What kind of organisation is Sourcery?

Sourcery is a for-profit member-owned global sourcing solution and digital trade platform that connects brands, manufacturers, traders and growers who are committed to transacting with more transparency, fairness and efficiency by adopting the Direct-to-Grower™ Solution to trade.

We are organised and registered as a corporation (Sourcery Group, Inc) in the United States that serves as our global parent organisation. Sourcery maintains various global subsidiaries across the regions in which it operates.

Sourcery revenue is generated via membership contributions and transaction fibre transaction fees paid by our Partners (owners). Sourcery does not directly accept philanthropic donations, grants or subsidies of any kind to drive forward to transformation of trade for good.

Who are Sourcery’s Partners?

Sourcery Commercial Partners include brands, retailers, manufacturers, traders, grower organisations and individual growers who are involved in the growing, manufacturing, purchasing and sale of fibre, yarn, fabric and finished goods. Sourcery also welcomes Impact Partners and Assurance Partners who support our Commercial Partners.

Our Commercial Partners are also Sourcery owners via the Sourcery Stock Option Subscription Programme whereby membership contributions are converted into common stock during the first five (5) years of membership.

Is Sourcery a trader or agent?

Sourcery is a global sourcing solution and trade platform that connects brands, manufacturers, traders and growers who are committed to transforming trade for good. Sourcery’s team of Engagement Professionals serve our Partners as commercially neutral trade intermediaries and facilitators. We support our Partners to ensure transactions on fibre, yarn and fabric are more transparent, fair and efficient and deliver impact at scale.

Sourcery does not directly purchase or sell any fibre, yarn and fabric or receive commissions on the sale of fibre, yarn and fabric or data.

Is Sourcery a multi-stakeholder initiative?

Sourcery is a for-profit corporation owned by our Partners and employs a unique two-tier governance that includes a Board of Directors and an Advisory Council.

Similar to a multi-stakeholder organisation, Partners play an active and critical role in the development of programmes, initiatives, policies, products and services offered through Sourcery then traditional shareholders of a corporation.

Appointed by the shareholders, the Board of Directors is composed of nine individuals who lead and steward the organisation and appoints the executive team. The Advisory Council is made of representative Partners across seven (7) Partner types who are elected by the shareholders in each respect Partner category of brands, manufacturers, traders, growers, impact partners, and assurance partners. The Advisory Council makes annual recommendations to the Board of Directors on strategic direction of the organisation.

Each Partner holding shares is a voting shareholder in the corporation based on the number and type of shared owned.

Is Sourcery and Direct-to-Grower™ a standard or certification?

Sourcery and its Direct-to-Grower™ Solution, specifically the Impact and Assurance Programme is not a standard, certification or measurement and evaluation (M&E) framework. Sourcery is a global sourcing solution and trade platform that provides practical guidance and digital tools for its Partners to collect, verify and license farm and facility level social, environmental and transactional data.

Sourcery welcomes all growers, everywhere to participate in the Impact and Assurance Programme, including growers who identify with or are enrolled under one or more preferred fibre standards and certifications such as Better Cotton, US Cotton Trust Protocol, CMiA, organic, etc. We also welcome unaffiliated growers who are otherwise referred to as ‘conventional’ to capture data and report on their impact data via the same channels.

Does Sourcery measure and report on impact?

Sourcery supports our Partners with the collection of high-quality primary verified farm, facility, chain-of-custody (traceability) data via the Impact and Assurance Programme and Connect App.

As a commercially neutral trade facilitator and intermediary, Sourcery does not interpret, analyize, score, make value judgments or issue impact reports itself. Instead, it relies only on qualified third-parties who are welcome to join Sourcery as Impact Partners and Assurance Partners to measure and report on the commercial, social and environmental impact of Partners. These organisations include multi-stakeholder organisations, standards, certification organisations, social, environmental and climate impact assessment firms, agronomic and extension service organisations and third-party verifiers and testing laboratories who support our Partners in the transformation of trade for good.

Sourcery receives no revenue, commission fees, or royalties from Impact and Assurance Partners.

Is Sourcery a traceability solution or blockchain?

The Connect App includes the groundbreaking Trade feature that allows our Partners (users) to remit orders, enquiries, offers and settle both spot, future and forward contracts digitally and in real-time. The Connect App is not a traceability solution and does not publically report on chain-of-custody, volume reconciliation, yet does capture the required data, documents, images that allow third-party solution providers to do this on behalf of our Partners.

As part of this process, the selling party is required to upload all relevant transactional documents including invoices, bill of lading, certificates of conformity (phytosanitary, scope certificates, etc.), packing lists and quality reports, images, etc. following a confirmed order on fibre, yarn, fabric and finished goods. This information is stored in the sellers (user) Personal Data Value (PDV) on the Connect App. The seller can choose to share or sell this information with any traceability solution provider or database as they choose including Textile Genesis, FibreTrace, TrusTrace. An API or data bridge can be built between teh Bluenumber system into any third-party database that meets the requirements set forth by Sourcery on data rights, ownership, storage and use.

Who owns the data?

The personal, location, transactional, farm, and facility impact data collected via the Impact and Assurance Programme and the Connect App is controlled and owned by the data originators that remit the data via the Connect App. This includes growers, manufacturers, trade, and brand Partners.

Data owners have full rights to the data and the data protected by GDRP and other international data use regulations. The data is securely stored on the Personal Data Vault (PDV) of each user through the Bluenumber system and no third-parties, including Sourcery have access to this data without the expressed written consent of the data originators. Data originators can choose to sell their data under license (or transfer the data under license for free) to other Partners.

What is the Sourcery Seal?

The ‘Sourcery Partner Seal’ is issued to organizations who become fully licensed Grower, Manufacturer and Trade Partners following their Provisional Partner period where they are asked to demonstrate their commitment to commercial and environmental excellence before being invited by other Partners to join as owners.