I just launched Pepper, looking for input!
Hi everyone, my name is Mike Filbey and I am the founder of a nonprofit 501c3 called Pepper that I just launched last week. I started Pepper because I want to help people make a difference in the world. After I read the Life You Can Save I felt compelled to do something with not just my money but with my time and experience. We’ve got just over 50 members so far which I’m excited about because it’s just from sharing with my network.
I spoke with someone who ran an EA chapter at university and he recommended I post here when I launch to get feedback and ideas. He thought some of his non-EA friends may be interested in joining Pepper. That’s one question I’d love input on...do you think your non-EA friends would be interested in Pepper? Please comment or email me if you have any ideas, questions, or feedback. michaelfilbey1@gmail.com. Thank you in advance!
With Pepper there’s just one option: give $10/month. 100% of donations (less standard Stripe nonprofit fees) go directly to four charities I’ve partnered with: AMF, Malaria Consortium (SMC program), HKI (VAS program), and GiveDirectly (Africa Cash Transfers program). I chose these charities because of research I conducted, but mostly because I trust GiveWell and they’re far better than me at research.
You can see the site here: https://joinpepper.org/
And our story here: https://joinpepper.org/about/
My goal with Pepper is to help people make a difference by simplifying the donation process (you can signup in 60 seconds and don’t need to decide how much to give, which charities to give to, or how often to give) and create a power in numbers approach to giving, where people not dollars, make the difference.
From an organizational perspective what makes Pepper unique is that we wake up and live and breathe marketing. Our goal is to acquire members and delight them. My background is in entrepreneurship and marketing.
Thank you so much for reading and a big thank you to anyone who shares a suggestion.
Cheers,
Mike Filbey
Hey!
+1 for starting a project!
My own opinion is that many organizations try to “simplify donations” but almost all of those seem to really fail, and so I conclude that either “simplifying” is not an actual pain point, or that “making it simpler” is somehow very complicated.
These are only my priors on your area, not an opinion about your own project.
Hi Yonatan,
Thank you so much for commenting! I agree that simplifying giving likely isn’t enough to make a difference. I think it will take some big learnings in how best to engage people in giving, especially people who don’t currently give and/or are opposed to giving internationally.
I agree
Any idea how to learn those things?
Great question! Something I’m still working on. I believe that it’s worth trying to use language and visuals that get people excited about making an impact rather than feel guilty for not doing enough. That alone seems to be a significant differentiator in a space that’s too often filled with images and text guilting people into giving. I don’t want to pressure anyone into joining. I want people to join because they want to join, not because they feel like they should. I’m going to test different messaging and visuals in paid ads, podcasts, emails, and partnerships on social media. I’m hoping some influencers with a history of doing good will be interested in sharing Pepper as it’s a fairly accessible way for people to get into the habit of giving. Open to any ideas of course and thank you for getting my wheels rolling here! Thanks again!
My own intuition would be “talk to users, watch them use it, interview them” and so on, as opposed to collecting statistical data (which I’d only do later, after my users keep repeating the same thing verbally and I want to make sure it’s also true “at scale”).
For example, grab someone at your hallway and ask them if they’d like to donate on your platform and see what they reply. (or ask them to use your website and see how they react).
My intuition is that you’ll get surprising results that you wouldn’t even consider asking about in a survey. (again, only speaking from priors-on-startups, not anything about your own project or the quality of your own concrete guesses)
I mean, if it makes sense to you.
If you were sitting near me right now I’d invite you to go out to the street together and ask 3 people and see if that totally changes everything really quickly, but alas, I just checked and it seems like you’re not here :)
If only we could hit the streets! I love this mindset. I am going to take more of a discovery approach for the next couple weeks and see what I learn. Thanks a million! This is helpful.
I think it would be very cool if you could find a way to pay for the credit card fees for donors. It seems donors really love these “100% model” approaches where they pay for 0 overhead. And I think they may like the idea that $10 given is $10 donated.
Though I’m not sure there is really any logistical way for you to do so? If it all happens on their end?
@mikefilbey switching from monthly to annually could save over half the Stripe processing fees
@Pat Myron great idea! I imagine our offerings for donors will look quite different a year from now and I like the pay up front and make your donation go even further option. Thank you for helping me.
Hi Kyle, thank you for the great suggestion. I agree, the 100% messaging is very effective. It seems to be one of the biggest drivers behind Charity Water’s success. They have private funders paying for their overhead and cover the cost of credit card fees for donors. In a perfect world we’d do the same and we plan on applying for grants. If they figured out the logistics, I bet we could eventually too. Thanks again!
Iirc PayPal giving pool eats the credit card fees
Hi Hauke, thank you! I will check that out.
Hi! I just wanted to say welcome and that I love the idea! I’m excited in general about it, think that it could be really promising for ‘non’-EAs’, and just love that you took an idea and put it into action :)
Hi Elika,
Wow! You’re so kind. Thank you for the encouragement and for joining Pepper, that’s so cool. Your support means a lot to me. I’m glad you think it could appeal to people unfamiliar with EA. I think the work these charities are doing is fantastic and more people should know about it! I believe that if we can educate people on their awesomeness and make it super simple for them to make an impact, then maybe it’ll snowball into something big. Thanks again!
Why is it called ‘Pepper’?
Hi David, ahh thanks for asking! I was envisioning one of those little hot peppers that’s small but packs a punch, the idea being that with Pepper a small amount of money can make a big impact.
I think this is an excellent idea. As others have noted, I think there is alpha in reaching new people without any EA branding and pitching helping distant others to them. Doing the basics well. Also, seeing your webpage made me realize how much I’ve lowered my standards on design for a lot of EA content. It’s quite nice.
My main (small) criticism is that I was confused by the name. I think you should more clearly explain it. I kept imagining black pepper, not a chili pepper. Maybe there is a way to incorporate the image of a hot pepper somewhere? It didn’t feel bad, exactly, but random and odd.
Hi Ryan!
Thank you so much for the encouragement and kind words. I’m glad you like the design of the site. If things go well I’m going to invest in improving it further. And I 100% agree with you on the name/branding having a disconnect. I may create a new logo with the red little pepper icon shortly and more so communicate the significance d behind the name. It’s been the first question people ask me. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend!
I like this idea because it is simple and makes donations less daunting especially for a student like myself since there is a $10 cap. I’ll be signing up :)
I like the donation dashboard too, and the sign-up process was quick and easy! Really nice work here! I shared it with my local EA university group.
Hi Lauren, thank you for the input and thank you for joining Pepper! If you think of any ways I can improve it please email me or comment. Waking up and reading your comments made my morning. And you got me thinking that I should see if other EA university groups would be interested in Pepper. Thank you!
Such a cool initiative!
Thank you! I hope your work in Hungary is going well.