TRANSPARENCY

We are GOOD and we really mean it

We believe that a social business should be as transparent as possible. That’s why it’s important to us that you find out exactly how we work, where our funds come from, and what we use them for. We operate on a not-for-profit basis and have transferred all shares in the company to the charitable foundation Good Impact.

We are a Certified B Corporation

With more than 5,000 certified companies in 83 countries, B Corp is the world’s largest network of companies that measure their success in relation to their societal benefits and have them independently certified. In addition to the governance structure, its positive impact on the local community, customers, natural environment and work force is evaluated.

Good Search (with its former brand Gexsi) has been continuously recognised as a “Best-for-the-World” company in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 due to its high score.

We want to be transparent with you

Company name: Good Search UG (haftungsbeschränkt).

Address: c/o Good Impact Foundation, Joachimstraße 10, 10119 Berlin, Germany.

Year established: 2016

Website: www.good-search.org

The company was founded under the name GEXSI Impact UG and renamed Good Search UG in December 2020. The name change is documented here; a current extract from the commercial register is available here. The sole shareholder is the charitable Good Impact Foundation, a charitable trust of the NOAH Foundation; the transfer of the company shares is documented here.

Good Search follows the guidelines of the Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft (ITZ). Contact person for questions regarding transparency is: Dr. Andreas Renner, andreas@good-search.org, Tel: 0174 3067864.

Our company Good Search UG operates two further sustainable search engines apart from GOOD: Panda Search and Suchhier.

Verankerung der Gemeinwohlorientierung in der Governance-Struktur

Anchoring the purpose of the company in the governance structure Good Search UG is a B Corp-certified social business whose mission is embedded in its corporate statutes. All relevant documents are linked for download at the end of this section.

a) Non-profit framework

The company’s shares are fully held by the non-profit Noah Foundation (Foundation Register: Potsdam #164) as trustee of the Good Impact Foundation.

b) Anchoring of the purpose orientation in the articles of association

The social mission is embedded in the Articles of Association in the paragraph “Purpose of the Company” on the one hand, and in the paragraph “Management and Representation” on the other, which obliges the management to give due consideration to the interests of all stakeholders instead of putting economic interests first.

§2 Purpose of the Company

2.1 The purpose of the company is (i) consulting, research and communication on issues related to the development, promotion and financing of public welfare-oriented projects, organisations, initiatives and companies in the field of impact investing and venture philanthropy, as well as the development of corresponding business models, (ii) the development, operation, use, promotion or marketing of digital information, engagement or fundraising tools, as well as (iii) the provision of services related thereto, such as the establishment of cooperations or the management of midstream flows as well as their social impact measurement.

2.2 The purpose of the Company is to achieve a significant positive impact on the common good as well as the environment through its business activities.

§7 Management and representation

(i) the shareholders of the company;

(ii) the employees of the Company, its subsidiaries and its suppliers; and

(iii) the customers as beneficiaries of the Company’s endeavours to achieve a significant positive impact on the common good as well as the environment;

(iv) the communities in which the Company, its subsidiaries or its suppliers are located;

(v) the local and global environment; and

(vi) the short and long-term interests of the Company, including the benefits arising from the Company’s long-term plans or independence; 

(the aforementioned groups of persons collectively the “Stakeholders”).

7.6 The Directors shall, in the course of their directorships, promote the success of the Company to the best of their ability without being required to give priority to the interests of any individual stakeholder or group of stakeholders.

c) Self-commitment

As part of its voluntary commitment, Gexsi guarantees that at least 50% of the net revenue generated through the search engine will be used for a good cause. The revenue share is document on the page Your impact. To date, 100% of the revenues have been invested in our project portfolio.

Corporate Statutes and Commercial Registry

Here you find all relevant corporate governance documents(in German)

GOOD Search is a social business embedded in a non-profit governance so that 100% of the profits remain in a non-profit framework. Our business shares are held entirely by the NOAH Foundation as the legal representative of the Good Impact Trust.

Further legal information can be found in the imprint.

  • GOOD Search is a social start-up that has been developed by Dr. Andreas Renner, Kevin Fuchs and David Diallo.
  • The company is legally represented by the two managing directors Dr. Andreas Renner and Kevin Fuchs.
  • The founder and board member of the Noah Foundation as the legal representative of the Good Impact Trust is David Diallo.

GOOD Search has been operating the social internet search engine since May 2018.

The GOOD search engine was initially developed under the Gexsi brand by Dr. Andreas Renner, Kevin Fuchs, and David Diallo from 2018 to 2022 and successfully operated as a beta version. 

Andreas (business development) and Kevin (digital development) manage GOOD Search operationally. The development work was initially carried out voluntarily; since spring 2019, services have been partially remunerated.

We generate our funds through

  • the Bing advertising network
  • sponsoring or donations for the supported projects
  • services within the framework of our B2B partnerships / white label solutions
  • via grants (in particular: a grant from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) amounting to approx. 80.000€ as well as
  • our network of Impact Angels as well as the GLS Treuhand Stiftung, the Noah Foundation (with its trust foundations Good Impact Foundation and Oceans2050 Foundation), which have contributed a total of €190,000 in subordinated loans.

 

Good Search UG (formerly “Gexsi Impact UG”) is a B Corp-certified social business founded in February 2016 by Andreas Renner, whose shares were fully transferred to the non-profit NOAH Foundation with its Good Impact Trust Foundation in April 2018. 

The transaction was for the nominal value of the paid-up share capital, without premium. The company was renamed Good Search UG in December 2020. The corporate structure has not changed.

The Noah Foundation is an independent, private foundation based in Potsdam (Foundation Register: #164). It was founded in 2008 by David Diallo. 

GOOD Search received a grant from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) of approximately 80,000€ in 2021/22.

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