Ensuring Our Integrity -- Financial Independence
Maintaining financial independence from Rainforest Alliance Certified and verified farms and forestlands is a critical element of our ability to provide technical assistance, certification and verification services.
We have adopted a policy to accept contributions (monetary or in-kind) from entities that use our certification or verification services, only in the following permitted ways:
- Fees for certification, verification and related services
- Sponsorship or other support of public events.
- Funding for educational, training or outreach activities.
An individual involved in decisions regarding the acceptance or use of contributions from a specific entity cannot be involved in certification or verification decisions regarding that entity.