CSR commitments

Starting on Tuesday 3 April, 100% of the micro-donations made via the Arrondi Round up at the Register program will be donated to the association Envol Vert for their project “In Colombia, protect the last remaining forest habitat of the cotton-top tamarin monkey”.

Selected during the 2018 Call for Projects by the Maisons du Monde Foundation to receive three years of support, this project is run by Envol Vert, a forest conservation and biodiversity NGO, in the world’s most disadvantaged countries and in France.

The Envol Vert project aims to protect and restore the tropical rainforest in Colombia. The association supports local communities in setting up agroforestry projects. 150 families of farmers are involved in this project.

Agroforestry is a farming method that combines agricultural crops and trees. The farmers plant trees in and around their fields to help the crops grow better naturally, without chemicals. The farmers thus participate in reforestation activities! Under this system the farmers not only grow more food, but also replant trees in the tropical forest.

The final goal of Envol Vert is to give local communities the resources to protect the forest while improving their living conditions. The farmers involved in the project form a network and can transmit their knowledge to other farmers, on agroforestry and protecting the tropical forest in Colombia.

The funds from the Maisons du Monde Foundation will help: 

• Set up agroforestry systems and plant more than 80,000 trees.

• Develop economic activities based on forest conservation to improve the living conditions of the local communities, such as the manufacture and sale of preserves made from the fruit growing in these fields.

• Train the farmers in agroforestry practices.

For more information, visit the association website: http://envol-vert.org/en/

• A plenary session entitled "Views from Key Figures" which will give the floor to well-known speakers in the field, including Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes and President of Nantes Métropole, Audrey Pulvar, President of the Nature et l’Homme Foundation, Tristan Lecomte, founder of PUR PROJET, Shubhendu Sharma, founder of Afforest, which specializes in "tiny forests”, capable of growing 300 trees in an area roughly the size of six parking spaces,  the Franco-Tunisian businesswomen Sarah Toumi, leader of the 1millionTreesforTunisia movement, and exceptional guest speakers who will give talks over the two days, such as the botanist Francis Hallé, the “earth doctors” Lydia and Claude Bourguignon and Maxime de Rostolan, the founder of the Fermes d’Avenir (Farms of the Future) and participant in the recent documentary On a 20 ans pour changer le monde (We’ve got 20 years to change the world).

• Immersive experiences through workshops: such as DIY workshops to learn about how to recycle wooden objects, sessions on making seed bombs, nesting boxes for birds, growing mini forests, or using virtual reality to experience the forest through an animal’s eyes… a range of interactive, immersive experiences that will transform the Machines de l’île into a village-style presentation of solutions to raise awareness about the problems of deforestation and how to combat it.

For more information on the attached full programme, please visit the website aux-arbres.com.

One year after publication of our ‘Ambitions for 2020’, which established the Group’s CSR objectives, this new report is an opportunity to look at the main initiatives undertaken by the brand in 2017, and to evaluate progress in our key environmental, social and societal indicators.

It complements chapter 2 of the reference document, capturing the highlights of 2017.

To help our suppliers move forward on issues surrounding employee welfare standards in production, Maisons du Monde provides ongoing, enhanced support to our strategic suppliers. The Group joined Initiative Clause Sociale in 2017 to simplify our dealings with our partners and establish requirements that are in line with other members.

A training meeting for our strategic Indian suppliers was also organised, to bring together 33 suppliers around our purchasing teams, and set out Maisons du Monde’s expectations concerning working conditions.

Creating a responsible product offer is one of the key objectives of the brand’s commitment. From raw material traceability to giving products a second life, the brand encourages its partners to integrate the entire life cycle into product development.

The first Sustainable Design Awards, organised in 2017, recognised two eco-designed products created by students.

Achieving the Group’s responsible performance objectives requires everyone’s involvement. A network of CSR representatives in store was trialled before roll-out, to involve all employees and customers of the brand in the process. Customers were invited to take part in the first ‘Give away, Give a makeover’ days through furniture makeover workshops to raise awareness about giving products a second life, in partnership with charitable and social economy organisations.

The Maisons du Monde Foundation also participated in the 1% For the Planet Philanthropic Associations Meeting in October, bringing together the 1% network to raise funds for 41 environmental associations. The Foundation participated in awarding the collective prizes, and awarded two "Coup de Coeur" and "Coup de Pouce" prizes on this occasion.

In the report you can read about all the forest conservation projects (11 projects), wood reuse projects (6 projects) and community actions (4 programs), including four new projects selected during the 2017 call for projects.

Download it here (only french).

In 2018, 1% of companies in France implement ARRONDI, and Maisons du Monde is one of them! For this new edition, all the partners were able to celebrate the 20 million micro-donations made since the start-up began operating!

microDON is a Social and Solidarity Economy start-up that develops innovative solutions to facilitate and promote social commitment. The solutions are designed to encourage and enable everyone to be an actor of change easily and at their own level.

The ARRONDI cash desk round-up scheme gives us the opportunity to educate our customers on the Maisons du Monde Foundation, and show them how they can make their purchases meaningful by donating and co-funding environmental and social projects such as forest conservation.

Selected during the 2018 call for projects, NGO’s receive support from the Maisons du Monde Foundation for a period of three years. Following the selection of six projects by the panel of experts of the Maisons du Monde Foundation, the company's employees voted for 4 associations to be supported by ARRONDI for the year 2018!

In 2017, thanks to the generosity of our customers we won  the prize for the best store participation rate in 2017 with 56% of participation. More than one customer out of two rounded up their purchases by a few cents. Thank you to our store colleagues for their dedication and our customers for their generous donations: this prize recognises the collaborative work of the community!

Selected during the 2018 call for projects, Ishpingo will receive support from the Maisons du Monde Foundation for a period of three years.

Following the selection of six projects by the panel of experts of the Maisons du Monde Foundation, the company's employees voted for the associations to be supported by ARRONDI for the year 2018, and Ishpingo was one of them!

Ishpingo is an NGO that focuses on preserving natural resources and helps Kichwa indigenous communities manage their natural resources more sustainably.

The funds collected via Arrondi will make it possible to:

• Regenerate and protect the forest resource;
• Train beneficiaries in productive and organic farming;
• Build, equip and legalize the fruit processing plant;
• Develop fair trade production, processing and marketing chains for fruits from reforestation.

Starting on July 9, make a round-up at the register micro-donation at any Maisons du Monde store in France and support the Ishpingo project.

(Re)discover the previous project which you supported from April to July. Thanks to your donations, Envol Vert received €94,928,22 to protect the last remaining forest habitat of the cotton-top tamarin monkey in Colombia.

Up until 12 November 2018, associations can apply for the Maisons du Monde Foundation’s new call for projects “Forests & Climate, Wood & Climate”.

Under the aegis of the Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme, since its creation in 2016, the Maisons du Monde Foundation has supported projects based on two themes:

• Protecting forests and their biodiversity in southern countries
• Recycling wood materials in France and Europe

Trees lie at the heart of all the projects supported. In addition to being a source of raw material, trees are a source of life. They provide ecological services, are social places in some communities, and are one of the climate’s best allies.

Deforestation is responsible for 12% to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet forests are one of the best solutions for capturing and reducing greenhouse gases. In parallel, at the end of the production chain, 345 million tons of waste is generated every year in France. In this view, many structures are attempting to give it value, especially wood materials, by capturing deposits destined for recycling.

For its selection committee in February 2019, the Maisons du Monde Foundation is launching a call for projects on the theme “Protecting forests” and “Recycling wood” with “climate” as the dominant theme. Projects justifying a climate component will be given priority (reduction, adaptation). Special attention will be paid to associations that show vision and a project that can be replicated, as well as a method for monitoring and measuring its impact (trees, volume of greenhouse gas avoided, capturing of waste deposits, etc.).

The 2019 call for projects is open until 12 November inclusive. Associations can apply to the Foundation for funding of €20,000 to €30,000 a year in the frame of a 3-year partnership.

Project sponsors can download the funding application form and all the documents required on the Foundation’s website and submit their project by e-mail: fondation@maisonsdumonde.com.

For this 2nd edition, 50 candidates from 17 different schools sent us their projects: Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, Pivaut, STRATE, Politech Orléans, Condé Lyon, Boulle, Condé Paris, ENSAAMA, ESMOD Paris, CREAPOLE ESDI, Ecole Supérieure de Design des Landes, ENSCI, Académie Charpentier, Université Toulouse II - Jean Jaurès, Condé Nice, Bellecour école and ESADSE.

At the start of February, our designers, stylists and product managers pre-selected 11 projects for the furniture category and 5 projects for the decoration category. At the end of February, a jury of eco-design experts, including our partners Eco-mobilier, FSC®, EVEA, Eco TLC, supported by the ADEME and the Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme, rated the environmental reduction efforts described by the students.

Effervescence at the Bellevilloise in Paris last week for the Rencontres Associations et Philanthropes (RAP): over two days, 40 associations came to present their projects to the patrons brought together by the 1% for the Planet network.

In France, this network gathers 170 companies and €5 million paid annually to support environmental causes.

Over these two days, the associations had the opportunity to pitch on one of the seven themes:

• Agriculture, soil and food
• Ecocitizen movements
• Biodiversity
• Active education in contact with nature
• Rivers and oceans
• Climate and energy
• Heath and Environment

Thanks to fund-raising by the 1% for the Planet prior to the event, the best projects were financed immediately. The associations discovered the winners at the closing event on Wednesday 10 October.

For the third year running, the Maisons du Monde Foundation took part in the associations’ presentations and financially supported several projects. Alongside other major patrons (Léa Nature Foundation, Caudalie, Laiterie Vrai, Nature et Découvertes Foundation, Fondation de France, etc.) and through the participation of Fabienne Morgaut, Director of the Foundation, Lisa Mimoun, Project Coordinator, and Marion Martin, CSR reference network coordinator, the Maisons du Monde Foundation contributed to awarding a collective prize for each theme.

This year, the Foundation chose its “favourite” project from the “eco-citizen movements” category and provided €10,000 of funding for the Reporterre association, an independent media that works with young journalists in order to lend a voice to the inhabitants of working-class neighbourhoods about the challenges of climate change and ecological issues.