The title of this post is not random.
When I talked to Mauro about the project, my attention was captured by the metaphor that he used.
It is truly beautiful, majestic and fits perfectly, follow me.
On the occasion of his investiture as a Knight of Grace of the Order of Malta, the Dean, who explained the project, compared its purpose to an ocean, and the recipients of this ocean are Seas and Rivers.
Apparently, the metaphor can appear extremely hermetic, but let’s dig deeper and here a first hint. There is no coincidence that the element that composes them is water with its flow.
In function of this I now continue with the "paraphrase" of this beautiful metaphor.
The Ocean is represented by the donations (equal to 5% of turnover) that this company has decided to allocate.
Of course, I'm talking about Ethicoins. So far, you have probably understood I am really keen on this project!
ECS Foundation
The total amount of donations represents the Ocean and the 3 sub-categories to which Ethicoins has decided to send the subsidies are the Seas, therefore:
-The Planet;
- Humanity;
- The Animal Kingdom.
Per each of the Seas, there are Rivers, and these, in fact, represent the tangible recipients of this charity.
Beware, however, that this charity is not just any charity: in full line and following the Dogmas of the Order of Malta, Ethics and Ethical people must be the recipients of this charity.
Ethics is the basis of everything.
Let's go into the specifics of how actively enter the supporting sections of Ethicoins.
Ethic-Shop (E-Commerce)
As it is desirable to expect, any company can request to be able to enter the Ethicoins’ E-Commerce platform, but from the moment of the request a meticulous verification composed of 209 evaluation parameters begins.
The parameters are designed to assess the ethics of the company based on some typical aspects:
- Environmental and social policies;
- Policies for the selection of the workforce and their rights;
- Supply Chain support initiatives.
Depending on the compliance of all or part of these evaluation parameters, the company is awarded stars according to its Ethicality.
Attention, stars are not attributed to every single product, but to the company itself; products are taken for granted regardless.
It is understood that these checks are carried out periodically.
If any inconsistency occurs, stars will be deducted until the company is delisted from the Ethic-Shop platform or it redeems into Ethicoins standards.
In a short time, some important names in the IT landscape such as Microsoft, Dell and HP have joined the Ethic-Shop.
Regarding telecommunications, respectable names such as AT&T and T-Mobile appear.
Humanitarian foundations are also part of the Ethic-Shop, among which Greenpeace stands out.
As a preview, I’m glad to announce that important non-profit organization as Amref Health Africa and Fondazione ANT Italia Onlus firmed the partnership with Ethicoins!
More precisely, companies are evaluated following a questionnaire that reports, questions regarding these 7 macro categories:
- A company's ethics and compliance program;
- Culture of ethics;
- Charity performed and demonstrable;
- Governance;
- Leadership and reputation;
- Citizenship and corporate responsibility;
- Certifications, with particular regard to:
7.1 SA 8000:2014;
7.2 UNI EN ISO 26000:2010;
7.3 UNI ES ISO 14001:2015.
ECS-Academy (E-Learning)
An important innovation from Ethicoins is the ECS Academy.
In the Academy, the qualification, skin color or age is not important: what matters are skills; those make the difference!
Even in this case, Ethics is the rule: in order to become a teacher in the Academy a Contest is created to challenge professors’ skills and abilities.
A three pages resume will just make you attend the Contest than these events will prove your real value!
Some of these contests will also be live and it will be possible to touch the true potential of the subjects who want to become part of this extraordinary, and first in the Academy world.
I won't tell you anything else, on the contrary, I leave you with a question:
Have you noticed that Ethicoins is plural?
Well, who knows why?
(attentive readers already know the answer, those a little less will have it next time!)
Well, what suggestions would you bring to this project to make it even better, sustainable and especially, to spread it across the world?
