We enable everyone to protect units of nature. We distribute uon for €1.20* per uon. Our business model is designed in such a way that 100% of all revenue and profit is used for our purpose.
Of your contribution, at least 83% goes directly to the nature protection organizations. For every uon sold through EarthToday, the organizations commit to bringing a new unit od nature under protection, on a 1-for-1 basis. So, they use the money to sustainably protect a m² AND bring a new m² under protection.
The rest is used to accelerate nature protection indirectly, by contributing to the operating costs of EarthToday, and to pay taxes.
However, that’s not enough to build and roll out our digital media platform EarthToday.com globally. That’s why we need startup funding from investors. And when we finally reach a point where we do make a profit, we have zero-dividend and reinvestment policy. This means that all future profit is reinvested in the purpose, and nothing of the €1.20 ever ends up with investors.
* The €1.20 consists of €0.20 for a uon, including any applicable taxes, and a €1.00 donation to designated charities on top.
You can view the charities here:
UON members
The members of the EarthToday community deliberately choose to protect nature by collecting uon, including the donation to the group of UON members with every uon they purchase.
The distribution key for dividing the designated donations among the UON members in the group is based on their ‘individual continuous days in program’ relative to their ‘collective continuous days in program’ with the UON, to incentivize early adoption. The UON member in its beneficiary-role can use a donation to them at their own discretion.
It’s our intention that every single member of EarthToday will eventually become ‘co-owner’ of the company. The first 100 million members that collect uon on EarthToday will get a free stake in the company, as a gift from us. When we reach 100 million members you’ll be invited to claim your stake. There are 9 billion stakes, one for every person on the planet. Everyone has the right to only one stake. We’re all stakeholders in Earth today.
Developing, building and rolling out our digital platform globally requires serious funds. €0.20 out of every €1.20 is not sufficient to attract the right talent, actively market our product, pay tax, and take risks and time to achieve our goal. Not for a while.
Capital is provided by a growing group of funders who will collectively invest over €160 million to make EarthToday self-sustainable in 9 rounds of 10 funding tickets each, with predefined prices. At the end of 2022, just under €6.8 million has been invested in EarthToday, and we are now in round 5.
The first 100 million members get a free stake in the company. After that, new members will need to buy a stake for €3.60 from an existing stakeholder to open an account.
Stakeholder policy:
Return on investment is created after the first 100 million members, when new members will need to buy a stake for €3.60 to open an account. From this money, ⅓ is used to reward initial stakeholders.
The funding model is completely separate from the business model where everyone protects nature for €1.20 per unit of nature. Nothing out of the €1.20 for nature protection can ever end up with investors: we have a zero-dividend and reinvestment policy.
A stake is a depositary receipt of share in the holding company EarthToday.Media BV with financial rights, but no voting or meeting rights.
We refer to a holder of a stake as a stakeholder. Think of them as a non-voting shareholder and co-owner of the company EarthToday. Both individuals and organizations can be stakeholders.
People that feel a connection with our purpose and have the financial means can fund its manifestation by investing in EarthToday by buying 1 funder ticket in 9 rounds of 10 tickets each, together forming ‘Nature’s Ninety’. The price of these tickets are predefined. This is the heart of our funding model.
Angels are people who also want to financially support EarthToday. They fund EarthToday on the same terms as Funders, but with a smaller investments of €102,400.
When EarthToday has been rolled out globally and has reached a size of at least 100 million members, a change will occur. It will no longer be free for new members to join. Instead they will be asked to buy a stake in the company for €3.60. A one-off payment for access to a global community on an ad-free global media platform to protect the planet, and read up on what’s happening on Earth today.
New users buy stakes from existing stakeholders - the founders, investors, and initial members. In this process, at least ⅔ of the proceeds will go to the purpose and at most ⅓ will be the return on investment for the initial stakeholders. As new members continue to join over the years, returns to initial stakeholders are paid out in proportion to their investment. A hypothetical full return on investment will only be reached when 9 billion people have joined the community. And this will mean a huge positive impact has been made by this community.
When EarthToday has been rolled out globally and has reached a size of at least 100 million members, we’ll change the game. We call this the ‘swap’ and we’re still very far away from this. Before the swap, early adopters that protect nature on EarthToday for €1.20 per uon receive a free stake in the company, as a gift from us. After the swap, each new member that joins EarthToday will have to buy a stake for €3.60 from initial stakeholders to open an account, and will get a uon as a gift from us.
Returns will be paid out to all stakeholders - investors, founders and initial members - in proportion to their investment. The hypothetical maximum return for the investors and founders is €36 million, and is only reached when 9 billion people have joined the community. This would equal 30x the size of X, 10x TikTok, or 3x Facebook. Not all of these people exist yet today.
A first return on investment will occur after EarthToday has been rolled out globally and has reached a size of at least 100 million members. Returns are then paid out as growth continues, over the course of decades. Until then, the entrepreneurs and investors funding EarthToday bear the full risk of developing, building and rolling out EarthToday globally.
As a for-purpose tech company with a global ambition, we need to be able to attract the right talent to roll out internationally and create impact at scale. We intend to develop a Remuneration Framework that is fitting for a for-purpose company and transparent with regard to the financial remuneration for different categories and levels of professional contributors. Our Remuneration Framework is still in development and therefore, at this moment in time, we cannot limit ourselves to the Dutch 'Top Income Standards Act' (NL: Wet normering topinkomens WNT) that applies in the Netherlands. In the meantime, we do apply the following limitations on financial remuneration:
'Everyone is a stakeholder of Earth today' and as such, everyone is invited to join EarthToday. Every member of our community owns a stake in EarthToday, making EarthToday community-owned from day one. This way we share responsibility and ownership: we are in it together. Within our community, we distinguish the following stakeholders groups:
On #Report you can find the most recent information on our community, impact and financials, per quarter. Find our blue #Report scorecards halfway down the page.
In addition, here are our Articles of Association and Annual financial reports.
Founding Documents
Annual Reports
Indeed, one could think that if e.g. 50,000 m² was protected in a quarter, also €50,000 went to nature protection in that quarter. €1.00 out of every €1.20 that comes in... Right?
Well, yes and no.
To meet different market needs for consumers and organizations, our business model is a bit more sophisticated than meets the eye. As a result, the m² protected and the € directed to nature protection are 'unbundled' in time.
This 'unbundling' is clearly visible in our quarterly reports on impact (m²) and financials (€). We see both scenarios: m² protected with less € to purpose (e.g. 21Q4 or 22Q1), but also m² protected with more € to purpose (.e.g 22Q2 or 22Q3).
Our business model differentiates between 'retail' sales to consumers and small businesses that pay directly online, and bulk 'wholesale' to large organizations that pay by invoice, afterwards. Consequently, we receive retail revenue in the same quarter, while we receive wholesale revenue with a delay in later quarters.
The delay is unpredictable, and can be quite substantial. We have examples where an organization bought uon in 2020 or 2021, and paid in 2022 after their campaigns. And for transparency reasons, we only direct funds to nature organizations after we've received them.
Yet rest assured, on average at least 83% goes directly to nature protection on an annual basis. As promised.