Donations to Charities and Non-Profit Organizations

At EthicalHost we believe in the importance of corporate social and environmental responsibility. One of the key ways we try to be a good corporate citizen is by donating 10% of our pre-tax profit back to the community.

We recognize there are so many important areas that warrant donations but we have chosen to focus on the following three areas which we care about deeply: 1) Economic/Social Justice in Canada, 2) Environment and Biodiversity, 3) World Poverty and Human Rights. We have limited it to three areas of focus to ensure that our 10% donation does not get divided too thinly. We compiled a list of three organizations per category based on our own knowledge of the important work they do and from the suggestions of our clients.

Please see below for more information about our selection process for corporate donations and recent changes we incorporated.  Corporate transparency is important to us at EthicalHost.

In addition to donating 10% of pre-tax profits, we further our commitment to corporate social and environmental responsibility by telecommuting, using public transit, supporting local and cooperative businesses, minimizing paper use and using 100% post-consumer products wherever possible.  We also offset our company’s energy usage with carbon offsets as well as purchasing green power direct from bullfrog power for our office..

2009 Voting Results are in! View the full results here. The recipients and choices for this years survey are listed below. We had a much better turnout this year getting over double of last year with 44% of people voting. I would still like to improve on this next year.

Economic/Social Justice in Canada

The GateHouse has received our donation for the 2009 tax year.

Food Banks Canada: http://foodbankscanada.ca
Food Banks Canada’s mission is to reduce hunger in Canada by enabling an effective food bank community that addresses the short term need for food and longer term solutions. We do this by collecting and sharing large donations of food to our Members and Affiliate Member food banks.

The GateHouse: www.thegatehouse.org
The GateHouse addresses the needs of children and their families, youth and adults whose lives have been affected by childhood abuse. A safe and comfortable environment like The Gatehouse gives people a comforting place where they can feel supported. We provide both a safe place for children to disclose abuse to police and child welfare personnel as well as support services for adults whose lives have been affected by childhood abuse.

Environment and Biodiversity

CPAWS has received our donation for the 2009 tax year.

Earthroots: www.earthroots.org
Earthroots is a strong advocate for wilderness preservation in Ontario, combining aggressive grassroots campaign strategies with excellent research and educational programs. Since 1986, Earthroots has used its grassroots expertise to organize, educate and mobilize the public, conduct successful media events, carry out wilderness research projects and ensure proper forest management planning.

FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program): www.flap.org
FLAP works to safeguard migratory birds in the urban environment through education, research, rescue and rehabilitation.  As stated on their website, collisions with human-built structures is steadily becoming the leading cause of bird mortality across North America.

CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society): www.cpaws.org
CPAWS envisages a healthy ecosphere where people experience and respect natural ecosystems. We will achieve this by:

• protecting Canada's wild ecosystems in parks, wilderness and similar natural areas, preserving the full diversity of habitats and their species;
• promoting awareness and understanding of ecological principles and the inherent values of wilderness through education, appreciation and experience;
• encouraging individual action to accomplish these goals;
• working co-operatively with government, First Nations, business, other organizations and individuals in a consensus-seeking manner, wherever possible.

World Poverty and Human Rights

Room to Read has received our donation for the 2009 tax year.

Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/
Amnesty International helps stop human rights abuses by mobilizing its members and supporters to put pressure on governments, armed groups, companies and intergovernmental bodies.

Child Haven International: http://www.childhaven.ca/
Amnesty International helps stop human rights abuses by mobilizing its members and supporters to put pressure on governments, armed groups, companies and intergovernmental bodies.

Room to Read: http://www.roomtoread.org
Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond.

(due to oxfam not honouring our request to not receive paper mailings, we have replaced them this year with another organization)

See Past Years Results here

Selection Process

Organizations that are chosen for each donation category are taken primarily from suggestions sent to us by our Customers. When more than one customer recommends the same organization, more weight is given to that suggestion. We then compile a list of those organizations, try and fit them into one of our categories as best as we can, and then we do a little research to try and choose ones with the lowest administrative overhead to put on the list for voting.

Each year the winning organization is removed from the list and replaced with a new one for the following years vote.

We welcome suggestions for charities/non-profits that can be added in upcoming years but ask that they meet the following criteria:
--Have a charitable registration number.
--Have a website where they outline their mandate.
--Fit into one of our three categories: Economic/Social Justice in Canada, Environment and Biodiversity, World Poverty & Human Rights.

We will monitor and evaluate our corporate donation selection process, and welcome any suggestions you may have for improvement. We will continue to be transparent about the process and any changes we incorporate.

Recent Change in Selection Process

When EthicalHost was founded we had hoped to let our clients designate organizations of their choice for our corporate donations, and our longer term clients may remember reading this. Unfortunately we ran into difficulties with this method. We believe in the importance of corporate transparency and want to explain the reasons for our change in the donation process. In 2007 we compiled a list of our clients' favourite organizations -- the list was extensive and quite varied in focus.  We were concerned that the bulk of our donation would get used up in the administrative costs of the charities if we sent a small amount to each.  We are trying a new process because Ethical Web Services wants to ensure that the maximum donation possible gets to the front-line.  Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions about this change.