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20
22
Annual Report
A Note from our Founder and Partners, Maiya, Marie & Megan
The redistribution of power made possible the merger with Manoverboard. And, conversely, the merger with Manoverboard validated and strengthened our partnership. Without the partnership model, the prospect of acquiring another agency would have been too daunting an undertaking. And, to decide if we all agreed that the merger was the right step for Mangrove, we had to engage in a frank examination of our individual values and goals for ourselves and the business.
That process, encapsulated by an exhaustive and thoughtful list of questions, confirmed that we are in fact very aligned with one another, and with Manoverboard. It also gave us the chance to practice healthy debate and conflict, which is just as important as values alignment.
We evolved and improved during 2022, just in different ways than we planned for when we set our goals back in 2021. Through the work that we did as a team, we reconfirmed the “rightness” of the path we’ve set ourselves — to operate our organization according to shared principles and a greater purpose than just profit.
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We help conscious companies tell their stories in a meaningful way.
Mangrove Web is a woman-owned website design and development company with a diverse, talented team distributed around the globe. We’ve been building websites since 2009 that amplify the work of change-making organizations and increase the competitive power of businesses owned by historically marginalized people. As a Certified B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation, we prioritize working with businesses that share our value of balancing people, planet, purpose, and profit.
This report shares our success in 2022 as we operate a business based on our values, and serves as our annual benefit report for the year.
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Milestones and High Points
The 100s Club!
When we submitted our third B Corp Recertification application at the end of 2022, our score jumped from 92 to 112. Criteria that contributed to the score increase include being a mission-locked organization and our commitment to serving other purpose-driven organizations. The recertification process serves as an accountability partner, requiring us to rigorously examine our internal and external business processes.
Exploring Tech
The world of web development constantly changes, and it’s our job to explore new options so we can thoughtfully advise new clients on the best platform for their specific project. While WordPress continues to be a powerful and utilitarian CMS for the bulk of our projects, we also dug deeper into the upsides and drawbacks of JAMstack-based and other headless CMS solutions such as Sanity.io and Contentful.
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Calibrating Pay
What’s the difference between paying a livable wage to a team member, based on their geographical location, and creating pay equity among all members of a globally distributed organization? We dove into that question in 2022, exploring several models of equitable compensation as part of our larger effort to strengthen our organization’s commitment to justice and equity.
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Expectations and Reality: Meeting Our Goals for 2022
Buoyed by our success at meeting many of our goals in 2021, we pushed ourselves by setting lofty goals for 2022. We did meet our core goals relating to revenue sources and donating our money and time, but we lost sight of many of our stretch goals. When we asked what we could learn from our performance to business goals, we realized that we need to level-set and reevaluate our priorities. Even after 6 years with B Corp certification, and many years prior, we are still fine tuning our balance of purpose and profit.
Revenue from Values-Aligned Clients
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Achievement: 87%, another year of significant growth
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Client Revenue by Organization Type
We implemented a system that allows us to methodically measure the diversity of leadership in our clients’ organizations, and we collected data back to the start of 2021. Our income from Woman-or-Non-Binary increased 4%. BIPOC-led remained the same. LGBTQIA-led increased by 4%.
We assessed the diversity of our current partners along two axes: how much we paid them and how much we earned from them.
We implemented a system that allows us to methodically measure the diversity of leadership in our clients’ organizations, and we collected data back to the start of 2021. We will measure our progress against this in 2023.
Website Accessibility
- Make sure all of our maintenance websites have been audited for accessibility by the end of 2022 - at no cost to our current clients.
We did not meet this goal. Like many of our plans for 2022, which were made in 2021, this plan got waylaid by our Q3-Q4 focus on preparing to acquire Manoverboard, and will be revisited in 2023. - Develop partnerships with digital firms that offer web accessibility and manual testing as a service so we can continue to expand our knowledge in this realm and contribute to all of the web being accessible.
We continue to explore different partnerships that serve the specific needs of our clients.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Maintain or increase diversity on the team (employees+workforce) to remain at 33% or above of members who identify as non-white.
At the end of 2022, 42.9% of our team identify as non-white. 33.3% of leadership identify as non-white. - Maintain gender diversity on team (employees+workforce) to remain at 60% or above of members who identify as female or non-binary.
At the end of 2022, 71.4% of our team identify as female or non-binary. 50% of our development team identify as female or non-binary. 100% of our leadership team identify as female or non-binary - Create Mangrove’s Culture Code and 5-year plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion. Include key performance indicators.
We laid a foundation for creating a culture code by (1) continuing our monthly team-wide DEI sessions; (2) rewriting our core values as a team; (3) investigating which pay equity structures might best suit our globally distributed team. - Actively mentor other website developers, especially women, non-binary folks, and people from disadvantaged or marginalized backgrounds.
This was not a specific focus in 2022 during the acquisition, but will be revisited more directly in 2023.
Sustainability
- Complete the SDG Action Manager.
We did not complete the SDG Action Manager, due to limited bandwidth to take on additional purpose-driven activities. As we work to be realistic about what we’re accountable for, we are going to pause and reassess whether this goal makes sense for Mangrove at this stage of its life cycle. - Offset GHG emissions by 99%.
Emissions were offset by over 100% via Offset Alliance. View the report. - We hope to align with the sustainable web design framework created by our B Corp friends at Mightybytes and Wholegrain Digital.
We stayed in the learning phase in 2022 and we plan to implement this framework in 2023. - We hope to incorporate free tools such as Ecograder and Website Carbon into our workflow.
In addition to occasionally using tools like Ecograder and Website Carbon, we took action to verify that our go-to web host (WP Engine) uses 100% sustainable and renewable energy. In 2022, the Green Web Foundation did not list WP Engine as an approved provider. Our team researched WP Engine’s practices, verified that it relies on renewable energy, and lobbied the Green Web Foundation to add WP Engine to its directory.
Donating our Money and Time
- Donate 1% of total gross revenue to charitable organizations. Target donations to organizations supporting diversifying the tech industry in particular.
Donations equaled 1.16% of total gross revenue. Organizations that we support include Hack the Hood and Techtonica. Read more about our charitable giving philosophy here. - Invite team members to direct charitable giving to organizations of their choice.
Read about where our team chose to donate and "the why" behind each member's donation. - Commit to at least one pro-bono project or a minimum of 75 pro-bono hours per year.
We contributed over 45 pro bono hours to In Solidarity. - Provide paid volunteer time for employees.
We provide paid volunteer time for employees. Marie Koesnodihardjo continued her volunteer service on the B Local Bay Area Board. - Be a B Corp resource for our peers.
We engage in many conversations with aspiring B Corps and B Corp partners throughout the year to share knowledge and resources. Marie continued to serve on the board of B Local Bay Area helping to organize events and new initiatives and spread awareness of the B Corp movement in the Bay Area.
Our day-to-day work
20 new sites and rebuilds for 2020, 7 retainer clients supported throughout the year
Selected work
People & Progress: Highlights of our year
We welcomed Marcella Bechtel as a new project manager in Q2. Marcella is an advocate for the slow fashion movement, and co-founded an organization aimed at influencing wardrobe choices that are environmentally and socially conscious.
Designer Alison Levin married her partner Gus in August in Skaneateles, New York. They celebrated amongst beloved family and friends while surrounded by stunning nature scenes and hand crafted works of art.
B Corp folks rallied in Philly in November for the Champions Retreat. Maiya remarked, “The days were spent with brilliant purpose-driven business leaders who are not only incredibly smart and dedicated, but who all show up authentically and with joy, humility, curiosity, and great care for our world and community.”
We met our 2022 goal for at least 50% of our core team members to use their professional development stipend. Subjects of professional education included digital accessibility, Google Tag Manager/Google Analytics, and website animation.
Meet the Mangrove Team
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Meet our whole team#mangrovemeetups
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Awards
Is Our Economy Fair? Won Multiple Awards
Even though we built it, this stunning site still boggles our minds every time we look at it. Designed by L+R for the organization Take On Wall Street, isoureconomyfair.org utilizes one of Take On Wall Street’s in-person training modules to explain how financial institutions have used their disproportionate power at key moments in our history—from colonization to the present day—to counter individuals’ struggles for racial, climate, gender and economic justice and to create an economic system that benefits Wall Street at the expense of the working class.
- Awwwards Honorable Mention (January 2022)
- Anthem Awards (Webby) Silver Winner in the category Human & Civil Rights Research Projects/Publications Awareness Categories (February 2022)
- Communication Arts Interaction Design, Interactive Education Microsites (February 2022)
Our day-to-day work
The work itself is the best way we — as people who write, design, code, and manage websites — can positively impact the world. It is fulfilling on a fundamental level to use our skills for good.
Exactly zero sites launched on Fridays*.
(*a non-negotiable Mangrove team policy)
We supported fintech to cleantech in 2023 and loved watching our clients grow.
Project Highlights
NiftyLit
We built a robust and functional new site with custom integrations so the NiftyLit team can manage their content and visitors can seamlessly make a purchase.
NiftyLit is a future-forward startup that publishes original short-form literary content online and uses blockchain technology to make it available for purchase as an NFT (non-fungible token)
SEE IT LIVEProject Highlights
What we did
We built a robust and functional new site with custom integrations so the NiftyLit team can manage their content and visitors can seamlessly make a purchase.
Who we did it for
NiftyLit is a future-forward startup that publishes original short-form literary content online and uses blockchain technology to make it available for purchase as an NFT (non-fungible token)
SEE IT LIVE
Project Highlights
What we did
We built a WordPress site with custom features that give the WRA team agility, control and freedom in how they display their projects while bringing attention to the company’s culture, values and mission.
Who we did it for
WRA is an employee-owned environmental consulting company that partners with non-profits, public agencies, and private companies on forward-thinking projects that support the intersection of humans and nature.
SEE IT LIVE
Project Highlights
What we did
We created a site that communicates the spirit and mission of Elemental Excelerator and manages applications for their two funding tracks.
Who we did it for
Elemental Excelerator is a Hawaii based nonprofit that provides funding, design, and development support to startup teams and companies dedicated to making an impact through clean water, energy, agriculture, and transportation systems.
SEE IT LIVE
Project Highlights
What we did
We designed a flexible, user-friendly site that empowers the team at CalSEED with an organized backend and interactive animations that convey important program information.
Who we did it for
CalSEED is an initiative to advance energy innovation in California by offering funding and professional development assistance to a diverse range of clean energy entrepreneurs. The program supports clean energy, efficiency, and energy storage projects that benefit sensitive communities
SEE IT LIVE
Project Highlights
What we did
We created a custom WordPress site that effectively communicates the message and purpose behind the Nia Impact Capital brand.
Who we did it for
Nia Impact Capital is a women-first investing firm that helps individuals and businesses invest in purpose-driven companies that offer solutions for systemic risks to our economy and align with the global sustainability agenda.
SEE IT LIVEOther collaborations we’re proud of
Clients
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Partnerships
Goals for 2023
This annual report serves an accountability function for us. Up above, we summarized our performance against the goals in our 2021 annual report. For 2023, we will track our progress against the following benchmarks.
Annual commitments
- Maintain a minimum of 75% of our business from purpose-driven or woman- or minority-owned organizations.
- Mentor other designers and developers, especially women and people from disadvantaged or marginalized backgrounds. Strengthen our onboarding processes for new developers.
- Donate a minimum of 1% total revenue to charitable organizations. Target donations to organizations supporting diversifying the tech industry in particular.
- Invite team members to direct charitable giving to organizations of their choice.
- Commit to at least one pro-bono project or a minimum of 75 pro-bono hours per year.
- Offset GHG emissions by 100%.
- Be a B Corp reference for our peers.
- Continue to learn and lead in the areas of website accessibility and sustainability.
In 2023, specifically
- Further develop the MB Studio Fund to support more BIPOC students with scholarships and internships in Manitoba and in other provinces and states.
- Update and upgrade Make-It-Accessible to address a number of accessibility issues and update content regularly.
- Support our B Local community efforts whenever and wherever we can, including B Local Bay Area and B Local Manitoba.
- Review the level of accessibility for all client sites on maintenance in 2023 and establish a plan to improve accessibility for all client sites in 2024.
- Sustainability: Report back on how we continued learning about digital sustainability and set a 2024 goal to develop a specific service offering related to digital sustainability.
- Paid volunteer time: In 2023 we’ll assess how to encourage employee volunteer time and we’ll set a goal for 2024.
#MangroveOutOfOffice
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To our clients, partners, allies, friends, and mentors — Thanks for being part of this, and thanks for reading! Let’s spend some #MangroveOutOfOffice time together soon.
To learn more, find us at mangrove-web.com or contact us at hello@mangrove-web.com.
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