The document summarizes a micro-giving network called A Penny a Day that allows users to donate small amounts on a subscription basis. It uses multiple psychological factors to encourage giving, including personal connections, group mentality, tangible outcomes, recognition, and micro-pricing. Donations of one penny per day are crowd-sourced into $2,000-5,000 grants for winning applicants. The startup seeks partners, evangelists, team members, and incubators to help spread the word and build the network over the next year with the goal of reaching 1 million users donating 3 cents per day to fund over 1,000 $10,000 grants annually within 5 years.

1. The micro-giving network
November 2011

2. Q: Why do
people
give?

3. Hint: It’s not the persuasive prose…

4. A: We give
to feel
good.

5. Research indicates 5 key
factors influence giving
personal connection
group mentality
tangible outcome
recognition
micro-giving (price)
Source: http://www.springwise.com/non-profit_social_cause/schoolinthreehours/, http://teninthree.com/, www.pitt.edu/~vester/whydopeoplegive.pdf

6. A Penny a Day: How it Works
• Users donate a penny a Very micro
day or more, on a – almost no
subscription basis cost
• $2-5k grants are crowd- Built-in
sourced to winning mechanism
applicants in a for viral
continuous, realtime, spread
voting competition

7. A Penny a Day: Marketing
• A hip online network for A group
socially-conscious people activity with
• Tight social network and E- a large
commerce integration market
• Affirms subscriber self-
image with positive, Provides
personal messaging personal
• Stories and imagery of recognition
impact on individual for tangible
grantees and end- good
beneficiaries

8. If these strategies sound obvious,
it’s because they are.
Unfortunately, most causes,
including our major competitors,
are focused on just one or two.
The U.S. market for philanthropy is
over $300 billion annually.
It is underpenetrated.

9. Competition: Imitate strengths, mitigate flaws
+
1M users, $231M in loans, $25 increments
+
Facilitates strong online connection between lender and borrower
–
No mechanism for viral spread
+
True micro-giving model, promotes one cause a day, asks for just $1
–
No community or social dynamic
–
Difficult to generate repeat customers
+
Creates competitive dynamic, each person’s goodness is scored
–
Overly complex site recommends “at least 6 hours” to learn the site
+
Simple – people can invest in businesses with social impact
–
Lacks pithy hook or mechanism for viral spread
+
Group-buying + social good, taps E-commerce & social networking
–
Competes against group-buying sites but can’t give same discounts
+
Allows nascent causes to receive funding online
–
Funding requests are not actually “micro”
–
Donors unable to determine relative merit of causes

10. We’re
seeking
partners and
supporters.

11. We want to hear from you
• Social investors, to bridge the next 9-12 months of ramp up
• Evangelists (corporations, social sector organizations and
public figures), to spread the word to employees, customers,
supporters, fans, followers, readers
• Exceptional team members (co-founders, advisors and
volunteers), to lead technical and design development,
advise on legal and financial, help build partnerships, and
implement innovative, top-notch social media and
marketing plans
• Startup incubator programs (independent, university-
affiliated, unofficial), to tell us how we can better serve you

12. Thank you.
With questions or inquiries,
contact Taylor Jacobson at
taylor@apennyaday.org
+1 617 512 0767
+91 91670 88648

13. Team
Taylor Jacobson, founder/CEO
• Former management consultant, Oliver Wyman
• Fellow, Startup Leadership Program
• Core launch team member and fundraiser, Teach For India
• Co-founder, Duke Venture Forward, student/alumni venture group
• Founder, Midnight Riders, $300k+ raised for cancer research
Dan Sack, co-pilot
• Associate, Oliver Wyman
• Former Non-Profit Fellow, Kiva.org
Gerald Fine, advisor
• Ex-President and CEO, Schott North America
• Involved with a number of startups and venture capital firms
Jacob Vattakaven, technical lead
• Founder, Creative Director, Quirk

14. Projections and milestones
• 1 million users at 3 cents per day
5-Year Goal • $11 million in revenues
• Over 1,000 grants for $10k ea. annually
Preliminary Jan ’12 April ’12 Oct ’12 Jan ‘13
Dev phase Alpha Private beta Public beta
Active projects 20 25 45 150
Subs 500 1,500 17,500 60,000
Avg. sub 0.02 0.022 0.025 0.026
Rev./mo. $300 $1000 $13,000 $47,000
Costs/mo. $1,200 $4,000 $9,500 $13,000
Grant cycle (days) Capital infusion required 3 11

15. Detailed financial projections
Preliminary
Under current assumptions, $120,000 in outside capital
would allow a minimum of $10,000 in grants to be made
each month until sufficient scale is achieved

16. Home page
mock-up
(November 8,
2011)

17. Home page design themes (September 20, 2011)