Social Marketplace

1. Summary

Social marketplace is a digital platform that combines goods, services, social initiatives, cooperative projects, volunteering and targeted financing mechanisms into a single system. Its key difference from the usual marketplace is that each economic operation can create both commercial, social and social effects.

The platform should become an infrastructure in which a citizen, entrepreneur, cooperative, NGO, foundation, municipality, enterprise or development institution can not only buy and sell, but also pool resources, support initiatives, form project teams and see a demonstrable result.

2. Purpose of the platform

• create a single digital space for socially oriented trade, services and mutual assistance;
• Ensure a sustainable flow of resources to the Social Initiatives Fund;
• give social projects a clear path from idea to financing and execution;
• create a transparent system of confirmation of social effect;
• reduce transaction costs between citizens, businesses, NGOs, cooperatives and state institutions;
• form an economy of participation in which the contribution of an individual or organization becomes measurable and visible.

3. Target model

Social marketplace is built as a two-circuit system. The first circuit is responsible for economic turnover, the second for the transformation of part of the created value into a social effect.

4. Link to the Social Initiatives Fund

The Social Initiatives Fund is not an external charitable application to the marketplace, but a built-in institution for redistributing part of the created economic value into socially significant projects.

4.1. Sources of Foundation Formation

• the share of the commission of the marketplace directed to social programs;
• voluntary contributions from buyers and sellers;
• corporate co-financing programs;
• targeted donations and grants;
• income from special socially oriented product and service categories;
• partnership programs of banks, insurers, logistics and technology companies;
• Reimbursable financing mechanisms for individual project models, if permitted by legal design.

4.2. Logic of funds movement

1. The buyer makes a deal.
2. The platform retains the established commission.
3. A certain part of the commission is automatically reserved in the social contour.
4. The buyer or seller may additionally make a voluntary contribution.
5. Funds are allocated to approved areas or selected initiatives.
6. The initiative is tested, receives funding and benchmarks.
7. After execution, confirmation of the result is published.

5. Participants in the system

6. Social Marketplace Architecture

1. Catalog of goods and services

Social enterprises, cooperatives, local producers, professional services, social services.

2. Needs Exchange

Requests from citizens, organizations, territories and social groups.

3. Exchange of initiatives

Ideas and projects that require team, resources, expertise or funding.

4. Social Initiatives Fund

Accumulation and distribution of funds according to approved rules.

5. Cooperative module

Search for partners, joint purchases, production chains, project consortia.

6. Reputation and trust

Confirmed transactions, quality of execution, public contribution, project history.

7. Verification of the result

Documents, photos/videos, geodata, acts, expert confirmation, impact indicators.

8. Accounting and financial module

Payments, commissions, separate flow accounting, refunds, target fees.

9. Analytics

Demand, supply, deficits, regional needs, programme effectiveness.

10. Personal account

Orders, contribution, reputation, initiatives, projects, history of participation.

7. Economic model

The economy of the platform should be diversified. Dependence solely on donations makes the system unstable; dependence solely on the commission turns it into a normal commercial marketplace.

8. Model of trust and reputation

Instead of a single opaque “social rating”, it is recommended to use a multi-component reputation that reflects only confirmed behavior within the platform and does not limit the basic rights of the participant.

• quality and completion of transactions;
• timely fulfillment of obligations;
• confirmed social contribution;
• participation in initiatives and volunteer programs;
• Expert competence;
• transparency of the organization and reporting;
• responses of counterparties with protection from manipulation.

9. The Life Cycle of Social Initiative

1. Registering a problem or idea.
2. Verification of the author and basic data.
3. Classification by direction and territory.
4. Expert assessment of need and feasibility.
5. Formation of the budget, team and results indicators.
6. Public placement on the platform.
7. Collection of resources: money, goods, services, volunteers, experts.
8. Decision on funding.
9. Execution.
10. Verification of result.
11. Publication of the report.
12. Scaling a successful model.

10. Marketplace Categories

• food and local producers;
• goods of cooperatives and social enterprises;
• repair, household and professional services;
• education and mentoring;
• healthy lifestyle and rehabilitation services - within the limits of applicable law;
• Environmental goods and services;
• care and assistance to people;
• Work, employment and temporary assignments;
• social tourism and cultural projects;
• equipment and services for NGOs and social institutions;
• joint purchases;
• charitable and social initiatives.

11. Relationship with the cooperation model

The social marketplace should become a point of entry into the wider social cooperation system. Marketplace is responsible for supply and demand; the cooperative circuit is for the unification of participants; The Foundation is for supporting socially significant initiatives; the digital system is for transparency and measuring the result.

12. Management

Supervisory Board

Strategy, principles, conflict of interest, control of public mission.

Management Board / Platform Operator

Product, operations, partners, finance, development.

Expert Council

Evaluation of initiatives, methods, industry conclusions.

The Foundation Committee

Financing decisions and control of targeted use.

The User Council

Feedback from citizens, entrepreneurs and cooperatives.

Contour of compliance

KYC/KYB, AML/CFT, data protection, contractual discipline, dispute resolution.

13. Legal framework

The specific legal design depends on the jurisdiction and the cash flow model. The commercial operator of the marketplace, the fund and the cooperative circuit should be legally and accountingly separated, so as not to mix commercial revenue, target revenues and unit/cooperative funds.

• contracts of offers and rules of the marketplace;
• the regime of personal data and information security;
• requirements for online payments and cash discipline;
• rules for receiving and spending donations and earmarked funds;
• Compliance of sellers and suppliers;
• protection of consumer rights;
• Regulations for financing initiatives;
• Conflict of interest policy and anti-corruption procedures.

14. MVP: first working version

The first release should prove not the number of functions, but the operability of the full cycle: transaction → social contribution → selected initiative → funding → confirmed result.

15. Performance indicators

• GMV and the number of completed transactions;
• percentage of repeat buyers;
• number of active sellers and service providers;
• Amount of funds allocated to social initiatives;
• the proportion of initiatives with a confirmed result;
• the cost of achieving a unit of social result;
• number of jobs and project employments created;
• volume of cooperation transactions;
• time from registration of the initiative before the start of execution;
• level of trust and the share of disputes resolved;
• The amount of external co-financing attracted.

16. Road map

Stage 1. Design

Product model, legal scheme, financial flows, regulations, brand and UX.

Stage 2. Pilot

One area or one industry area, 30–100 Vendors, 3–5 Social Initiatives.

Stage 3. Checking the economy

Repeated transactions, unit-economy, stock contour, measurement of the result.

Stage 4. Cooperative expansion

Joint procurement, production chains, employment and project consortia.

Stage 5. Regional Scaling

Connecting municipalities, companies, NGOs and development institutions.

Stage 6. Federal Platform

Common standards, API, interregional programs, analytical outline.

17. Principles of the system

• Voluntary participation;
• transparency of cash flows;
• priority of the real result over declarations;
• separation of commercial and targeted funds;
• protection of the participant and his data;
• Equal access to basic infrastructure;
• cooperation instead of artificial competition where joint action is more effective;
• local independence with uniform platform standards;
• social and environmental impact;
• scaling only models that have proven their effectiveness.

18. Final architecture

Social marketplace can become a practical economic core of the system of social cooperation. Through it, everyday activities — buying, selling, labor, ordering a service, volunteering, or supporting a project — are transformed into a manageable stream of resources for the development of society.

The goal of the platform is to form an infrastructure in which social utility ceases to be a side effect of the economy and becomes one of the measurable results of each significant operation.