Project Selection Criteria

We carefully evaluate potential partnerships to ensure alignment with our values and mission. This helps us create meaningful relationships where we can truly invest in mutual success.

Projects We Don’t Support ⛔

We decline projects that are:

• Harmful to individuals or communities: Including projects that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or which negatively impact individual and collective freedom
• Focused on conflict: Projects directly promoting arms, ammunition, or military conflict
• Predatory in nature: Including exploitative financial services, manipulative marketing practices, or other services designed to take advantage of vulnerable populations
• Environmentally destructive: Projects primarily focused on fossil fuel extraction, deforestation, or other activities with significant negative environmental impact
• Harmful to health: Including tobacco products or unhealthy products specifically marketed to children
• Exploitative labor practices: Organizations that undermine worker rights, use precarious labor, or engage in union-busting activities
• Surveillance and control: Systems designed primarily for monitoring, tracking, or controlling individuals without meaningful consent
• Ethically compromised: Projects for organizations with a proven record of lobbying against positive change or with documented environmental, worker’s rights, or human rights abuses

Projects We Actively Seek 🤝

We especially enjoy partnering on projects that:

• Build community: Digital platforms that connect people and foster collaboration
• Support social justice: Projects working toward equity, representation, and fairness
• Address environmental challenges: Initiatives focused on sustainability, conservation, and climate action
• Strengthen worker and union rights: Tools that empower workers and improve workplace conditions
• Support cooperative economic models: Projects for worker cooperatives, collectives, and democratically-run organizations
• Empower underrepresented groups: Projects supporting women, minorities, and excluded communities
• Enhance education and access to knowledge: Platforms that democratize learning and information
• Promote health and wellbeing: Digital solutions that improve physical and mental health outcomes
• Support small, local businesses: Projects that strengthen local economies and communities
• Create digital commons: Initiatives that build shared resources and infrastructure for collective benefit

Our Evaluation Process

When evaluating potential partnerships, we follow a structured approach:

Collective Assessment

All new inquiries are reviewed collectively against our ethical criteria by our team. This process ensures multiple perspectives are considered.

Discovery Conversation

For projects that pass initial screening, we conduct a discovery conversation to better understand the client’s mission, values, and goals.

Transparent Decision-Making

For projects where there may be ambiguity, our team discusses the potential partnership to determine alignment with our values and mission, with all team members having equal voice in the decision.

Mutual Clarity

We communicate our decision openly and honestly, providing context for our choice and ensuring mutual understanding of expectations and boundaries.

Beyond Binary Selection

We recognize that most organizations exist in complex economic realities, often with a mix of practices. Rather than simply accepting or rejecting potential partners, we:

• Engage in dialogue about how specific practices might evolve
• Identify specific aspects of a business that we can support while avoiding others
• Create pathways for organizations moving toward more aligned practices
• Set clear boundaries about what aspects of a business we won’t support

Continuous Improvement

We recognize that ethical considerations evolve over time. We commit to:

• Regularly reviewing and refining our ethical policy through collective deliberation
• Listening to feedback from team members, partners, and community
• Being transparent about our decisions and learning from challenging cases
• Striving to better align our work with our values
• Documenting and sharing our ethical frameworks as open resources

Building Better Together

Our ethical policy is designed to help us create the most positive impact possible through our work. By being clear about our values and boundaries, we can build stronger partnerships based on shared purpose.

If you’re interested in working with us and have questions about our ethical policy or how it might apply to your project, we’re always happy to have that conversation.