Clicktivism…Episode 51…Jacey Bingler and Ecosia
Clicktivism…Ecosia’s is a search engine like Google, Yahoo, and Bing that helps the user find what they are looking for. The difference is that Ecosia uses most of the revenue they generate into planting trees.
So Ecosia’s search results are powered by Bing and Ecosia’s own search algorithms. Ecosia is a search engine that advertises next to their search results and are paid by Bing (their partner) for every click on a sponsored link for directing users to their advertisers. The payment from the advertisements varies depending on competition for the keyword and value of what is being advertised.
Ecosia states on average a search raises around half a Euro cent (0.005 EUR). And it takes 45 searches on average to fund the planting of a single tree. In additiona, Ecosia also assures there are algorithms designed to detect fake and random advertisement clicks made by users which invalidate them. The total number of trees being planted by Ecosia is visible below the search area.
Ecosia also raises funds through its second product EcoLinks, a Browser Extension that allows users to donate to Ecosia via their online purchases. Operators of online stores pay a commission to Ecosia (usually a rate between 2 to 10%) when a user lands on their shop via clicking on an EcoLink and purchases any service or product.
Ecosia supports country-based country filtering but not the displaying of worldwide information as of July 2016.
The Ecosia Story
In September 2009, Ecosia received $21,500 in seed capital, and the search engine launched on December 7, 2009, to coincide with UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Ecosia has donated to different tree-planting programs. Until December 2010 Ecosia’s donations went to a program by the World Wide Fund for Nature, Germany that protected the Juruena National Park in the Amazon basin. To ensure the protection was maintained, Ecosia drew up and financed plans with the local communities and timber companies.
From December 2009 to August 2013, Ecosia donated to the Plant a Billion Trees program run by the Nature Conservancy. This program aims to restore the Brazilian Atlantic Forest by planting one billion native trees by 2015. By 2011, Ecosia had raised over €250,000. By 2013, about 200,000 people were using Ecosia, and 116,000 seedlings had been funded by Ecosia’s donations.
Spring 2013
So in spring 2013, Ecosia announced an improvement of its donation model in addition to the quality of the search results. However, due to technical difficulties, the company temporarily had to use a feed subject to charges. And during this period, an Ecolink partner had to suddenly terminated their partnership. As a result Ecosia made an agreement with WWF whereby the donations from November 2012 until February 2013 were restricted to 20,000 Euros per month. Once this financial bottleneck had been overcome, the normal donation model was immediately restored.
When Ecosia relaunch their search engine December 14, 2013 and switched to a new reforestation program by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). This signified a change since the company was no longer protecting forested areas but financing a reforestation program. In 2015, Ecosia started funding reforestation in Burkina Faso as part of the Great Green Wall project, which is backed by the African Union and the World Bank.
So according to B-labs, as of January 2015, “In donating 80 percent of its ad revenue, the search engine has raised over $1.5 million for rain forest protection since its founding in December 2009.” And according to Ecosia, by 2015, the search engine had almost 2.5 million active users, and searches through it had resulted in more than 2 million trees being planted.
As of April 27, 2016, Ecosia ranks in the top 2 start-up for Germany in the StartupRanking. As of today, Ecosia has planted over 26 million trees.
(The following was reprinted from Jacey Bingler’s Linkedin Profile)
Jacey Bingler
If made accessible to a global community, Tech for good can actually work and have a huge impact on the most pressing issues of our time. I believe in the power of social business and hope to see more companies start measuring their success in social and environmental progress rather than profits.
So thanks to its fast growing user base, Ecosia will be able finance the planting of 30 million trees by the end of this year and is on track for 1 billion trees by 2020. And I’m proud to be part of this exciting journey and eager to help prove that clicktivism is a powerful, highly scalable tool.
Should you have any ideas on how to use business to support a greater cause, would like to write about Ecosia or discuss a potential partnership, I’m looking forward to hearing from you (in English, German, or French).
Ecosia
Head Of Communications
Jun 2015 – Present
Berlin Area, Germany
Working at Ecosia allows me to support a cause I am passionate about by doing something I love: reaching out to people to find ways to cooperate. Most Importantly, Ecosia is a search engine that donates 80% of its profits from ad revenue to tree planting. So this allows users to contribute to the environment without having to spend a penny, simply by searching the web. And should you have any questions or ideas concerning this amazing tool that capitalises on a daily habit to empower users to do good, go ahead and drop me a line!
Hamburg.de
Content Manager
May 2012 – May 2015
Hamburg und Umgebung, Germany
So my time at hamburg.de taught me a lot about digital media. Using content management systems and traffic analysis tools is part of my everyday work, as well as writing articles, social media posts, and press texts, planning and implementing ad campaigns and e-commerce cooperations, programming, monitoring social media accounts and training interns.
Role/Skills: Content Management (CoreMedia, Drupal, IASON), research, writing and press work, traffic analysis (Google Analytics, comScore), Community Management (Facebook, Twitter, google+), SEO, programming (HTML), translating, training and coordinating students, freelancers and interns
Edel Germany GmbH
Label Manager, Product Manager (Intern)
Apr 2011 – Nov 2011
Hamburg Area, Germany
Role/Skills: Product Management, Label Management (SAP, Excel), Web Design (Typo3, WordPress), Press Work, Community Management, Sales, organising showcases and concerts
Skills: Product Management, Label Management, SAP, Typo3, Promotions/Marketing
Reise Know How-Verlag
Editorial Assistant
Nov 2007 – Feb 2008
Bielefeld Area, Germany
Role/Skills: Editorial Office (QuarkXpress), Costumer Support, Press Office, mapping, proofreading, Mapping, Press Work, Customer Service, PhotoShop
Education
Hochschule Ansbach
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Cultural Journalism
–
University of Applied Sciences Ansbach
Bachelor’s degree
Cultural Journalism
Grade1,8
–
Volunteer Experience
Peer Mediator
Platen-Gymnasium Ansbach
During high school I was educated to be a “Peer Mediator”, which meant conciliating between fighting students who – instead of having to talk to a teacher – could first try to find a solution with the help of someone their age. So I visited different courses to improve my communication and mentoring skills.
Leavenworth Animal Welfare Society
So for the past two years I have been spending my spring vacation in Leavenworth, Kansas, supporting my aunt’s voluntary work at the local animal control. Consequently, if there’s anything that makes a great change to sitting behind a desk all day, it’s walking dogs, cleaning kennels, bathing abandoned kittens, organizing transport to foster homes and vets and most of all: inform people about the need to have their pets fixed.
5 Ecosia Links
First of all…Ecosia – Wikipedia
Another…Ecosia (@Ecosia) · Twitter
In addition…Home -Ecosia – | Facebook
Also…Ecosia – YouTube
Finally…Ecosia | LinkedIn
5 Ecosia News Links
First of all…Ecosia: the tree planting Google alternative
In addition…New search engine planting trees in underdeveloped countries
Another…A Search Engine Is Trying to Save the Planet and It’s Not Google: An …
Also…Search engines putting ad revenue to good use
Finally…Ecosia, the tree planting Google alternative urges Australians to make …
7 Clicktivism Links
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‘Save pregnant beavers’ and ‘Ban Trump from Leeds’… inside the …
The Limits of “Clicktivism”
Does ‘clicktivism‘ do any good?
Clicktivism is ruining leftist activism
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