Why I Love My Job

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

Waking up to an alarm used to be hard. I really needed that coffee and was looking for motivation. Yet waking up is easier and coffee is shared with friendly co-workers now and well, I found that motivation in a brick & mortar, repurposed building in the Jack London Square neighborhood of Oakland, CA and within a purpose driven company. I manage this office with pride and enjoy my duties as a community officer.

I love the impact my job has on the world. Just by coming into work and committing to my job and my company’s mission, I make a difference in the world. I may have saved a charitable organization from having to close it’s doors. That organization may be housing, inspiring or keeping safe the world’s next Gandhi, Mother Theresa or Steve Jobs. I know that we might save a small business enough in fees that they can hire another full-time employee. That is HUGE to anyone in the unemployment line!

I work with great people doing great things. I am connecting with new non-profits and causes that inspire me and meeting community partners that have enough passion to save entire little leagues and school music programs! It’s just getting better and I’m so happy to be a part of this movement. I am proud to say I work for Ethix Merchant Services, a socially responsible company.

 

Brooke Thivierge

CCO- Chief Community Officer & Office Manager

Ethix Merchant Services

 

Ethix for Schools

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

Education is part of our core mission here at Ethix and raising money for schools is a Community Partnership program that we are very excited about.

Most schools are already raising money from parents or their local community to save academic, athletic, artistic and after school programs that not covered by the ever declining education budgets.  Ethix is a powerful new tool in your efforts to give your kids a well rounded and comprehensive education that will help them imagine the future that they deserve.

We work with PTA and other school groups to assist you in introducing Ethix to business owners, be they parents or merchants in your local community.  We handle all aspects of the conversion of these businesses to the Ethix Program  and start sending your group the 25% donation monthly.  That is cash, residual income that you can rely on and put to work supporting your kids and your community.

Read more about the Ethix Community Partnership and drop us a line if you think this program will work for you.

Ethix Merchants Stand Out as Social Impact Champions!

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

Allison Cebulla of HumanKind

We like to think that Ethix is a different kind of company, but what is also true is that our merchants are different kinds of companies too.  This is Alison Cebulla of HumanKind Fair Trade.  She was one of the very first merchants to sign up with Ethix and that was just one small part of the work she is doing to build community, give back and do the right thing.  Check out this article on her work in The Tribune

Ethix Non-Profit Partnership Goes to Work for Sexually Exploited Youth

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

MISSSEY

Ethix is a big fan of MISSSEY.  An Oakland based non-profit serving sexually exploited youth.  We supported them in their Christmas campaign to gather gifts for young girls who are being rehabilitated after being sexually exploited on the streets of Oakland, California.  This week I had the opportunity to meet with Nola Brantley who co-founded the organization with Emily Hamman.  This is one of the things I love about working with Ethix.  Nola was excited to learn about how Ethix works with non-profits to support them in developing reliable residual income from their existing community of supporters.  Katie McCobb, one of our Bay Area Ethix Community Reps, will be supporting MISSSEY in an outreach to their network to encourage business owners to switch to Ethix and designate MISSSEY as the recipient of their monthly donations.  Katie already volunteers for the organization and is passionate about supporting their work.

We will keep you in the loop on how this project progresses and be sure and let us know if you have a business and are interested in supporting MISSSEY or any organization you are passionate about.

Leading Our Community Driven Purpose, Brooke Thivierge, CCO

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

So we would like to introduce you to another member of our team. Brooke Thivierge, our Community Manager and all around “keep us together and pointed in the right direction” superstar. It’s hard to think about Brooke without mentioning Riley (the dog) who, with the exception of Brooke’s husband, is her most frequent and constant companion in addition to being official Office Dog here at Ethix.

Ethix is a growing company so we all wear a lot of hats but Brooke manages to shift fluidly between customer care, sales team support, internal operations and community management. She blogs, posts, tweets, calls, answers, acts, listens, supports, organizes and, most importantly cares. Brooke is the one who finds the time to organize us around giving to MISSSEY for Christmas to support their work with sexually exploited youth. She remembers holidays and birthdays and packs decorations into the office to get us to feel something other than busy. She is great at her job but she also knows that small gestures of appreciation and acknowledgement are just as important as big social impact gestures and as a company that is all about community, Ethix owes much of it’s own to Brooke’s commitment and care.

Getting Technical With Our CTO Brian Thivierge

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

Brian perfectly fills the position of Chief Technical Officer here at Ethix. His wealth of knowledge, experience, sensibility and compassion for the “dumb” questions keeps us all working with confidence that we are in good hands. Like all of our other team members, Brian is incredibly valuable in his department and all the other areas that we finagle him into.  Brian maintains the computers, phones, office equipment, website, forums, live webcasts, newsletters, and even the marketing material and e-tools that many will see or use. He has been called a web guru, marketing genius but most importantly he is “our tech guy.” Thankfully his tech knowledge is paired with his creative ideas that help build and improve our growing company. So, technically speaking we’re not just lucky to have him, we’re thrilled!

America’s Voice Today

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

I hope you all voted today. Choosing a candidate for president is very important but I hope you also researched and voted for the many propositions that will affect us all. From our food to our schools, these issues are up for our vote, make it count! As the days goes on I hope the country can unite in the celebration of freedom and choice. We need to pull together and be reminded of our country’s brotherhood and be grateful for those who have fought for our rights. Take pride in your vote and your voice and remember that everyone is rightfully entitled to their opinions and choices. This is what makes America a freedom leader and makes me proud to be American!

The Not So General Election

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

 

Vote with your business

Just a few short days until our next general election.  Everybody, well almost everybody, gets a vote.  Not everybody feels like they have a say.  Democracy gives us a chance to choose every 4 years but each and every day we are making choices that probably have a greater impact on our economy, our culture and our collective health than the ballot that we cast.  If I think about my day, I can choose to get up at 6am instead of 7:30am and have time for a swim or a trip to the gym before work.  Then I can pick between the kale and eggs in my fridge or the really amazing (and I mean really amazing) chocolate croissants that are just a quick stop on my way into the office.  Hmmmmm??????  Bike or drive, lunch box or restaurant… it goes on and on and, when I think about it, these are all economic decisions.  What products will I buy and what industries will I support?  Am I funding the problems or driving resources into areas where people are looking for solutions.  The thing is that we live in a economy that is shaped by a cultural and political system rather than a culture that is shaped by an economy.  I think that means that our real voting power lies in how we spend our time and our money.  How we allocate our resources.  The great American thing about that is it brings us back to the fact that we really do live in a democracy even while our politicians butt heads and behave like arses in Washington.  Vote with your business, vote with your wallet, vote with your feet and your facebook friends and your page fans and then tweet tweet tweet away and vote some more.

And while you are at it.  Vote for Ethix.  We “”sell” the difference we want to see in the word”:)

Team Building Is Already Successful At Ethix

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

A few weeks ago we hosted an evening event here at our Oakland office for our new and potential outside sales representatives. We are so happy with the success of this event with a great turnout full of people who really get what we are doing here at Ethix. They came, they ate, they chatted and asked their questions. We really appreciate all of your questions because they help us grow and get better at what we do. We also love to hear success stories that let us all learn from each other. We have so many new forums and webcasts that have really started the connection of our outside sales team. Not only do we want our sales people to feel supported by this community but to also know that Ethix really supports it’s representatives and celebrates their successes on a personal level. We are so proud to have a team of people promoting social business responsibility and community building with us and that also have a passion for this movement.

We really appreciate your feedback so:

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How The Ethix Community Partnership Can Work

Posted by Brian Thivierge on

Ethix is based in the Jack London District of Oakland.  As soon as we opened our offices we reached out to the local neighborhood association, The JLDA to see if we could support them in their fundraising for the application to be a Business Improvement District (BID).  This is a great example of how our Community Partnership Program works.  The JLDA has already spent time and effort building relationships with local merchants and working with them towards the goal of becoming a BID.  They have done a great job of building a community of committed residents and business owners who want to see the neighborhood improved.  We are developing a relationship with them and have added the Ethix Program to the ways in which they can raise money to support their area.  We have started reaching out to local merchants with the JLDA’s advocacy and support and requesting that those merchants designate the JLDA as the recipient of their 25% donations.  The association will benefit from a residual income stream to pay for programs that benefit the merchants.  The merchants benefit from lower fees and neighborhood improvement that does not cost their business any extra money and the residents benefit from a cleaner, safer and more vibrant local business community.  By converting fees that would traditionally disappear onto the balance sheet of large financial institutions into funds for community improvement and development we are strengthening the ties between businesses and the neighborhoods they are in.  I think that is pretty cool and I am excited to see this program used all over the country by neighborhood and merchant associations that want to save money and raise money using Ethix.