3BL research · 2025 whitepaper
Sustainable companies make more money
A backtest of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens against the S&P 500 over 42 months of market volatility revealed stronger financial performance among honoree companies.
+14%
Repeat honorees, 2020–2025, saw returns up to 14% above the S&P 500
106%
Repeat honorees generated a collective cumulative return of more than 106% from 2022 to 2025
9 months
The repeat honorees portfolio took nine months to recover from its lowest point, compared to 15 months for the S&P 500.
Portfolio 01 · 2024 + 2025 honorees
The 100 Best Corporate Citizens beat the market
For our 2025 research, 3BL combined the 2024 and 2025 100 Best Corporate Citizens into a single mock portfolio, weighted by market capitalization and capped at 15% per holding, resulting in a cumulative return of nearly 50% from January 2022 to June 2025, compared to under 40% for the S&P 500. Annual return ran 2.2% higher than the index.
- Cumulative return≈ 50%< 40%
- Annual return delta+2.2%benchmark
- Recovery from low9 months15 months
- 2024 + 2025 100 Best portfolio
- Vanguard 500 Index (S&P 500)
Portfolio 02 · Repeat honorees 2020–2025
Consistency is the multiplier
A sample of companies recognized on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens at least twice since 2020 reveals even higher levels of financial overperformance. The repeat honorees portfolio returned 106% cumulative against the S&P's 36.6% and recovered from its lowest point nine months faster.
- Cumulative return106%36.6%
- Annual return delta+14%benchmark
- With NVDA + MSFT removed40.5%36.6%
Two market-cap monoliths, Nvidia and Microsoft, inflate the topline, but the repeat honorees portfolio still beat the benchmark even with these companies removed.
- Repeat 100 Best 2020–2025
- Same portfolio, NVDA + MSFT removed
- Vanguard 500 Index (S&P 500)
From the whitepaper
"Far from a money-suck, the companies that continue to improve transparency are more likely to generate above-market returns. Those that stayed the most consistent saw returns up to 14% higher than the S&P 500 benchmark."
— 100 Best Corporate Citizens 2025 whitepaper
Methodology
How the backtest was built
Backtesting was conducted using SRL Global's Portfolio Visualizer. Three simulated portfolios were tested: the 2024+2025 ranking combined; companies that ranked at least twice between 2020 and 2025; and the same repeat-honoree list with Nvidia and Microsoft removed.
Each portfolio was weighted by market capitalization as of September 2025 and normalized so no single company could exceed 15% of the portfolio. The Vanguard S&P 500 Index Investor fund served as the benchmark. The 2024/2025 portfolio covers January 2022 through July 2025; the 2020–2025 repeat portfolio covers January 2022 through June 2025.
Charts on this page are editorial illustrations anchored to the cumulative returns and drawdown-recovery figures published in the 3BL 2025 whitepaper. They do not reproduce tick-by-tick portfolio values.