Why does it matter?
Plenty of people are happy going to work each day just for the money – and of course lots of people have no choice.
At Cog we get to choose the work we do. We know that’s unusual and comes from a position of privilege so we don’t take it for granted.
We know we’re lucky. But we also know it’s a choice we’ve made… a choice that may seem at odds with traditional business practices.
- We choose to work with people who share our values.
- We choose to work in a sector that transforms lives.
- We choose to work in ways that put people before profit.
- We chose our suppliers based on much more than price.
Don’t get us wrong, we aren’t idealistic hippies; Cog is a commercial business.
We’ve been trading for more than three decades and we’ve made a profit each year – even through the pandemic (with no redundancies and no furlough).

Our only income comes through charging for our services and expertise (we receive no grants* or subsidies). If we charge more than we spend then that profit is how we pay our wages. And we all want to be paid fairly and have some profit left over to reinvest.
But profit isn’t everything.
- We want to get up for work each day, and sleep soundly at night, knowing that our work benefits society.
- We support clients who work with under-represented and underprivileged communities.
- We fund charities that focus on supporting people who are traditionally excluded from the arts.
- We are working towards sustainability through carbon-negative hosting and much more.
- We have a firm and immovable ethical approach and we walk away from projects or clients who don’t fit.
- And we invest in and are constantly improving our approach to Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Belonging.
Of course we are far from perfect. Our B Corp journey continues as we work towards improving our score and attaining future growth goals, year on year.
Our B Corp Certification means that we have taken some big strides in the right direction.
Find out more on the B Corp UK site.