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Benj and Jessica launched a nonprofit. Follow our journey as we built a 501(c)(3) and a web site, and now usher in an endless stream of worthy charity nominees and monthly grant winners!

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November 2019 winner Americans United

Charitocracy's 39th check to November winner Americans United for $1134

We have good news about November winner Americans United, right after this quick update...

This Tuesday is Giving Tuesday

I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving! Something for me to be thankful for: last month, we crossed the $50,000 mark. Nicely done, team! I appreciate you. Big time.

I'll keep it really simple and ask you to do one thing between now and Tuesday. Convince someone, anyone, just one person, to join Charitocracy. A friend, family member, partner in business, partner in life, partner in crime, complete stranger sharing your table at a coffee shop. Your best friend, your only friend, your frenemy, your nemesis. A mentor, protégé, magician, barista. A brother, sister, half, step, in-law, twin separated at birth. A pet that inherited your great-aunt's fortune. (Don't ask me, these are your people.)

Just log in and invite them over email or social media:

invite popups

One more donor at Charitocracy means one more new voice in our nomination and election process, and more dollars to share with the next year full of monthly winning charities. Amplify your impact!

November 2019 winner Americans United

Last night we named Charitocracy's 39th monthly winner. Congratulations to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, nominated by donor jzp-charitocracy. They are an organization dedicated to advancing the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion. You can find their web page here.

Now you have a week to further sweeten the pot with a special one-time donation of any amount, which we'll add straight to the check we write to Americans United. ❤️

Before you go, check out this simple holiday message from winner Americans United. Then feel good about your part in our collective $1134+ grant to help with their work!

Have a great December and be sure to log into Charitocracy to update your votes or nominate a new cause!

Spotlight on nominee RIP Medical Debt

nominee RIP Medical Debt Charitocracy Facebook share

Next in our series of posts about new Charitocracy nominees, we have nominee RIP Medical Debt, nominated by donors Alistair and Rebecca. RIP Medical Debt empower donors to forgive the billions in oppressive medical debt at pennies on the dollar, so far $715 million for ~240,000 Americans. You can find their web site here.

A few words on Charitocracy

Firstly, for newcomers: here's how it works. Donors pool their monthly contributions, as little as $1. The cause with the most votes each month wins the pot. No matter how much or how little you contribute, each donor at Charitocracy gets one vote. This is where charity meets democracy. So please share this post (scroll down for social sharing icons) and ask your friends to join us and vote! That's how we spread the word and, as a result, grow the monthly pot. The bigger the pot, the bigger our positive impact on the world!

About nominee RIP Medical Debt

We work on behalf of individuals, foundations and corporations to abolish medical debt and provide relief for those in need.

How It Works

  1. Your donations allow us to purchase debt at pennies on the dollar — and forgive it, forever.
  2. Using data analysis, we locate the medical debt that is most crucially in need of relief.
  3. Those helped are no longer obligated to pay even a cent, and have no adverse consequences.

As medical costs rise to unspeakable levels, so does un-payable medical debt.

Medical debt has destroyed the financial stability of large segments of America’s most vulnerable communities: the sick, the elderly, the poor, and veterans. It also particularly targets the middle class, driving many families who are barely getting along into poverty.

So visit the page of nominee RIP Medical Debt to vote for, like, or discuss this cause! And check out this segment from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to hear him explain it best.

Fifty thousand reasons

Fifty thousand reasons

Fifty thousand reasons... for what?

Fifty thousand reasons it's hard to run a charity?
Fifty thousand reasons to complain about solicitation registration paperwork?
Fifty thousand reasons to decry social media advertising costs?
Fifty thousand reasons to give up?

This morning I'm writing out Reach Out and Read's $1722 award check. That's for winning the October monthly pot, plus drawing an unusually high $540 worth of "pot sweetener" one-time donations. And I'm noticing something worth mentioning...

We have crossed the $50,000 mark!

As of this morning, Jessica and I have cut $50,000 worth of grant checks. They're for worthy nonprofits you've selected, packed full of your donation funds. You guys are ever-generous, and also gift us with the continued motivation to make Charitocracy even better each month.

I have some big plans for Charitocracy. I probably say that a lot, and I mean it every time. There's no joy like adding new features, fixing old bugs, and doing whatever I can to make Charitocracy easier to use for current donors and more attractive to prospective donors. If you asked me, a GPU software engineer, ten years ago or even five years ago, I never would have predicted this is how I'd be getting my kicks on the eve of the year 2020.

And yet 4 years ago this week we were registering the ch-y.org domain and kicking off the logo design. We were setting up social media pages, and purchasing this laptop I've been banging away on ever since in my free time. And 4 years ago next month we'd be filing to become a nonprofit corporation in the state of North Carolina. As far as we've come in 4 years (3 years fully operational), I have a feeling 2020 will be our biggest yet.

Fifty thousand reasons to be proud, and fifty thousand reasons to keep at it. ❤️

Show Benj the money