Improved version of Corporate Critic ethical screening database launched
Howard Lake | 28 January 2005 | News
Ethical Consumer Information Systems Ltd (ECIS) is launching an updated and enhanced version of its Corporate Critic database, which will enable charities and fundraisers to perform instant ethical checks on potential partners, suppliers or sponsors.
The new version, available online from 31 January 2005, holds records on over 15,000 global companies, from large multinationals to small independents.
One new service is the ‘Ethiscore’ numerical rating system which has been designed to help users quickly differentiate companies which have attracted significant levels of ethical criticism from those attracting less attention.
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The database rates companies and products by indexing publicly available data produced by NGOs such as Greenpeace and Oxfam. It also indexes references from directories, government reports, and updates on companies’ own Codes of Conduct, Animal Testing and Environmental Policies.
The new Corporate Critic offers improved flexibility: for example users can weight, set and search for company information and supporting stories by the ethical criteria that is of most importance to an their organisation. For example, some charities will be less concerned about animal testing issues, while some will be more concerned about arms industry issues.
Michael Everard, Market Intelligence Executive with Save The Children, said: “As Corporate Critic collates and indexes hundreds of different information sources, we know we can find a comprehensive source of Corporate Social Responsibility data on a list of possible partners in one place, quickly and easily. It saves a lot of research time.”
The database offers email alerts on issues or companies of interest to subscribers. For example, an email alert will be despatched as per the subscriber’s pre-set criteria every time a company ethical rating changes.
ECIS have simplified the prices for using the system, with access costs starting at £25. There is also a free area where users can search the database at no charge to see whether it holds information on companies or subjects of particular interest to them.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.