volunteering time and any skills-based support provided rather than simply stating that DBIM supports a charity.
If we miss a target, it still goes on the scorecard. We'll explain what happened, what we learned and what we're doing about it next.
Progress doesn't always mean hitting every target.
A scorecard isn't much use if we only publish the things that went well. If DBIM misses a target, the result should remain visible, accompanied by an explanation and a clear next action.
Say what we intended to achieve before judging whether the result was successful.
Use measurable evidence wherever possible and avoid presenting estimates as confirmed performance.
If target and actual differ, explain why and set out what we'll change next.
Carbon reduction
Partially achieved10% reduction against baseline.
7% reduction.
Business mileage increased more quickly than anticipated during the year.
Review travel planning and introduce clearer lower-impact travel criteria for appropriate journeys.
The figures above are illustrative only. Actual figures will only be published once DBIM has measured performance against an established baseline.
Responsibility shouldn't sit on a separate page.
CSR, ESG and sustainability give us useful ways to measure and manage our impact. But they shouldn't become something DBIM thinks about once a year when a report needs publishing.
The aim is much simpler: look after people, support the community around us, understand our environmental impact and build a successful business on the right foundations.
We'll publish the evidence, not just the promise.
Our commitments will develop as DBIM grows, but the principle behind them should remain the same.