The Charta of INAISE

, von Ekkehart Schmidt

In der Charta der INAISE (International Association of Investors in the Social Economy) finden sich viele Grundsätze, die auch für etika gelten. Für englischsprachige Leser wird hier INAISE mit den Grundsätzen präsentiert

Etika is a member of INAISE, a global network of socially and environmentally oriented financial institutions. Created in 1989, INAISE has grown rapidly as the movement of social investors gained importance, volume and visibility in a number of European and non-European countries. Through Inaise, social investors from Norway to South Africa and from Costa Rica to Japan have been joining forces to exchange experience, disseminate information and demonstrate to the world that money can actually be a means to achieve positive social and environmental change. are finance organisations which invest in undertakings of an ethical, ecological, cultural, collective and self-managing nature, across cultures and genders, including fair access to finance, sustainable support of the developing world, and in favour of the social economy generally.

Ideally the Economy should serve the needs of all parts of society. Human needs, rather than wants, do not exist only when they can be a business opportunity for the market. The general short termism of the market has to be suborned to a longer term perspective where the impact of economic activities on the environment, society and cultural life is taken into consideration. The economy has to contribute to the development of society as a whole.

Growth does not automatically produce development. While enterprise is generally considered to be positive, it can also bring social, environmental and cultural issues in its wake. We can have an economic activity that generates growth in financial terms but when it also means destruction of the environment or human heritage or when it favours a minority to the detriment of a majority, this growth cannot be called development. The negatives outweigh the positives.

We absolutely need to work to allow people, communities, populations and future generations to benefit from development. But, we need to run our business activity in a more ethical and socially responsible way. We need to make our economic activities more socially sustainable. Accordingly, finance must stop being the speculation, domination and personal wealth accumulation lever that it has become. We need to re introduce exchange, cooperation, and reciprocity links in the use of money so that it benefits all people not just the few.

It is important to make sense with money and accordingly to give value to the respect of the person and the environment, while being inspired by the social and solidarity ethic.

Social finance supports the movement of transforming the dominant economic model currently centred on self interest and over materialization of life and the belief in the absolute effectiveness of the markets.

As a member of INAISE, etika acts according to the following values:

Transparency
We act as a lens through which our depositors and investors can see clearly into the work of our borrowers, investees and other customers or portfolio members, knowing where their money is working.

Trust
We seek to build trust both among our partners and in every facet of our work and to be responsible in the way we work.

Justice
All of our work is directed toward a commitment to fair and equal access to finance, to opportunity and responsibility for social, economic, cultural, ethical and ecological life.

Excellence
We have a commitment to excellence in all we do. We recognise that the people and customers we work with have a right to expect excellence and that we have a responsibility to deliver it.

Sustainability
With INAISE we wish to develop financial and operational resilience both within the network and its members and amongst those people and communities that we work with to ensure that those who wish to access our services can be certain of doing so.

Cooperation
Although we work in the competitive environment of finance, we seek to work in a cooperative, rather than a competitive manner with our partners and stakeholders, seeking the primary good of the final beneficiary as a first business priority.

Democracy
Confident in collective action, we believe in the contribution and the efficiency of social and collective entrepreneurship in reaching the goals we share. We consider the world, our societies, communities, and organisations as projects that we need to build together starting from the right of each individual to be the actor of his personal and collective future.

Locally grounded
We are in many cases closely linked to communities and local initiatives and contribute to their development.