E2M: an overview
This page provides a brief overview of how E2M can economically empower communities by enabling them to create community wealth. For more detailed information, use the links to the left.
How E2M works:
An E2M Economic Community has three components: The E2M Regional Economic Council, E2M affiliated businesses, and the Community (general public).
The E2M Regional Economic Council (E2M-REC) is a non-profit organization that holds the community’s wealth and uses it to benefit the community. Its board has 24 members who serve 3 year terms after being nominated by the community and then elected by the current board. The E2M-REC’s initial board is approved by E2M.org, the chartering organization for new E2M-RECs. As a philanthropic investment organization, the E2M-REC invests 75% of its monies locally, 20% nationally, and 5% internationally to help spawn other E2M Economic Communities.
E2M affiliated businesses are businesses of all kinds—corporations, sole proprietorships, partnerships, cooperatives, and others—that have chosen to participate in E2M in one of three different ways:
- an E2M Certified business is one that shares at least 5% of its profits and its business equity with the community through the E2M-REC, and sets aside another 5% or more of profits and business equity to be shared with or purchased by its employees;
- an E2M Sponsor is a business that shares at least 5% of its profits or 0.5% of its sales with the community through the E2M-REC;
- an E2M supporting business is a business that shares with the community at least 5% of the profits or 0.5% of the sales from a particular product(s) or service(s) that the business offers.
Employees of E2M affiliated businesses choose how half of their contributions to the REC will be spent to better their community. The REC decides how to use of the remaining half.
The Community: By purchasing goods and services—one of our simplest everyday actions—from E2M affiliated businesses, or by purchasing E2M brand products, community members can guarantee that these businesses will grow and provide a significant and steady flow of wealth to the community. This wealth is used to create a truly healthy community and invest in or start up more E2M Certified businesses. E2M enables consumers to concentrate their purchasing power to create the wealth communities need to transform our society.
Everyone wins with E2M—the community, the owners of E2M companies, their employees, and the people who invest in these companies.
The diagram below shows the relationships between the three main elements of the E2M Economic Community.
Click on the ovals in the diagram to find out more about the three components of the E2M Economic Community or read the expanded description of the E2M Economic Movement.