Problem:

At the beginning of our project, we have asked ourselves what we could do to stop the destruction of the environment and preserve the rich biodiversity of the planet. This is a one of the biggest challenges we face today as a society. Indeed, each day, the Earth becomes less and less pleasant to live in , as we are polluting and destroying its self-repairing abilities. Tackling environmental change is a wide question, that’s why we focused our attention on the way we could change citizens’ behaviours. We have chosen this specific target as we know that most people are aware of the problems that climate change entails but do not know how to try to make a difference on an individual level. Behaviours are hard to change, but if they do change, then there necessarily must be enough momentum to significantly change the way in which economy and industry work. After a lot of research, we have come to three conclusions. First of all, people are not well informed about what they can do to save the planet and do not know how to make the earth, their city, or even their neighborhood a place of well-being. Secondly, even if they are aware of environmental issues (for example, ⅔ of French citizens think ecology is important, according to an IFOP survey of 2016), they are not really involved in any initiatives, because they think they don’t have time or money to do so, or they are not even aware of the initiatives that take place around them. Finally, they don’t get involved because they don’t feel responsible for environmental issues, and think that their individual actions won’t make any difference. Ecological issues often seem very far from their day-to-day concerns. According to the French Government, only 19% of the population think the individuals can act. Based on those observations, our core goal is divided into three main objectives : EMPOWERING CITIZENS, APPROPRIATELY INFORMING them and MAKING THEM INVOLVED LOCALLY.

Thus, our project aims to answer the following question: How to inform and mobilize citizens about the local, ecological and social initiatives, knowing that citizens often want to be involved occasionally?

The challenges are hard pressed because if we don’t change our behaviour properly and promptly, the next generation won’t have a planet to live on. Indeed, by 2100, the water level will rise up about 10 centimeters because of global warming which will put 10 billion people at risk. Furthermore, it could help create a strong network of solidarity and create an accessible place for people who want to help others and do not know how to do it, while contributing to erase social differences.

To achieve these goals, we must have in mind that users need the adequate tools to use: they should be accessible anywhere and at anytime. It shouldn’t cost a lot of money , so it could be available to as many people as possible.

Our main constraints are mostly related to the users. We need to make sure that this project is sustainable, as we would like to implement it in a lot of different places, given the fact that ecological and social issues are a global problem.

Proposed concept:

To solve the problem of lack of participation on a local level, we envisioned AcTogether©. AcTogether© is an online platform which aggregates missions from socially to environmentally-aware organisations within an area. It enables citizens to participate in two ways:

Users of the platform can engage in a particular project (i.e. they give a few hours of their time in exchange of a given number of tokens) Users of the platform can invest in the platform or in a particular project. They receive a given number of tokens, that we have called SEEDS, in exchange.

The SEEDS (Social Ecological with Everyone for Development and Sustainability) are used as a local currency. Therefore, token owners can spend them in partners-shops (shops and boutiques with a sustainable scope and owned by local entrepreneurs) or for public services such as local transportation. The currency thus should price positive externalities and reward benevolent efforts. It acts both as an incentive and as a reward.

Tokens also represent the share of citizens in the project, hence their ability to make influences on future developments. Thus, the token’s value can also be seen as an indicator of the municipality’s progress in social & environmental matters.

Beyond tokens, top performers - users that invest significant amounts of their money and energy for the community - get a specific badge related to their achievements, as a symbolic reward.

Partners-organisations are selected among all corporations, associations and NGOs that act on a local scale for a sustainable future both in the social (health, homelessness inclusion, education, youth, microfinance, intergenerational services) and environmental fields (air & water quality, parks & green areas, light & noise pollution). All organisations subject to a meticulous due-diligence in order to assess their actual impact and wise use of resources. If citizens want to propose an initiative, they are able to do so after the same scrutiny.

Furthermore, to answer our concern about informing citizens on subjects related to eco-citizenship, we would like to offer contents on our platform, such as explanative videos or articles. It would be an extra help for users, in order the fill the lack of knowledge around these issues while being interactive. Moreover, it would help to resolve the issue of information asymmetry, leading to more equality between citizens.

We will first implement AcTogether© in the city of Paris. In recent years, Paris has suffered from serious social & environmental hazards: growing levels of insecurity, seemingly growing levels of drug-violence, floodings and poor air quality. On top of that, Paris stands among the most densely populated cities in Europe. That makes it way less liveable than many european cities. Compared to cities such as Copenhagen, Vienna or Berlin, it misses parks, bike lanes and general sports facilities. Finally Paris has to cope with the recent migration crisis. Therefore, there are lots of issues waiting for solutions in Paris.

However we consider Paris as a good place to start because it is a city filled with resources : wealth, culture and human qualities. Paris is a reservoir of creative people, talents and humanity. People are willing to engage, they just do not have the tools to. Paris is also rich in History. It has been a pioneering place for social experiments and innovations. It is in Paris that Léon Bourgeois - one of our inspirations - first coined the concept of “solidarism” in an attempt to conciliate private initiative with the common good. Although the project might be implemented in many other cities in the future, Paris is a very strategic and symbolic place to start with. Indeed, we know that to have a bigger impact on the overall issue, which is changing people’s behaviours, we need to spread this model to other cities. First of all in other major cities in France, then to european metropolis, and why not to the rest of the world. Of course it is a bit far fetched, but it is an axis of development we shouldn’t ignore.

AcTogether© will benefit the city of Paris. Its solution is original because - unlike similar initiatives - it gives people a voice in the overall project. Furthermore, this peculiar ownership structure makes the project fair. It is indeed democratic and meritocratic by design (even though anti-hegemonic safeguards are necessary). The ownership design guarantees the independence of the project and its resilience. These characteristics ensure the long-term effectiveness of the project. Finally AcTogether© is absolutely feasible because it solves the problem of non-engagement by offering change-makers incentives to act: a decision power and a material reward. Moreover the currency it backs continues to sustain the local economy long after it has been emitted.

If we want to evaluate the impact of our concept on our goal, we can use different levels of measurements. On our app level, we can report figures related directly to our app, in order to check if it has as many users/reach as we have planned. First of all, we would measure the success of our platform, and by extension how many people we have reached, by analyzing the number of connections and views on our website. Then, to adapt our communication and advertising strategy, we could also use the data collected on the app to know how much time people spend on it every week and which are the days when people use the app the most. Finally, to evaluate the success of our currency, the SEEDS, we could use the number of people who have already invested in it and its changes, as well as the number of partnerships we have succeeded to conclude.

If we want to measure then if our actions had any impacts, on the short term, it could be summarize it by using the number of participants to the events we have promoted, and its development through time, plus the number of actions created thanks to our platform. On a long term, to see if habits have evolved, it would be interesting to compare the development of the following data: the rate of recycling (figures from recycling companies) the amount of waste per Parisian, the decrease (or not) of energy consumption (figures from electrical providers), of fuel (figures from fuel sales, number of cars in the city, number of people using public transports/bikes/scooters), as well as the evolution of organic/sustainable products consumption.

Indirectly, we could finally check our impact on public policies, on the local, then national and maybe international level, if we develop our project outside France. We think those information are relevant because politician would have to adapt their policies to their citizens, on what they want and demand, and vote for laws and actions more sustainable for the planet.

On the very long term, we could see the effect of our action by the reduction of the ecological footprint for each places we work on, and an empowerment of the local populations.

Expected Positive Impacts:

AcTogether© is not only aiming to achieve both social and environmental impact, but also is planning to measure it on a base of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Key areas of impact, in terms of SDGs, are:

1. Improving quality of life in the city of Paris (i.e. SDG 11): Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable Target 11.6: Reduce the environmental impacts of cities. SDG INDICATOR 11.6.1 Solid waste management. Goal: By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to municipal and other waste management.

2. Raising awareness on waste and having real effects on reducing waste and increasing recycling rates. (i.e. SDG 12): Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns Target 12.3: Halve global per capita food waste. SDG INDICATOR 12.3.1 Global food loss. Goal By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. Target 12.5: Substantially reduce waste generation. SDG INDICATOR 12.5.1 Recycling rates. Goal: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse.

3. Providing citizens with useful tools to improve their capacity of fighting against climate change on personal level. (i.e. SDG 13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts Target 13.3: Build knowledge and capacity to meet climate change. SDG INDICATOR 13.3.2. Capacity-building for climate change. Goal: By 2030 improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.

While it is quite difficult to measure impact of educational initiatives, AcTogether© will work closely with partner organisations as well as conduct regular surveys with users to be able to track the impact AcTogether© has on them in terms of awareness raising, reduced waste (including food waste); as well as work closely to Paris’s municipality to be able to track and increase impact on the local level.

AcTogether© will measure certain national indicators throughout the time to be able to see if initiatives such as AcTogether© have impact on changing mindsets and behaviours.

Major risks & actions to reduce them:

Risk 1: Insufficient traction. Not enough users interested in the platform

Actions to reduce it: This is most likely a big risk that we are going to face at the beginning of the project. If it is not controlled properly at the start it could be a cause of failure. Insufficient traction of users to the platform could, firstly, be caused by a poor user experience. We need to ensure that the user experience on the website and the mobile application is positive. Any negative incidents that are experienced on our platform could cause users to leave our platform and turn to another similar initiative. It needs to be easy and fast to use. A second reason of possible insufficient traction could be the lack of visibility. Right from the start we need to have an effective communication. This could be the organisation of events, for example a Christmas fair where the participants are the partner organisation. This would promote our visibility thus strengthening our brand image. This would in turn attract new, and reboost the fidelity of our users. We also need to develop a strong social media presence in order to reach an ever increasing number of potential users. This could also be paired with collaborations with influencers on social media. The main aspect in increasing the traction of users is to have a strong communication strategy, supported by a efficient platform.

Risk 2: Insufficient amount of partner organisations

Actions to reduce it: Just as in Risk 1, the main ways to reduce the possible insufficient amount of partner organisations for our project is to ensure that we have an effective communication, and that it is supported by an efficient infrastructure. We need to have platform and mobile application that are easy and fast to use. If any partner organisations would like to join our initiative we need to make it as easy as possible for them. We also need to ensure that the team that recruit the partner organisations is inspiring and extremely motivating, in other words they need to be extremely good salespeople. We need to be able to create attractive incentives in order to draw in more organisations. Our platform could provide them with a already established network of organisations in the local community. This would be very useful for a new organisation. Furthermore, joining our platform is another way for them to obtain free publicity about their association.

Risk 3: SEEDS are not accepted in the community.

Actions to reduce it: The use of a different currency in a community can be a very important change. There can be a problem of comprehension, or even just a lack of awareness. We need to ensure that the communication regarding the SEEDS is extremely clear. We should also aim to have a developed “Q&A” section on our platforms that is easily accessible and understandable to all. In order to make the acceptance of SEEDS take place among the users, we need to ensure that the partner organisations take responsibility in reminding the users how the system works as we are just a platform and do not have daily contact with the platform users. On the side of the partner organisations, we may need to organise “Q&A” sessions with the organisation in order to be able to address any issues they have, and also to be able to hear their feedback and see how we can improve the communication and the implementation of the SEEDS.

Deployment strategy and major milestones:

Before the creation of the platform, we would need somebody that has good relational skills to try to find partners and sponsors for the project and presenting its main objectives. This could be the municipality of Paris, NGO’s that combat climate change and social exclusion (Green Peace, WWF, UNICEF and so on) or big companies that want to show the general public that they do want to contribute to fight these issues (Total, Danone…). Other possibilities for partners could be restaurants/cafes that are inclined environmentally and socially, and want more visibility on online platforms and would accept to take tokens (what tokens are shall be expanded later on) in exchange for advertisement space. A developper would also be needed to create the application and create the token reward system, a map that shows where the different initiatives are taking place, etc.

We would then launch the platform, hoping that the city can allocate some free advertising space or at least give a reduced price, put it on advertising boards at transportation points, where people are most likely to pay attention to them, and also advertise it online. Slogans such as “want to help fight climate change? download AcTogether© and get 2 tokens for free!” or a picture of the consequences of climate change, with a polar bear that’s underfed for example and the phrase “Help this bear get his home back” download AcTogether© now and get 2 free tokens!

Through advertisement but also financial incentives like getting 2 tokens once you download the application, people would encouraged to download the application. Then they would make a personal profile and would add just some basic information (name, sexe, age, interests) that would be available to everybody. Once that first step is completed, they would have access to a wide array of options: they can look at some educational videos about Climate change and the urgent need to act as soon as possible and as effectively as possible. Users can read about the goal that AcTogether© is trying to reach as a social enterprise and how the company wishes to evolve in the future. Communication in between users would be made available to strengthen the sense of community and grades can be given to users by event organizers given the time and amount of projects they participated in.

The first hurdle the project seeks to remove is the lack of information on the possible initiatives that citizens can join and how a few hours (or less) of their time can contribute to make a difference. Using geolocalization, AcTogether© would show the range of initiatives that individuals, partner entreprises or local governing bodies organize. Creating an event would be done on a similar basis as is done on Facebook. A date and time would be set, with the address, the estimated duration of citizen involvement, and the characteristics of the initiative (is it cleaning up a park, or teaching french to migrant children). Users could then choose to search for events with the parameter that suits them (geography, time, type of involvement etc…) What sets AcTogether© apart from social media like Facebook is that people who download the application are probably very conscious of the problems that need to be addressed in today’s society, and this more concerned audience would thus be more inclined to partake in the projects that are organized. The organizer(s) of the event could be contacted by individuals if they require more clarification on the type of involvement that is asked for.

Another particularity is that a point system would be established rewarding individuals that have participated in numerous initiatives by giving them tokens (that would be indexed on the euro) in accordance to the effort they have put in. Tokens will be allocated in accordance to the amount of points earned. 10 points earned gives you a token, which will be indexed to the euro. 1 token=1 euro. The event organizers give grades to the participants, and the platform, in turn distributes tokens when a certain threshold of points is reached: 50 points. You get 10 points for any initiative involvement plus an additional extra 10 points for every hour you spend working on a certain project. If you spend one hour on a project you get 10+10= 20 points. If you spend 2 hours you get 10+10+10= 30 points. Those who choose to make donations to the platform in order to finance the token system and those who dedicate a big amount of time in these initiatives, would get symbolic “achievement” tags on their profile, proving their longstanding commitment to environmental and social issues. Catchy phrases such as “green teen” for younger populations, “protector of our Lands and Seas” or “Legendary environmentalist” to put in some humor could help spur in motivation from the users.

The financial incentive, the social recognition due to the grading system and the fact that the initiatives are something that make society inherently better off plu would definitely raise more awareness and motivate individuals enough to change their behaviors.

Another milestone of the project is the token system. Partner companies and sponsors can strongly help increase the visibility of the AcTogether© but also help with the use of tokens. The city of Paris which currently has an eco friendly mayor could give discounts on navigo passes if certain individuals manage to get a certain level of tokens and participate in a given amount of initiatives. A heatmap of the initiatives that are taking place will be put in place by the developper, to show people the distribution of people in the initiatives

Return on investment analysis

Hypothesis 1: Success

First year costs are high: initial costs such as the development of the application and website are taking a large part. Revenues as it is the first year are low. Ad fundings are only around 4000€ because the application is still very unfamous. Sponsoring fundings also. Private fundings still reach 2000€, most of the private donors are friends and family or people from our neighborhoods. In this hypothesis, we succeeded at negotiating a great subvention program with the Mairie de Paris. Corporate also provided us funds after the project was pitched: a lot of them found it really interesting and decided that invest in our project and put this on their website would be great for their images. We also take commissions from all the exchanges that are made through our local money system. Concerning costs, our “running costs” are mainly composed of others costs such as events planning or website domain and tokens emission. First year our net profit is around -21 000€. We do not have to pay any taxes as we are not making profits. The second year, revenues are increasing. Costs remains almost the same: this can be explain by the fact that initial costs no longer have to be paid. However, as we are making 10k profit more, our deficit is less important. The third year, revenues are increasing faster than our costs, and at the end of the revenues are above 0. Net profit around 960€ As our main goal is not making profit and that we are predicting that our revenues will keep growing, we have decided to invest. We hired one new people, we upgraded our website and we found new offices. All of these new investments are compensated by really good negotiations of new institutional and corporate funds. As the costs we used for communications were very efficient, we are becoming more and more famous and corporate found that support us is a new very interesting way to promote their engagement toward sustainability. With all of these new improvements, net profits are decreasing to reach 480€.

Hypothesis 2: Failure

We assessed our Costs and Revenues model on 4 years with a different scenario. In this scenario, costs always remain higher than revenues. While costs are slightly decreasing over time, revenues are not increasing.

Cumulative net profit is also decreasing very fast.

What can explain this is that in Year 2 our main sponsor decided not to work with us anymore and we’ve lost 3K of revenues from this source. Year 3, as we are not having as much success as it was expected, we are losing our subvention from Mairie de Paris, going from 12K to 0K. We are trying to reduce our costs over the year, but only slightly. Our lack of revenues doesn’t allow us to invest.

So depending on our hypothesis, our return on investment would be positive only from the third year, if our app reach the success we hope. Nevertheless, our company doesn’t necessarily seek for big profits, just enough to invest in our comapny and developp new services for our users and community.

Figures used to create both hypothesis:

Organization

When it comes to our startups organization, we would operate as a SARL. There is no particular manager, and decisions would be made in general assemblies with a required majority. After the first users get on the app, another possible strategy to attract users would be to compensate them by one token for every new user they bring along. Both parties get an additional token to use if one of them downloaded the website based on a friend’s invitation.

Financing: In an era where corporate social responsibility is more important than ever, but so is the presence on social media of big companies, an investment in AcTogether© would not only add room in the CSR part of big companies’ annual reports, but would also increase their visibility and reach amongst many young environmentally friendly individuals. Danone for example, has one day in the year where all of the money earned from products sold are reinvested into biological farming. If the company chooses to partner up with AcTogether©, its community, which is more likely to want to buy products that specific day than other communities would be notified through advertisement, this could also in turn lead to increased consumption of Danone products later on. Danone would in return make financial contributions to finance the token system and the expansion of the platform to have a nationwide, and later on, worldwide reach. Local restaurants and food places can choose to adopt tokens as a second currency (up to 5 euros can be bought with tokens) and in turn, they will get free advertisement, or get the tokens reimbursed directly by AcTogether©. Finally individuals can choose to make financial contributions directly on the application, this would get them some tokens 5 tokens for every 10 euros donated and that could also unlock some possible achievements on their profile.

Partners and possible sponsors: City of Paris, Danone, Total, Starbucks, Bio c’ Bon, Naturalia, UNICEF, WWF, Monoprix, local bio restaurants and food places…