Markus Haastert says: your platform sounds promising! Mass market access is going to be crucial to making this a success. Do you think this is realistic - becoming a platform where everyday people will invest, just as institutional investors?

anil gupta says: i believe in grassroots to global and this could be a useful link in that vision. it is a good initiative and i wish it success. it needs to have incubator elements.

Andy Orth says: I always wondered why no one came up with something like this any sooner...

Everbody is always complaining about how our top managers earn millions by cutting costs and laying off workers in our countries, while opening cheaper plants in Asia, where labor is cheaper and environmental regulations less strict. Yet, at the same time, we take our savings and invest for the highest returns, regardless of the company or product behind our investments, thus reinforcing exactly what we complained about earlier...
To top it off, every year around Christmas, we donate a few hunderd bucks to ease our conscience, (thereby achieving -100 % of interest), and never finding out what good that donation ever did!

I love your project for the following reasons:

It sounds like a step in a new direction, where I can invest my money for a moderate interest rate, yet I know it is really making a difference in the world. And, I can take my christmas donation, which usually only goes to buying sacks of rice for the starving (relieving, but never healing), and invest that money as well. So on balance, I will end up with at least the same ROI and have done my part to making this world a better place.

My questions are, how do you plan on rating the social organisations? And, even more important, are you planning to mediate with consulting firms, so that you can provide the applying organisations (who generally have only a good product idea) with know-how about marketing, legal, business systems, etc. ? I'm asking because when I look around the entries on this website, there are a lot of great ideas, with totally unprofessional videos and no real business plans to back them up...

If you won this competition, the leverage would be amazing: the prize money for you, and the social stock market for every other applicant, at least if they qualify as "sustainable, feasible, profitable"!

Anne-Kathrin Kuhlemann says: Dear all,

ok, I'll answer from the top:

@ Markus: that's the goal, becoming "mainstream" instead of niche market. It will take a few years yet, but I've already spoken to pension fund managers who would be willing to invest e.g. 1% of their volume as a kind of CSR - sounds good, huh?

@ Anil: great to read you here! We hope to have as many small organisations as possible listed, or rather (this links to Andy's second question) hope to build a network of cooperations with consultancies, accountants and other experts to assist organisations in becoming "ready-for-listing". Professionalizing while keeping the grassroots spirit is going to be a balancing act, but I think it's doable.

@ Andy: Our rating will be bottom-up with stakeholder groups (incl. beneficiaries!) involved. Sorry I can't go into details here, this was one of the trickiest parts to figure out...

Nedret Akcaoglu says: your projects sounds great. but i did not really understand the main benefit of your project for the ecology. could you please explain me your targets in point of ecology?

Anne-Kathrin Kuhlemann says: Fair point, this might not be clear from our public information: we intend to list projects that benefit ecology as well as society, since we sincerely believe that both are necessary - we cannot save the climate if we don't combat poverty and vice versa. Moreover, the two areas complement each other: many ecological projects have significant positive social effects if well executed, creating jobs, improving health (cleaner environment), etc.

To be more concrete: we are also working on implementing a rainforest exchange which will list small projects from Brazil to Indonesia. Examples will range from sustainable forestry up to organisations like Poema who turn coconut fibre into all sort of products for automotive industry, gardening, and so on. 20% of all CO2 emissions base on the destruction of rainforest. Strengthening local structures there to make a sustainable living _with_ nature possible will have a major impact - the money going to those organisations will probably mainly come from European investors, who have a faible for rainforests and/or South-East-Asia.

Gerard Dacudao says: I REALLY HOPE YOU WIN!... Brilliant idea!! Do you have a plan as to how non-profit companies can get listed on your exchange? What are the listing rules? I am from the Philippines originally and now live in Spain. I want to help by connecting you with local contacts who may be interested in being listed.

Ragnar Wetterblad says: Please keep me informed on progress.. Sounds like a great idea that really could make a difference for a lot of good initiatives!