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Curation & Verification

The digital commons has a free curation process. It also has additional functionality to recognize and support credible social and environmental verifications and certifications aligned with the minimum standards.

Curation, verification, and certification are examples of assurance systems. When an enterprise meets a specific set of standards and completes a review process, they receive a certificate and are eligible to use a badge. This helps build trust. 

  • Curation refers to the process on the digital commons. It uses photos, online supporting evidence, public profiles with transparent claims, and a crowdsourced monitoring system to keep the review costs low and provide the service for free.
 
  • Verification includes participatory guarantee systems, member verifications, and other participatory processes. Verification systems require specialized evidence for every standard, which increases review requirements, but they use participant engagement, transparency, and crowdsourced monitoring to keep overall costs low.
 
  • Certification requires multiple institutions: a standards owner, an independent certification agency that conducts audits, and an accreditation body that oversees certification agencies. The involvement of multiple institutions increases costs and reduces accessibility for lower-income enterprises, but this system is critical if the certification includes companies under profit-maximizing structures with “trade secrets” and transparency concerns.
 
A table that compares participatory guarantee systems and third-party certification systems is available for download below.
Comparison Table

Digital Commons Functionality

Good Market Approved

Who Uses It

All types of initiatives that prioritize people and the planet, meet the minimum sector standards, and want to access services through the digital commons. Legal registration and revenue are not required. 

What’s Available Now

  • Free public profile with badge 
  • Downloadable certificate
  • Downloadable Good Market Approved badge that can be used on products and promotional materials
  • Access to digital commons functionality
  • Access to other services and verifications that use the free Good Market curation service

What’s Possible in the Future

  • Ability to share Good Market Approved status and badge across platforms through an open protocol

How to Use This Functionality

Free Curation Service

Who Uses It

Marketplace events, retail shops, ecommerce sites, member organizations, verifications, and other service providers that: 

  • Focus on socially and environmentally responsible enterprises
  • Want to minimize their own vetting costs
  • Want to include low-income groups that cannot afford other verifications and certifications

Some of these service providers require Good Market Approved status, some give Good Market Approved enterprises preference, and some use the free process as “primary curation” and have their own additional criteria and review process.

What’s Available Now

  • Free global curation process based on community-governed minimum standards that have been developed and refined since 2012
  • Mobile-first multilingual online form
  • Shared service that enables enterprises to submit the form once and access multiple opportunities
  • Help desk support for applicants
  • Public profiles with transparent claims for each enterprise
  • Crowdsourced monitoring that enables customers and other partners to flag enterprises if there is evidence of false claims 
  • Inclusion in the list at the end of the digital commons application to increase visibility and attract new enterprises
  • Invite link with logo and custom text to share with applicants 
  • Automated emails when applicants sign up and complete the process
  • Optional network directory and/or marketplace on the digital commons to increase visibility
  • Optional white-label directory and/or marketplace on own website
  • Ability to collect and manage additional network data if needed (registration documents, certifications, product details, etc.) 

What’s Possible in the Future

  • Ability to use open protocol to display an enterprise’s public profile data, Good Market Approved status, and badge on own site

How to Use This Functionality

Verifications and Certifications

Who Uses It

Verifiers and certifiers that focus on social and environmental standards and work with the types of enterprises on the digital commons.

What’s Available Now

  • Badge included in the application form, on profile pages and listings, and in directory and marketplace filters
  • Network page to manage your verified or certified enterprises, increase visibility, and attract new enterprises and partners
  • Support from the digital commons team to automatically add new enterprises to your network page based on your public directory
  • Ability to use the crowdsourced monitoring system to ensure enterprises remove badges from their products and promotional materials if they are no longer verified
  • Optional marketplace to show all products, services, and other listings from your verified or certified enterprises

What’s Possible in the Future

  • Optional group space to share information and increase engagement
  • Ability to use open protocol to share certificate data across platforms 

How to Use This Functionality

  • To become Good Market Approved and create an account, review the minimum standards and submit the application form. Visit the help center for more information.
  • If one of your enterprises is already included on the digital commons, a network page will be automatically activated. If not, invite an enterprise to apply. Once they are approved, a network page will be activated. 

Verification Management

Who Uses It

Verifiers that exceed Good Market Approved standards and want to reduce costs and administrative burdens, streamline the verification process, and expand opportunities for verified enterprises. 

What’s Available Now

  • Free global curation process to provide an initial filter and pipeline for eligible enterprises
  • Custom form builder to create forms for evidence submission, site visit records, signed public commitments, etc
  • Optional points questions, score calculations, and level recognition
  • Translation management functionality that combines initial machine translation and community reviews. No language restrictions
  • Payments and payouts across currencies
  • Customizable network manager to track verification status, start dates, and end dates
  • Activity tracking to maintain details on sent messages, payments, site visits, form submissions, form reviews, status changes, etc.
  • Message templates to streamline communications
  • Onboarding checklist and progress bar to support enterprises through multi-step verification processes
  • Automated certificate generation and certificate download that combines a custom certificate design with real-time data 
  • Optional partner management for verifications that are coordinated with multiple partners
  • Voting and comments to support participatory review processes
  • Optional display in network directory on the digital commons or white-label directory on own site
  • Access to crowdsourced monitoring functionality
  • Access to data analytics tools for real-time aggregated data, visualizations, and dashboards
  • Custom APIs and integrations with other tools and platforms
  • Administrative, financial, and help desk support from the digital commons team

What’s Possible in the Future

  • Ability to share verification status and badge across platforms through an open protocol
  • Flagging functionality on white-label directory profile pages
  • White-label version of the verification management system for applicants on own site with logo and custom colors.

How to Use This Functionality

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