Stories
Stories From the Founders Pledge Community
Our Latest Story:
Philanthropic Thinking
Pledge Ventures: A First Close with an Impact
Celebrating the first close of Pledge Ventures!
Member Spotlights

Member Stories
Game Founders for Climate 2021 - Raising $1 million to combat climate change
By: Kristian Segerstråle
Game Founders are raising $1M to combat climate change by matching your donations

Member Stories
‘I didn’t have to convince anyone’: Joshua Wohle on pledging with his co-founders
By: Joshua Wohle
We recently sat down with Joshua, who has pledged alongside his co-founders at Bloom and made a 10% pledge, to find out more about Bloom, the team’s motivations and his approach to impact.

Member Stories
The world’s biggest online art class: From smashing a world record to raising £50k
By: Rachel Baxter
Driven by Founders Pledge members Sam Barnett and Sebastien Blanc, the class broke an art world record and raised thousands of pounds for COVID relief.
Insights from the Research Team

Insights from the Research Team
Philanthropy to the Right of Boom
By: Christian Ruhl
A neglected impact multiplier for nuclear grantmaking.

Insights from the Research Team
How the Patient Philanthropy and Global Catastrophic Risks Funds Work Together
By: Christian Ruhl & Tom Barnes
The similarities and differences between the PPF and the GCR Fund.

Insights from the Research Team
A Guide to Forecasting at Founders Pledge
By: Christian Ruhl & Matt Lerner
A practical guide to forecasting, guidelines for better forecasting, and how to harness it to improve our work.

Insights from the Research Team
Our Approach to Moral Weights
By: Rosie Bettle & Vadim Albinsky
How we determine moral weights in order to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of charities across different areas

Insights from the Research Team
What "Think Global, Act Local" Means for US Climate Philanthropists
By: Johannes Ackva
The global implications of recent US climate wins.

Insights from the Research Team
The War in Ukraine, Climate Risk & High-Impact Climate Philanthropy
By: Johannes Ackva
The impact of the war in Ukraine on climate risk and what this means for high-impact climate philanthropy.

Insights from the Research Team
The Climate Change Fund at Two
By: Johannes Ackva & Luisa Sandkühler
Reflecting on two years of the Climate Change Fund.

Philanthropic Thinking
Introducing the Global Catastrophic Risks (GCR) Fund
By: Christian Ruhl
A blog introducing Founders Pledge's latest Fund offering, the Global Catastrophic Risks (GCR) Fund, which aims to help prevent severe global catastrophes today and in the future.

Insights from the Research Team
Measuring Health: How We Use (And Sometimes Don’t Use) DALY Estimates
By: Rosie Bettle
Our approach to measuring health and wellbeing to help us compare funding opportunities across cause areas.

Insights from the Research Team
Explaining a Small PPF Grant on Nuclear Security
By: Christian Ruhl
Why and how Founders Pledge recommended a small grant on nuclear security to the Patient Philanthropy Fund

Insights from the Research Team
Re-Evaluating Prof. Philip Tetlock’s Forecasting Work on Existential Risk
By: Christian Ruhl
How Founders Pledge re-evaluates our recommended funding opportunities, and why we recommend Professor Philip Tetlock's second-generation forecasting work for anticipating and mitigating some of the most pressing global risks

Insights from the Research Team
The ideas of economists
By: Johannes Ackva
Why the Climate Fund made two recent grants in connection with COP26, both targeted at changing ideas and discourse to change action. What we expect; what has been achieved; and how we will track impact.

Insights from the Research Team
Help humanity be prepared for when shit hits the fan
By: Johannes Ackva
This post explores what it means to focus on avoiding the worst climate risks, why the focus on extreme risks is more general than climate and how you can get involved to secure a good future when "shit hits the fan".

Insights from the Research Team
“It’s a cause and an effect of poverty”: SCI Foundation’s Wendy Harrison on tackling schistosomiasis
By: Dr Wendy Harrison
We recently caught up with Dr Wendy Harrison, CEO of SCI Foundation, about the impacts of schistosomiasis, SCI Foundation’s work and why philanthropists should support them.

Insights from the Research Team
Impact Stories: Sightsavers
By: Founders Pledge Team
Read the stories of Bomam Otto, headteacher, and Ngo Ndombol Norbertine, a 10-year-old pupil at a school enrolled in Sightsavers' high-impact deworming programme.
Philanthropic Thinking

Philanthropic Thinking
Pledge Ventures: A First Close with an Impact
By: Niki Buys
Celebrating the first close of Pledge Ventures!

Philanthropic Thinking
High-Impact Funding Recommendations to Support Now
By: Matt Lerner
Where your support will make the biggest difference right now.

Philanthropic Thinking
Creating a Flywheel for Impact
By: David Goldberg
Introducing a new fundraising concept for Founders Pledge.

Philanthropic Thinking
Giving in times of crisis
By: Ashley Neff & Victoria Nelmes
Our recommendations and guiding principles for giving in times of crisis.

Philanthropic Thinking
Why we say ‘funding opportunity’ instead of ‘charity’
By: Anu Khan & Rachel Baxter
We recommend a number of cost-effective, high-impact charities doing brilliant work, but we generally refer to our recommendations as ‘funding opportunities’. This is why.

Philanthropic Thinking
Funding requests: When to say no
By: Adriana Lowe
Even if you feel compelled to do good this Giving Season, you might be having a hard time deciding how best to allocate your limited resources. That’s where the Founders Pledge Advisory team comes in - we help you plan your giving strategically.

Philanthropic Thinking
How to give around an IPO
By: Alessandra Ferrari
A practical guide for pre-IPO giving for shareholding employees and alumni of a company in the process of going public. We cover essential considerations and offer strategies for maximizing the potential impact of your giving.
Podcasts

Podcasts
From 16-year-old college graduate to two-time tech founder with Robby Walker
By: Philip Kasumu
We chat to Robby about his fascinating personal journey, his entrepreneurial career and why he decided to take the pledge.

Podcasts
How I Give: Solving problems for small businesses in Africa with Daniel Yu
By: Philip Kasumu
We speak to Daniel Yu, Founder & Global CEO of Sokowatch, about his unique entrepreneurial journey, his philanthropy and why he decided to take the pledge.

Podcasts
How I Give: Entrepreneurship & philanthropy with Andrew Skotzko
By: Philip Kasumu
We speak to member Andrew Skotzko, product leader, podcaster, philanthropist and entrepreneur.