by PATRICK LEJTENYI

Sociology grad, IT guy and now entrepreneur with a conscience: 37-year-old Montrealer Gio D'Amico has been through the furnace of corporate culture long enough to think that he can make a difference, and, at the same time, change the way business is done.

President and co-founder of six-month-old Web hosting company Ecohosting.net (www.ecohosting.net), D'Amico merges self-interested capitalism with a healthy dose of philanthropy in a unique business model. While charging competitive fees for hosting services (as well as a variety of others including Web design, development and consulting), they ask customers to donate 20 per cent of the monthly charge to a charity of the customer's choice. This might sound like an expensive proposition for the company, but D'Amico says his method cuts flabby corners that would otherwise eat up that percentage.

"The idea for Ecohosting came about around two years ago, when I was a small businessman here in Montreal," he says. "I was thinking about how to move my business forward and two things came to mind: one, I could throw a lot of money at things like advertising, marketing and publicity, or two, I could tap into an already existing network."

That network happened to be the non-profit one. Setting up shop with his two partners, Gordon Fischer and Maurice Casaubon, D'Amico relied on word-of-mouth to get the news of his company around. He believes customers will be interested for at least one very simple reason: it can save them money. When Ecohosting.net sends customers an invoice, the amount the company bills for is only 80 per cent of the listed price of the service. The other 20 per cent must be made out to a charity, sent to the company, which then forwards the cheque to the charity. The charity then sends the customer a tax-deductible receipt. In the meantime, the non-profit groups receiving funding can tap into their network of supporters, friends and the like, urging them to take a look at Ecohosting.net. Clients include the Black Theatre Workshop, the Old Mission Brewery, Canadian Crossroads and the Upstairs Jazz Club.

"From a consumer point of view, it's a no-brainer. They'll look at the options and ask, ‘Why wouldn't I?'" he says. "It's a win-win-win scenario."

But D'Amico isn't content to keep things at that. In the shark universe of business, particularly the crowded Web field, stasis means death. To thrive, he will have to constantly move forward. That means having vision, which is where what he calls the "community support circle" comes in.

The community support circle is a kind of symbiotic, grassroots business model that combines corporate responsibility, non-profit organizations and savvy consumers in a mutually profitable, holistic but expanding entity. D'Amico knows that he has a lot of convincing to do if he wants businesses to forego 20 per cent of their revenue - he notes other companies do donate to charities, but usually a small percentage of their post-tax, post-expense profits - but is confident it will work. "Once this company becomes profitable and commercially viable, it will become a proof of concept," he says. "It's a different way of doing business. If it works, I think we'll be onto something pretty big."