Social Impact Model

Certified B Corporations are leading a global movement to redefine success in business. By voluntarily meeting higher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance, Certified B Corps are distinguishing themselves in a cluttered marketplace by offering a positive vision of a better way to do business. Certified B Corps are competing to be not just ‘The Best in the World’, but ‘The Best for the World’.

At THE SKATEROOM, we believe the human conscience is evolving to a point where concepts such as engaged consumption and responsible product manufacturing will soon become a norm. Our philosophy has been the same since day one, which is why becoming a certified B Corporation was not a question, but the logical next step in our evolution.

The sourcing of our boards is something we take very seriously. We work exclusively with Grade A Maple from certified sustainable forests in Canada.

Being well aware that the act of funding in the aid and development sector can not be sustainable, or could even have unintended negative consequences, we are especially careful to support sustainable projects generating positive impact, with the potential to reach systemic change.

For this, we implemented eligibility requirements for selection and keep track of the maintenance and sustainability of the projects supported. We do this by requesting activity reports every trimester as well as impact measurement reports, doing on-site visits, organizing regular calls and keeping close contact with the project leaders.

 

Through our sales, we mainly finance social projects that use skateboarding as a tool to empower disadvantaged kids and youth anywhere in the world. Some artists have personal attachments to a specific project and therefore prefer that our collaboration supports their chosen cause, not necessarily related to skateboarding.

Historically, our biggest NGO partner is the award-winning social project, Skateistan.

 

Through our sales, we mainly finance social projects that use skateboarding as a tool to empower disadvantaged kids and youth anywhere in the world. Some artists have personal attachments to a specific project and therefore prefer that our collaboration supports their chosen cause, not necessarily related to skateboarding.

Since the start of our project in 2014, we have proudly funded more than $1,00,000 in support of various social projects empowering youth and children around the world. We make a commitment to the social projects we fund: at least 10% of our revenue goes directly to them. Working with our partners, we help empower at-risk youth, build new skateparks and develop education facilities & resource programs.

Our Social Impact is at the core of who we are and what we stand for. We make a commitment to the social projects we fund: at least 10% of our revenue goes directly to them. Working with our partners, we help empower at-risk youth, build new skateparks and develop education facilities & resource programs.The final funds given to support these projects thus depend on various factors among which are the edition size, the price, the retailer’s margin, the royalties paid to the artists and foundations.

Although we could be considered a social business as per our track record, since 100% of our profits were invested to support NGOs, the philosophy of the company is to behave as a leading example of the social enterprise category.

 

With a growing environmental, humanitarian, and economical crisis, we believe for-profit companies share a moral obligation to address these challenges as a united front. Achieving systemic change is possible by using their power as a force for good and through collaboration across different sectors. As a social enterprise, we are creating new relationships by engaging different stakeholders with complementary competencies: artists, art-buyers, and social projects empowering disadvantaged children.

 

This is how we use art for social impact.

 

Our motivation is to show that a company can do things differently: supporting communities, minimizing its environmental impact while being profitable in order to inspire other traditional businesses to follow the same path. This choice is driven by our inner conviction that a greater impact could be achieved by persuading the traditional organizations to adopt a more socially driven business model, rather than concretizing the existing but limited opportunities of social business in the economy. Our final aspiration is to create a suction effect that would lead to deep economic change and consciously engaged consumption.

As defined by the UK department of Energy and Climate Change, “carbon neutral” means that – through a transparent process of calculating emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero.

Since 2016, THE SKATEROOM is CO2-Neutral certified through an external audit conducted by CO2 Logic.

To offet our carbon emissions we’ve decided to support the SAVINGS TREES PROJECT in Uganda so that 300+ families receive an efficient woodstove.

Each stove helps reduce wood and charcoal consumption by up 40% compared to other cooking methods and can save US $75 per year per family.

Each woodstove contributes to reducing 1.4tonnes of CO2 per year – the equivalent of a return journey for one person from Brussels to Washington D.C.

The woodstoves also create a reduction in the emission of harmful pollutants that frequently cause respiratory illnesses such as Pneumonia for children and women in Africa. UNICEF estimates that 2 million children died by pneumonia every year. Pneumonia is the single largest cause of child death and reducing indoor air pollution is one of the key prevention measures.

These woodstoves will also help reduce local air pollution and thus reduce the impact of smoke on African children whilst allowing for THE SKATEROOM “CO2 Neutrality”.