Our Social Commitment

1. Why a Community Interest Company?

A Community Interest Company (CIC) is a legal form available in the United Kingdom, regulated by the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies (ORCIC). It combines the commercial flexibility of a limited company with a constitutionally enforced social purpose and an asset lock.

By incorporating as a CIC, Project Evan makes the following legally binding commitments to the community it serves:

• Our profits and assets must be used for community benefit, not for enriching shareholders.
• Our community benefit purpose — improving social wellbeing through technology — is written into our Articles of Association and cannot be changed without regulatory approval.
• We are required to produce an annual Community Interest Report, filed publicly with Companies House, documenting how we have served our community purpose.

This structure was chosen deliberately. We believe that the perverse incentives created by profit-maximising social platforms — engagement optimisation, addiction mechanics, data monetisation — are incompatible with our mission. The CIC structure makes reverting to those incentives structurally and legally difficult.

2. Our Mission

Project Evan's mission is to reduce social isolation and strengthen community bonds by making it easier for people to turn intentions into shared experiences — and by protecting their privacy and dignity while doing so.

We measure our success not by time-in-app or advertising revenue, but by:

• the number of plans our users successfully complete together;
• user-reported improvements in social confidence and frequency of in-person connection;
• the diversity and inclusion of communities we serve;
• the degree to which we protect user privacy versus extracting value from user data.

3. Social Impact Commitments

3.1 Combating loneliness

Loneliness is recognised by the UK Government, the WHO, and a growing body of research as a significant public health issue. Project Evan's core feature — helping people make and follow through on social plans — is directly targeted at this problem. We commit to:

• designing features that encourage real-world in-person plans, not endless scrolling;
• partnering with charities and community organisations focused on social inclusion;
• offering free access to the core app for users who demonstrate financial hardship;
• reporting annually on social outcome metrics, not just commercial metrics.

3.2 Community partnerships

We will dedicate a minimum of 10% of net surplus to community grants supporting grassroots social initiatives — community centres, neighbourhood groups, social prescribing schemes, and mental health charities focused on loneliness and isolation.

3.3 No dark patterns

We commit to never deploying design patterns that exploit psychological vulnerabilities: no infinite scroll, no variable reward notifications, no artificial urgency or FOMO mechanics. Features will be designed for intentional use, not compulsive engagement.

4. Privacy & Data Ethics

Our Privacy Policy contains the legal detail. Our ethical commitments go further:

• No advertising, ever. Project Evan will never serve targeted advertisements or build advertising profiles from user data. This is a mission commitment, not just a current business decision.
• No data sales. We will never sell, licence, or trade user data to third parties for commercial purposes.
• Minimum data collection. We collect only data that is genuinely necessary to provide the service. We actively review and delete data that is no longer needed.
• Encryption by default. End-to-end encryption of messages and plan content is not an optional feature — it is on by default for all users, always.
• User control. Users can export all their data, delete their account completely, and disconnect any third-party integration at any time with immediate effect.

5. Inclusion & Accessibility

We are committed to building a product that is accessible and welcoming to everyone:

• Accessibility: The Project Evan app targets WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility compliance. We conduct accessibility audits with disabled users at every major release.
• Affordability: Core functionality will remain free. Premium features, if introduced, will be priced fairly and will never gate safety or privacy features.
• Inclusive design: We actively include diverse user groups in research and testing, with particular attention to groups disproportionately affected by loneliness — older adults, people with disabilities, migrants, and low-income communities.
• Safe community standards: We enforce clear community guidelines and operate zero-tolerance policies for hate speech, harassment, and discrimination. Moderation decisions are reviewable by an independent panel.

6. Environmental Responsibility

We recognise that technology has an environmental footprint. Our commitments:

• We select cloud infrastructure providers with verified net-zero or renewable energy commitments.
• We will measure and publish our Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions annually from Year 2 onwards.
• We target carbon neutrality for our operations by 2028, and net-zero by 2030.
• Engineering decisions include efficiency as an explicit criterion — fewer servers, less energy, lower footprint.

7. Governance & Accountability

7.1 Board composition

The Project Evan CIC board includes independent non-executive directors and community representatives. At least one board seat is reserved for a representative elected by and from the user community, once Project Evan reaches 1,000 active users.

7.2 Decision-making

Decisions that materially affect our community purpose require a supermajority (75%) of the board and must be documented in board minutes made available to the community.

7.3 Whistleblowing

We maintain an anonymous whistleblowing channel (ethics@projectevan.app or a third-party anonymous submission service) for employees, contractors, and community members to report concerns about breaches of our stated commitments. Reports are investigated by independent non-executive directors.

7.4 Executive pay

Executive compensation is capped at a ratio of no more than 10:1 relative to the lowest-paid full-time equivalent employee. This ratio is published annually.

8. Our Business Model

We believe a sustainable business model that is aligned with our mission is possible. Our intended revenue sources are:

• Optional premium subscription: additional convenience features (calendar sync with multiple accounts, advanced plan templates, extended plan history) offered at a fair price with no artificial paywalling of privacy or core social features.
• Institutional partnerships: partnerships with employers, local councils, healthcare providers, and social prescribers who use Project Evan to support community programmes — with appropriate data protection agreements and no profiling of programme participants.
• Grant funding: CIC grant funding and social investment for projects aligned with our loneliness reduction mission.

We explicitly reject: advertising revenue, data brokerage, venture capital structures that require profit-maximising exits, and any revenue stream that creates incentives misaligned with user wellbeing.

9. Asset Lock

As a CIC, Project Evan is subject to an asset lock. This means that if the company is wound up or its assets are disposed of, the proceeds must be transferred to another asset-locked body (typically another CIC or charity) with a similar community purpose. The assets cannot be distributed to shareholders or founders for personal gain.

This provision is enshrined in our Articles of Association and is regulated by the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies. It is not a policy that can be reversed by the board or investors — it requires regulatory approval to change.

10. Transparency Reporting

We commit to publishing the following on an annual basis:

• Community Interest Report — as required by CIC regulation, filed with Companies House and published at projectevan.app/reports.
• Privacy Transparency Report — number and nature of government requests for user data; number of requests complied with vs challenged; data types produced.
• Security Audit Report — results of independent third-party security audits of our encryption framework, with remediation status.
• Social Impact Report — metrics on loneliness reduction outcomes, community partnerships, grant disbursements, and accessibility progress.
• Environmental Report — carbon emissions data and progress against net-zero targets.
• Executive Pay Ratio — the ratio of highest to lowest full-time-equivalent pay.

11. Get in Touch

We welcome dialogue with the communities we serve. If you have questions, suggestions, or concerns about how we are living up to these commitments, we want to hear from you:

• General enquiries: hello@projectevan.app
• Partnership enquiries: partnerships@projectevan.app
• Press: press@projectevan.app
• Ethics & conduct: ethics@projectevan.app
• Security: security@projectevan.app

We read every email and aim to respond within five working days.