Equity Edit

Model

EquityEditors Association, a non-profit organization, unites socially conscious medical, scientific, and technical editors who are committed to improve access to and quality of healthcare for underserved populations in developing countries by funding pro-poor projects in global health. In partnership with our partners, our members edit manuscripts written by researchers for whom English is a second language. A portion of the compensation we earn is then donated to our beneficiaries -- small, innovative, pro-poor global health organizations as a sustainable source of long-term financing.

Beneficiary Characteristics
Our collaborating non-profit beneficiaries form a critical part of our strategy. They meet the following characteristics:
1) develops innovative solutions to local health problems of global significance
2) works directly with poor communities to achieve these solutions
3) is open-source; that is, any created innovations licensed by a creative commons license or otherwise made freely available in some electronic format
4) has members directly involved with EEA as editors
5) provides full and transparent accounting of their operating principles and budget.
6) utilizes the internet effectively to engage donors and other supporters in their work.

Accountability Strategies
To achieve accountability and transparency, these beneficiaries identify a campaign prior to the start of the collaboration and are subject to provide the following reports:
1) a written projection of immediate goals and explanation of progress indicators
2) quarterly updates of how our donations were used, addressing the projected immediate goals and data on the associated dollar amounts for each goal
3) annual report of the organization
4) media materials (video, text, photos) of the processes and people involved in the work
5) complete financial documents and budget of the organization

Management Structure
To maximize revenue to participating non-profit beneficiaries, the management team of EEA remains all-volunteer. Since these volunteers are unpaid, other incentives exist to create a sustainable management structure. A major criterion for a beneficiary is that they have at least one executive or board member who is qualified and interested in improving EEA. This is a key aspect of developing a sustainable model that doesn't require a paid executive director, since the beneficiary executive would be significantly invested in the financial success of EEA. Donations to the beneficiary continue for at least five years, during which time the point-person at the non-profit would be expected to engage in improving EEA.

History

EquityEditors Association was founded by B.T. Slingsby and Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru in attempt to bring professional scientific editors together who shared a passion for global health and scientific editing.  The collaboration came about originally when Dr. Maru, along with colleagues Jason Andrews and Sanjay Basu, began editing for ProEdit Japan to raise money for their recently formed non-profit organization Nyaya Health.  Dr. Slingsby, himself a public health specialist, suggested that this informal strategy be expanded into a more general model within ProEdit Japan.  They subsequently worked out a formal relationship between Nyaya Health and ProEdit Japan to raise funds from among their editors. This relationship was originally called EquityEdit.  In the first year of operations, EquityEdit was quite successful, expanding to over 40 editors, and providing winning entries in the Yale Entrepreneurial Society's Y2K business plan executive summary competition and Global Knowledge Conference. To generalize this model beyond ProEdit Japan and and Nyaya Health, EquityEditors Association was founded in 2009 as a non-profit organization.

Committee of Advisors

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