My name is Elizabeth Shephard. I designed a startup called LifeCity to increase corporate social responsibility in the New Orleans area, and provide the information for consumers to make ethical choices. It is a cycle in which better businesses get rewarded financially for meeting social and environmental standards. Businesses that make no positive impact lose the faith of consumers, and the income of the company is affected. Our mission is to hold businesses accountable and help consumers make responsible choices.
The official “P” Ethic stamp of approval can be featured on all marketing communications from approved and designated ethical businesses.
Some of our partners in New Orleans, Louisiana:
What about us? How do we sustain ourselves as a profitable venture?
By you becoming a donor (see below) for supporting our platform in all its facets. But also in another way. We make the corporations come to us. Establishing the “P” ethic in any industry would be too overwhelming to search for on our own. Instead, we charge a set price for us to investigate the social and environmental impact of a company. There are no guarantees. If a business chooses to be assessed, and it does not meet our standards, then they will miss their opportunity to be recognized.
Paying for assessment ensures that only businesses that claim to make a positive contribution will come to our attention. Instead of maximizing profit by cutting corners on ethics, there will be a race to the top where social responsibility is recognized and rewarded. In this way the businesses in any given industry will compete to earn the “P” Ethic stamp of approval.
Businesses seeking recognition for their social impact are confident enough in their policies and practices that they are willing to pay a modest price to be assessed, with the hope that it comes back around and consumers choose to buy for good.
Our evaluation of the social impact of a business requires financial resources to carry out. We use the fee for evaluation to pay the cost of measuring the business and then we skim off the top to ensure our own profit.
Propellers.social was imagined by social entrepreneurs and through social innovation it aims to profit and contribute to the well being of society and the environment.
It started out small and the concept expanded to include a cyclical relationship between the .social and the propeller of change for a new economy.
Corporate Social Responsibility and the “P” Ethic
Propellers.social not only promotes social innovation from the ground up in our social incubators, we also promote social innovation from the top down through the evaluation of corporate social responsibility and increasing access to ethical consumer information.
When a company is socially and environmentally friendly their efforts should be rewarded, and consumers should be informed to make the responsible ethical choice. Propellers.social holds the largest companies to a strict standard and makes known true corporate social responsibility that produces a real social and evironmental impact.
Propellers.social motivates companies to improve the social and environmental impact they have on today’s world. To be accepted as a partner companies must make concerted efforts to go green and be equitable. As a reward for becoming a green and social business that meets its goals and timeline, the company is certified as a Propellers.social “P” Ethic Partner.
Ethical businesses earn their place on an international list of responsible companies that consumers will be informed of. Partnering with Propellers.social provides a powerful way for corporations to show off what they do for the world. When consumers are informed and make the right choice, companies will profit from their advocacy for social equity. The “P” Ethic stamp of approval advertises to the world that a business is doing more than making money, but giving back to our society and our environment.
Our efforts to assess a company comes from a sector specific evaluation. In other words, our assessment is comparative with other businesses in the same industry. We aim to highlight the accomplishments of the businesses that lead the industry in their social and environmental impact.
For example, the most ethical producer of dairy products with proven results for positive treatment of animals, their workers, and the environment, will be rewarded with the “P” Ethic stamp of approval, and all consumers will be informed of the clear ethical choice for dairy products.
Right now it is a “race to the bottom”. Companies cut costs on labor, environment, and work conditions in order to maximize profit and to be able to compete with other companies doing the same. To be a responsible corporation trying to have a social impact is to become less profitable and it could possibily be run out of business.
Ethical considerations have no place in the financial calculations of a business trying to compete in a cutthroat industry. CEOs involved all want success. It is not that they do not care if they cause harm, it is that the marketplace does not allow them to do the right thing.
Propellers.social is a mechanism for adjusting from a race to the bottom to “taking the high road”. A new and better system can be used to lift up workers, use natural resources and human capital more efficiently, and foster equity, justice, and democracy for all people.
Public goods include strong health care, housing, transportation, and education, which are essential to shared prosperity. Strong environmental and labor standards improve communities and nurture equitable growth. Democracy can be a force for improving performance and productivity inside firms, communities, and government.
When corporations strive for these elevated standards the reward is intrinsic, the high road strategy pays off in the long run. Still, it warrants acknowledgement for making the right ethical choices. The public should know what they do and give them the support they deserve.
When we make corporate social responsibility profitable for businesses we will introduce a new dynamic to the marketplace.
We will have to prove the integrity of our selections and demonstrate the validity of our claims. Propellers.social strives to become the standard for measuring the impact of companies on the environment and on people. The “P” Ethic will signal to all consumers that they are supporting ethical businesses and that their choice matters.
We measure. We designate. We approve. We publicize. We empower. We choose. We support. We succeed.
The “P” Ethic assures corporate social responsibility by setting standards for social and environmental impact.
What follows is called, “Good choices”. It provides another dynamic that adds value to the .social in our economy through ethical advertising and greater consumer choice to “buy for good”.
Propellers. social 