As many of you know, this week marks the start of the final round of the Chase Community Giving Challenge--the largest social media voting competition in history. Thanks to all of our amazing supporters, The Generation Project outlasted over a half-million nonprofits around the country in Round One to win a $25,000 grant and a spot in the finals.
This time, though, the prize is much bigger: $1 million for the top vote-getter, and $100,000 for each of five runners-up. Just like last time around, all the voting takes place on Facebook--and you can vote at the same address. Voting starts this Friday, January 15th. We hope you will support us!
Because we're a different kind of charity, we wanted to quickly share with you our unique plan for the Chase Million if we are lucky enough to win. See, we're a new kind of charity--one that uses the ideas and passions of donors at all income levels to benefit low-income K-12 youth. We exist to give children growing up in poverty the diverse educational opportunities they deserve, and the way we do that is by harnessing the diverse passions of our donors. And we think our unique giving model--where donors get to design the gifts they fund--is the future of philanthropy.
So, if we're lucky enough to win the Chase Million, we're not using it for overhead, or to "expand our operational capacity." The money's going to go directly to children in low-income areas, and at the same time will be used to directly amplify donors' impact. Here's our plan:
- -With the first $250,000, we will quadruple the impact of any new gift designed through The Generation Project, allowing donors to fund four opportunities for the price of one. For example, a donor who sponsors a debate team at one urban high school could sponsor four high school teams for the same price.
- -When the first $250,000 runs out, the next $250,000 will triple each new gift’s impact. Donating a set of J.R.R. Tolkien books to a school library in Detroit? With the matching fund, you could donate that same set of books to school libraries in Chicago and New York City as well!
- -With the remainder of the $1MM, we will double each gift’s impact. Sponsoring a partial college scholarship for one kid? Give before the money runs out, and you can sponsor two for the same price!
And how do you know all the money will be spent that way? We're totally committed to transparency, so here's our pledge: after every single phase in our program, we'll publish, on our website, a downloadable document that shows each gift and how the money was used to double, tripe, or quadruple it. We don't believe in just writing a check to charity and not knowing where your money goes, and we don't think you should vote for us without knowing how we'd spend that money either.
So, please vote starting January 15th. A million dollars in low-income classrooms will go a long way, and your vote will help spark our revolutionary approach to philanthropy. And here's an inspiring video to prove it: