Founders Pledge is a London-based charitable initiative, where entrepreneurs make a commitment to donate at least 2% of their personal proceeds to charity when they sell their business. Inspired by effective altruism, the mission of Founders Pledge is to “empower entrepreneurs to do immense good”. By the end of 2019, around 1300 entrepreneurs across 26 countries have signed up to Founders Pledge. Collectively, they have pledged to donate $2 billion in share value, and about $370 million in donations have been completed to date.
History
Founders Pledge was initially launched in 2015 by the Founders Forum for Good, which focuses on helping social entrepreneurs build and scale businesses. David Goldberg, co-founder and CEO of Founders Pledge, says that the ideas of effective altruism, earning to give, and the work of 80,000 Hours in particular, was influential to his thinking and his decision to set up Founders Pledge. Founders Pledge was named one of the New Radicals 2016, which are “innovative projects chosen by The Observer and Nesta as making a real difference to society”. Starting in London, Founders Pledge has since expanded and opened multiple new offices in cities such as Berlin, New York and San Francisco. In addition, Founders Pledge has launched partnerships with organisations including Y Combinator, MassChallenge, and Forward Partners. In September 2016, Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, wrote on the Y Combinator blog: "Many of our founders ask us about how they can donate part of their equity or post exit proceeds, and now we have an answer: Founders Pledge." Since 2016, Founders Pledge was awarded two major grants—totaling more than $6 million—from the Open Philanthropy Project, a foundation largely funded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Activities
Founders Pledge runs three main types of activities, all of which are free of charge for its members. First, they aim to build a community of impact-driven entrepreneurs by organising events to educate members on evidence-backed impact strategies. Second, they provide administrative support with donations and offer a donor-advised fund. Third, Founders Pledge conducts research into high-leverage giving opportunities and advises its members on where to give based on their personal values. Founders Pledge partners with GiveWell for its research on cost-effective global health and development charities. In addition, Founders Pledge has written research reports on various topics, including impact investing, climate change, evidence-based policy, animal welfare, mental health, and the mitigation of existential risks.
Members
Entrepreneurs signing up to Founders Pledge enter a legally binding commitment to donate a portion of their personal proceeds on liquidity to charity. The minimum commitment is 2%, though on average entrepreneurs commit around 7%. Comparing several donation pledging initiatives, Vox writes that Founders Pledge forces The Giving Pledge “to compete for the mindshare of today’s tech community”. A complete list of members is available on the Founders Pledge website. Notable members of Founders Pledge include the following:
