What is a good reputation worth to you? In a professional context, a lot seems like a good answer. CharityBuzz illustrates the power of a good reputation selling platform. In return for some valuable company names on a CV, people participate in auctions for jobs. They pay to work. Companies that have a few spots available for interns, can put their positions on the Charity buzz auction platform. And with success! It seems that interns pay thousands of dollars. The winner will work for ‘free’ in return for a kick-start of his or her career. The companies that participate don’t receive the money themselves. The collected money will be donated to charity. 
Charity for buzz is not the first platform that sells reputation, but it is remarkable due to the high prices that get payed for it. In the end this action is not different from buying virtual gold with real dollars to get a better equipped avatar in an online game. It’s all about earning respect from your peers. Although the context (gaming vs professional) differs, the transactions stays the same. More and more variations on this concept arise. Therefore we can conclude that the business of reputation and respect selling will probably flourish in the coming years. Something to keep an eye on!
Reputation auction: Pay to work
Freeset, an eco and people-friendly business model
The busy holiday period is a good time to highlight one of the many charity based business models. The revenue model that is being used by these organizations is often not that complex. Many of them simply ask for a donation while others will give a commodity in return. A pencil, a plant, a newspaper and so on. But asking thousands of families for donations is labor intensive so when you’re trying to do something valuable, a B2B charity business model might be a better option. Freeset is such a company. They realize they are not in the product business, but in the reputation business. So when you’re selling the value ‘doing good’ the focus of your branding will not be the functionality of the product. Freeset sells Jute bags so they won’t last forever. But even this lack of quality is being used as positive feature. Using Jute makes Freeset bags biodegradable so that makes them (more) eco-friendly. Not only the product is focused on ‘doing good’. The business model of Freeset is build on top of a revenue model where the profits are being used to fight sex trafficking. Thereby the fair-trade business of Freeset is being perceived as People-friendly as well. So when clients are buying these event bags, they are ‘doing good’ and receive a platform (the bags) to show this to the world. Events itself are generally build to give companies opportunities to get exposure. And sadly it is exposure what you need when you are selling charity to businesses. Doing good, without anybody noticing, is economically not interesting.
Large companies that are trying to be eco-friendly, people-friendly and thereby claiming to do good are having a hard time online. When done right a profitable revenue model can be the result. Freeset is therefor a good example. But brands that are using charity or good causes as a marketing gimmick will be publicly crucified. See how even Apple is trying to coop with bad publicity on their green efforts. They make attractive products but being green is currently not their focus. Consumers have more power than ever. This forces companies like Apple to be more transparent on their efforts. But when you’re active in the ‘charity business’ you better do this over the top like Freeset. Eco-friendly, Fair-trade, People-friendly and so on. Do it and show it to your clients.
Manna Energy, a green for-profit business model
Delivering clean water to rural zones is something you typically associate with non-profit organisations. But Manna Energy shows that a for-profit organisation can bring even more value for all the stakeholders involved. Instead of delivering subsidised pumps and water treatment systems, Manna Energy sees its mission as a clean water service. Therefore they need to [...]
Charity upgrading in Telecom… Ello Mobile, TOMMY Telecom, Call4Care
Ello Mobile gives 100% of its profits to charity. A “profit for non-profit” business model. The Belgian mobile operator is purely web-based and aims to attract 1% of the Belgian market by 2014, thereby gathering minimum 6.2M euro per annum for charity. Projects are selected by an independant jury, and support initiatives in Sumatra’s rainforest [...]
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