Institute for Human Rights and Business

What Institute for Human Rights and Business does

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is a UK-registered charity (number 1131790) founded in 2009 and operating as a fully remote global 'think-and-do tank' on the relationship between business and human rights. Headquartered at a postal address in Eastbourne, United Kingdom, with staff distributed across strategic locations worldwide, IHRB convenes multinational corporations, governments, civil society, and investors to develop frameworks, guidance, and advocacy on UN Guiding Principles implementation, migrant worker protection, responsible recruitment, just transitions, commodities due diligence, and human rights in the built environment and shipping sectors.

IHRB's core 'products' are knowledge assets rather than commercial software: branded frameworks such as the Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity (2012), the Employer Pays Principle (2016), the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit (2019), the Dignity by Design Framework, and Guiding Principles on Resettlement; multi-stakeholder initiatives including the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment and the annual Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment; sector guidance including Commodities Explainers, commodity-trading.org, the City Toolkit, and the Responsible Maritime Recruitment Toolkit; plus the Voices Podcast series, the JUST Stories project, and an annual 'Top 10 Business and Human Rights Issues' publication. There is no proprietary technology platform; output is delivered as reports, explainers, toolkits, podcasts, and convening events distributed freely via ihrb.org.

The business model is charitable grant funding rather than commercial revenue. IHRB receives unrestricted and restricted contributions from governments (Switzerland, UK), private foundations (Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation, Laudes Foundation), and businesses (BP, Shell, IKEA, Nike, Coca-Cola, Ørsted, Vale, HP, Tesco, M&S), with corporate donors required to have a public net-zero-by-2050 commitment and excluded from tobacco and arms sectors. IHRB does not sell products or services, does not provide paid consulting, and imposes no fees on its publications or convenings; its UK charity status, plus legal registrations in Denmark and the USA, anchor the operating footprint across 70+ countries.

Name

Institute for Human Rights and Business

Legal name

Institute for Human Rights and Business

Website

https://ihrb.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is a UK-registered charity founded in 2009 that operates as a global think-and-do tank on business and human rights, developing frameworks, toolkits, and multi-stakeholder convenings for corporations, governments, civil society, and investors across migrant workers, commodities, oceans, just transitions, and the built environment.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Charitable Donations and Grants: IHRB is funded by contributions from governments (Switzerland, UK), private foundations (Ford Foundation, Oak Foundation, Laudes Foundation, etc.), and businesses (BP, Shell, IKEA, Nike, etc.). Business donations must have no conditions or restrictions. IHRB is registered as a charity in the UK (1131790), with legal registration in Denmark and USA.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

IHRB is a global charitable think-and-do tank that produces policy research, practical frameworks, multi-stakeholder convenings, and guidance toolkits to help businesses, governments, and civil society integrate respect for human rights into everyday business operations. Its core offerings include the Dhaka Principles, Employer Pays Principle, Responsible Recruitment Toolkits, commodity-trading due diligence guidance, just transitions frameworks, and the annual Top 10 Business and Human Rights Issues publication.

Product overview

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is a policy and research organisation, not a technology product company. Its offerings consist primarily of knowledge products, frameworks, convening platforms, and guidance documents. The core offerings include: the Voices Podcast series featuring expert discussions on business and human rights; the JUST Stories project documenting just transition narratives; the Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment and Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment as multi-stakeholder initiatives; the Employer Pays Principle and Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity as frameworks; the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit and Responsible Maritime Recruitment Toolkit as practical guidance tools; Commodities Explainers and commodity-trading.org as HRDD guidance for traders; the Dignity by Design Framework and City Toolkit for the built environment sector; and the Top 10 Business and Human Rights Issues annual publication. IHRB also operates a Resources Library containing reports, guidance documents, and meeting summaries across focus areas including Built Environment, Commodities, Just Transitions, Migrant Workers, and Oceans.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Voices Podcast: A podcast series featuring conversations on business and human rights topics, hosted by IHRB

Products and services

• Voices Podcast

Quantifiable outcome

• IHRB's Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment aims for total eradication of recruitment fees charged to workers by 2026
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• European CommissioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on ICT human rights sector guide, employment and recruitment agencies human rights sector guide, oil and gas human rights sector guide, and migrant workers programmes.
• International Labour OrganizationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events, migrant workers (Dhaka Principles), and responsible recruitment frameworks.
• Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human RightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events and capacity building for National Human Rights Institutions in East Africa.
• Shift ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development of oil and gas human rights sector guide and employment recruitment agencies sector guide.
• Danish Institute for Human RightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on commodities (oil and gas sector assessment for Myanmar), ICT sector assessment for Myanmar, and shipping/lifecycle embedding.
• Columbia Centre on Sustainable InvestmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on commodities policy, law, contracts and sustainable development, and finance sector.
• Human Rights WatchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events and human rights advocacy.
• Amnesty InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events and forced labour issues.
• Anti-Slavery InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on migrant workers and forced labour in supply chains.
• Global Business Initiative on Human RightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint production of State of Play report on human rights in business relationships.
• Humanity UnitedcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on migrant workers annual leadership forum for responsible recruitment.
• The Coca-Cola CompanycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events and migrant workers (Employer Pays Principle).
• International Olympic CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events human rights frameworks.
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on mega-sporting events and OECD Guidelines National Contact Points for business and human rights.
• Sustainable Shipping InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on delivering on seafarers' rights.
• UN Global CompactcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership on UN Global Compact Action Platform for Sustainable Ocean Business.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Verité: International non-profit focused on labour rights and responsible recruitment in global supply chains. Overlaps directly with IHRB's migrant worker and Employer Pays Principle agenda, particularly in apparel and electronics.
• International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR): NGO coalition advocating for binding corporate accountability frameworks on human rights. Closely aligned with IHRB's policy/regulatory work on supply chain due diligence legislation.
• Danish Institute for Human Rights: National human rights institution that operates a global Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) advisory practice serving corporates on commodities, ICT, and shipping — directly overlapping IHRB's programmes and partnership portfolio.
• Shift Project: The leading non-profit specialising in implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. IHRB and Shift jointly developed the oil and gas sector guide and employment recruitment agencies guide, making them direct collaborators and peers in the BHR advisory space.
• Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBIHR): Business-led initiative on human rights that jointly produces IHRB's State of Play report. Operates in the same BHR advisory and convening niche with a similar global corporate audience.

Emerging players

• Anti-Slavery International: Long-running NGO focused on forced labour and modern slavery, with which IHRB has a Core partnership. Comparable advocacy focus on migrant workers but a more traditional human-rights rather than business-advisory posture.
• KnowTheChain: Investor-backed initiative benchmarking corporate efforts to address forced labour in supply chains. Operates in adjacent HRDD/responsible recruitment space but with an investor-facing angle rather than IHRB's multi-stakeholder convening model.
• World Benchmarking Alliance: Alliance producing free corporate human rights and just transition benchmarks. Adjacent to IHRB's measurement and accountability work, particularly relevant to investor-segment stakeholders.

Broad incumbents

• Fair Labor Association: Multi-stakeholder initiative providing supply chain monitoring, certification, and remediation services for apparel and agriculture. Overlaps with IHRB's responsible recruitment focus but with a more operational/audit-driven model.
• Business for Social Responsibility (BSR): Large, established sustainability advisory organisation serving global enterprises on human rights, climate, and supply chain. BSR competes with IHRB for corporate HRDD mandates but at greater scale and with broader ESG scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ihrbTV
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/810447
• Xx.com/ihrb

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Institute for Human Rights and Business