Hi,
super thing that with the purchase of Lemonaid you donate 5 cents to the association, which in turn supports projects of promotion. I have the following questions, to which I couldn't find an answer on your internet pages:
1. according to which criteria are the aid projects selected?
?2. Why don't the 5 cents go into improving the sustainability of Lemonaid itself? Or can't it be fairer anymore? In this context, I suggest making the value chain of Lemonaid more transparent. I can probably also ask this question of the association, since two of the members of the board elected for life are obviously also managing directors of Lemonaid Beverages GmbH.
3. How high is your administrative quota and what remuneration does the Board of Directors receive?
4. Why do you ask for donations but not for members? How many members does the association currently have? Why not öopen up the association and become more democratic?
I would be happy to receive an answer to these questions. Please üconvince me that the association does not primarily pursue its own (tax) interests, which I honestly assume at the moment when board members are appointed for life and the association does not solicit members but only donations. My appeal: Become more democratic and work on transparency and fairness of Lemonaid (Co2-Footprint?) before other projects are supported!
Your Sigi
P.S. Tastes good already, by the way ;)
Fair isn't fair enough for us yet.
Lemonaid & ChariTea e.V. (Lemonaid & ChariTea e.V.) answers:
Hi Sigi,
here the answer to your questions:
1. The employees of Lemonaid GmbH and the association visit the cooperatives of the ingredients of the drinks every year. During these trips, or in dialogue with the farmers, direct contact was established with the projects and the people. There are no fixed criteria yet, but projects refer to the realities and needs of local people and communities. This should enable the work of the association to be directed to the respective needs on site. However, great value is placed on the underlying principles, such as self-determined participation, participation, sustainability, etc.
2. In accordance with the motto: “Fair is not fair enough for us“, the GmbH deliberately pays higher prices for the individual raw materials of the beverages. These directly benefit the cooperatives and the people. On the part of the GmbH, there is a lot of work going on to show the individual value chains and to clarify the effects of fair prices, e.g. how Fair Trade Premium is already used within the cooperatives.
Beyond this, Lemonaid wants to achieve even more and from the very beginning founded a non-profit organization that can independently support further projects. Since its inception, the association's directors have worked voluntarily for the association in order to channel the funds directly into the projects. In 2015, a full-time person with 25 hours/week was hired on the association's side in order to make the project work here responsible and transparent.
3. The directors receive no remuneration. No salaries were paid until 2015 - a part-time position for the association's work has been financed since February 2015. There is no fixed administrative quota so far, since almost all funds flowed directly into the projects until 2015, with the exception of taxes, bookkeeping and accountancy. The 2015 report is not yet finished, if you are interested please send us an email and we will be happy to forward this report to you after completion. Mail: [email protected]
4. The association has made Förder membership possible since the beginning. The requests can be found at: http://www.lemonaid-charitea-ev.org/?page_id=632
Currently the association has about 220 Fördermitglieder and we work on further structures, in order to öffnen the association processes.
Many thanks for your interest Sigi! It shows us that there are interested people who want to look behind the scenes. The work of the association is the most important core of our work and we are proud to be able to support many projects and people. Since we “klein“ started, a lot of work and more transparency is needed on the club side as well. We are currently working very hard on this and are creating, for example, a more detailed website on which there will also be a section on how to get involved with the association. Responsible, meaningful and transparent commitment sometimes takes a little time - we are often not fast enough here either! I hope these answers show you our efforts, if you have any more questions, you can always contact Agnes Leder directly: [email protected]