--- title: "The Impact Stack" url: https://wearenotforsale.org/impact-stack/ publisher: "Not For Sale" --- Operating Model · How It Works # The Impact *Stack* Not For Sale’s three-tier operating model, deployed in every country we work and built to move from crisis response to self-sustaining enterprise. [Support the model →](https://wearenotforsale.org/impact-stack/?campaign=770665) Donate to a tier 03 Tier 03 · The Output Scalable Ventures Enterprise that returns revenue 02 Tier 02 · The Bridge Research & Business Dev Finds the economic opportunity 01 Tier 01 · The Foundation Social Intervention Direct service with survivors ↺ Each tier is built on the one below it, and revenue from the top returns to fund the foundation. ## Why does modern-day slavery persist despite decades of effort and billions in funding? Because most interventions stop at rescue. They pull people from the river but never go upstream to find out why they keep falling in. Governments, UN agencies, and private donors have committed billions over two decades. Yet more than 50 million people are in modern-day slavery today (more than at any point in human history), while traffickers earn an estimated [$236 billion in illegal profits every year](https://www.ilo.org/publications/major-publications/profits-and-poverty-economics-forced-labour). The economics are working for the perpetrators. They are not working for the people being trafficked. 50M+ People in modern-day slavery today $236B Trafficker profits per year (ILO, 2024) “The most powerful form of prevention is a community with ownership of its own future.” The principle behind the Impact Stack Most organizations operate exclusively in **Tier 1**. Some add **Tier 2**. Almost none build **Tier 3**. The Impact Stack moves through all three: in sequence, in every country, adapted to local conditions. 1Tier One · The Foundation ## Social Intervention Direct service Direct service with survivors and people at extreme risk: housing, education, medical care, legal support, nutrition, and safety. This is where most organizations begin and end. Not For Sale begins here, but does not stop. ⬡ Funded by donations Programs on the ground [Not For Sale Amazon, Peru](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/peru/) ↗ Long-term work with indigenous communities in Madre de Dios under Country Director Ricardo Dawson. Survivor support, scholarships, mercury-free fish farms, and community gardens. → Foundation for AFIMAD, REBBL’s supply chain [Home Soup, Netherlands](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/netherlands/) ↗ The survivor training program founded by Toos Heemskerk-Schep in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, and the first proof that vocational training could be both recovery and revenue. [Cooperatives, Uganda & DRC](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/uganda/) ↗ Community gardens, scholarships, and cooperative infrastructure serving refugees and host communities together. 2Tier Two · The Bridge ## Research & Business Development Find the economic opportunity The question is not “how do we help these people?” It is “why are they vulnerable, and what economic opportunity exists to change that?” After roughly two years of Tier 1 work in a community, Not For Sale tests market-based solutions. ⬡ Funded by donations (project costs) Research that produced enterprise Brazil nut supply chain, Peru Mark Wexler and Dr. David Batstone mapping market opportunities in Madre de Dios alongside Ricardo Dawson. They identified the Brazil nut, a crop that only grows in standing rainforest, as the base of an indigenous-owned cooperative. → Montara Circle 2011 → AFIMAD → REBBL At-risk communities, Amsterdam Toos Heemskerk-Schep’s research with trafficked women in the Red Light District, mapping which job paths, skills, and environments would actually move survivors into dignified employment. → Led to the Dignita Academy & restaurant model Minerals & metals supply chains Mark Wexler’s research as a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London on the intersection of mineral extraction, human rights, and environmental destruction. → Led to Regenerate Technology Global & M2i Global 3Tier Three · The Output ## Scalable Ventures Enterprise that returns revenue Not For Sale invests in enterprises that create jobs, generate revenue, and build long-term community sustainability. This is the flywheel: ventures return revenue to Not For Sale to fund more Tier 1 work, and the loop closes. ⬡ Funded by blended capital & venture investment Ventures produced [REBBL · Peru](https://wearenotforsale.org/social-innovation/rebbl-drinks/) ↗ Nationally distributed beverage brand sourcing Brazil nuts from AFIMAD in Madre de Dios. Returns 2.5% of net revenue to Not For Sale. Distributed through Target and Whole Foods. → $2M+ returned to Not For Sale to date [Dignita · Netherlands](https://wearenotforsale.org/partners/dignita/) ↗ Amsterdam’s social restaurant and academy. What trainees produce goes straight on the menu. 100% of restaurant profits return to Not For Sale Netherlands to fund the next cohort. → 263 survivors trained · 100% of profits returned [Regenerate Technology Global](https://wearenotforsale.org/partners/regenerate/) ↗ The battery-recycling company co-founded by Dr. David Batstone. Recovers critical minerals from spent batteries, cutting demand for the primary extraction that drives forced labor and ecocide in the DRC. → Operations across the EU and US How it sustains itself ## The *flywheel*. Enterprise funds service. Service produces research. Research informs enterprise. Each tier feeds the next, indefinitely. This is why the Impact Stack does not require permanent philanthropic subsidy to stay alive. Peru: the full loop, closed Not For Sale Amazon → Brazil nut research → Montara Circle → AFIMAD → REBBL → $2M+ to Not For Sale ↺ Revenue funds more Tier 1 work. The loop is closed. The Results 491,042 People supported since 2007, across all tiers 27 Countries where the Stack is deployed $2M+ Returned to Not For Sale by REBBL alone 505,409 Trees planted through planet-tier programs ## Where it’s *deployed*. Every country name links to its project work. Full Stack · T1 + T2 + T3 [Peru](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/peru/) [Netherlands](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/netherlands/) [Thailand](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/thailand/) [Uganda](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/uganda/) [DRC](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/dr-congo/) [United States](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/united-states/) Service + Research · T1 + T2 [Vietnam](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/vietnam/) [South Africa](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/south-africa/) [Rwanda](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/rwanda/) [Mozambique](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/mozambique/) Direct Service · Tier 1 [Myanmar](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/myanmar/) [Laos](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/laos/) [Japan](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/japan/) ## The model in *practice*. Same framework. Different paths. Both work. ● Peru The linear proof T1 → T2 → T3 → revenue back to T1 T1 [Not For Sale Amazon](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/peru/) Long-term direct service alongside indigenous communities in Madre de Dios under Ricardo Dawson, with communities trapped by debt bondage in illegal gold mining. T2 Brazil nut research → Montara Circle Field research with Ricardo Dawson reveals an economic vacuum. The February 2011 Montara Circle produces the enterprise concept. T3 [AFIMAD cooperative → REBBL](https://wearenotforsale.org/social-innovation/rebbl-drinks/) Nationally distributed beverage. Returns 2.5% of net revenue to Not For Sale. $2M+ returned to Not For Sale programs to date via REBBL ● Netherlands The reverse T3 → T2 → T1: enterprise built first T3 [Dignita restaurant](https://wearenotforsale.org/partners/dignita/) A commercially viable restaurant built first. 100% of profits to Not For Sale Netherlands from day one. T2 Research with at-risk communities Toos Heemskerk-Schep’s research with trafficked women in Amsterdam, formalised into vocational training through ROC van Amsterdam. T1 [Home Soup, Red Light District](https://wearenotforsale.org/projects/netherlands/) Survivor training embedded in the restaurant’s revenue base, sustained by enterprise rather than donations. 100% of Dignita profits returned to Not For Sale Netherlands programs Where Tier 2 becomes Tier 3 T2 → T3 ## The *Montara Circle*. The mechanism Not For Sale uses to move from field research to enterprise creation, and the framework that produced **REBBL**, **Dignita**, and the Entrepreneurship Challenge. Two days. One challenge. A company as the output. A nimble framework available to any organization ready to act. Now deployed in Seoul Amsterdam Inside Juniper Networks [Read the full story →](https://wearenotforsale.org/montara-circle/) ## Fund every *tier*. The flywheel only works when every tier is resourced. Your contribution determines which part you power. Tier 1 · Social Intervention $50+ Direct service: housing, education, and medical care for survivors and people at extreme risk in Peru, Thailand, the Netherlands, Uganda, the DRC, and beyond. [Donate to Tier 1](https://wearenotforsale.org/impact-stack/?campaign=770665) Tier 2 · Research & Business Dev $500+ Community fieldwork and business development: the research that finds the next enterprise. The work that produced AFIMAD and Dignita. [Donate to Tier 2](https://wearenotforsale.org/impact-stack/?campaign=770665) Tier 3 · Enterprise $5,000+ Seeds a venture that creates jobs, returns revenue, and closes the flywheel for a community. [Seed an Enterprise →](https://wearenotforsale.org/impact-stack/?campaign=770665)