On June 6, 1922, the Better Business Bureau was founded in New York City. During the course of more than one hundred years, its mission, reach, and programs have expanded to meet and serve the needs of millions of people across Metropolitan New York and North America. We do this by alerting the public to scams and helping them to find trustworthy businesses and charities.

This over one-hundred-year vantage point provides a singular opportunity to look back across the decades and recall what we have achieved by working together to promote integrity in business. We are also looking forward into the future, to consider how we might do even more to serve the public and build marketplace trust during our Next Century.

Our original mission

Over one hundred years later, the BBB in Metro New York is still carrying out mission goals that were established at its founding. According to its certificate of incorporation in 1922:

“The particular objects for which the corporation is to be created are as follows:

To further and promote honesty, truthfulness and reliability in merchandising and advertising of all kinds by encouraging high standards of business practices and discouraging fraudulent and deceptive methods in business, and to thereby increase public confidence in advertising, salesmanship and business generally…”

Originally founded by the investment community to combat financial fraud, as well as by leaders of the advertising and marketing industry to fight deceptive selling, the Better Business Bureau in New York continues to “carry the torch” for truth, fairness and honesty in marketplace transactions, as well as financial literacy for all consumers.