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Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by jksflkjl3jk3 on Monday March 10, 2025 @07:40AM (#43319431)
Do they disclose what percentage of their revenue is donated?

If it's just a token amount, then I'd rather not support a marketing gimmick and would prefer to just donate directly to an organization focused on trees. If it's a significant amount, then it seems unlikely that they'll be able to compete with for-profit alternatives that can focus on developing the best product.

Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by MrToadMan on Monday March 10, 2025 @07:48AM (#43319499)
You can explore the amount paid out to projects by month, region and partner projects in those regions here: https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-financial-reports-tree-planti...
Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by scarfaceneo on Monday March 10, 2025 @08:59AM (#43320119)
You can donate to an organisation and use their search engine.
Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by cdblades on Monday March 10, 2025 @09:15AM (#43320254)
But are you donating to an organization to plant trees?

What has the lower barrier of entry: making a point to donate your money, or switching your default search engine?

Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by lxgr on Monday March 10, 2025 @10:10AM (#43320841)
Definitely switching default search engines.
Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by notTooFarGone on Monday March 10, 2025 @09:47AM (#43320568)
So by your definition it should not exist, but it does and they donate non negligible amounts.

So where is your fault?

Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by mrweasel on Monday March 10, 2025 @12:33PM (#43322292)
I really struggle to understand your confusion. How do you think normal companies work?

Ecosia is profitable, they take some percentage of that profit and use to plant trees. In a "normal" company that money goes straight into the pockets of the company owners. Profit is measured after investments into R&D, salary, marketing everything that come with running a business.

Sure they could "just" spend more on developing their product, but from what I can see they don't really need to, it's already a good product. So rather than stuffing the pockets of an owner or shareholders, they donate that profit, or parts of it, to organisations that plants trees. Most people wouldn't donate to a tree planting organisation, but they will switch their search engine, if it's good enough and even if that plant only 100 trees, that's better than no trees.

I worked for a company that spends it's profit on helping sick children. The owners make enough money. They donate over €1.000.000 per year to a foundation, rather than putting that money into the pocket of the owners. The customers might not even know that they support that foundation, but that also doesn't matter as long as they get the products they want and the price they want. Your suggestion is that the owners should pocket that cash, and I should go donate to that foundation directly?

Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by jefftk on Monday March 10, 2025 @01:28PM (#43322892)
> In a "normal" company that money goes straight into the pockets of the company owners.

Only if the company returns money to its shareholders (ex: pays a dividend or does a stock buyback). Many growth-focused companies don't do this -- Amazon didn't do it for its first 22y, Google for its first 17, Netflix for 24, etc.

Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by mrweasel on Monday March 10, 2025 @01:53PM (#43323304)
Ecosia isn't an stock based company (AG), it's a GmbH.
Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by SahAssar on Monday March 10, 2025 @03:40PM (#43325026)
A gmbh is basically equivalent to a LLC (US) or a Ltd (UK) from my understanding. A gmbh can still be stock based.
Re:Trees not profits: we're giving up our right to ever sell... by culi on Monday March 10, 2025 @11:24PM (#43328875)
Yup, their financial reports are completely public and transparent. As a non-profit you could also access that data through other means

https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-financial-reports-tree-planti...