Commissions for a Cause - a Profit for Good project

Animal welfare EA Community Choice Global health & development

Brad West

ActiveGrant

$801raised

$10,000funding goal

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Project summary

Commissions for a Cause is an innovative initiative that enables independent insurance agents to support effective charities through their regular commission earnings. By redirecting a portion of their commissions to high-impact charities, agents can attract socially conscious clients without increasing costs for the consumer. The project leverages existing business practices to create meaningful social change, demonstrating that philanthropy and business success can go hand-in-hand.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

The primary goal of Commissions for a Cause is to demonstrate that consumers prefer to work with businesses that support charitable causes when given the option, even if the price remains the same. We aim to validate this model as a scalable way to fund effective charities through everyday transactions.

To achieve this, we will:

Partner with independent insurance agents who are willing to donate a portion of their commissions.
Launch a targeted marketing campaign to raise awareness among potential clients about the benefits of choosing an agent who supports charity.
Collect data on consumer preferences and the financial impact of this initiative on participating agents.
Use the results to refine and expand the program, ultimately applying the model to other industries.

How will this funding be used?

Funding will be used to:

Develop marketing materials to promote the program to both agents and consumers.
Provide training and resources for participating agents to help them effectively communicate the value of Commissions for a Cause to their clients.
Conduct a pilot study to gather data on the program’s impact and refine the model for future expansion.
Cover operational costs, including outreach to potential agent partners and ongoing program management.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Brad West is the founder of the Profit for Good Initiative, with a background in law. He has successfully integrated charitable giving into his legal practice by donating 100% of his commissions to charity.
Blake Hannagan brings a wealth of experience in social entrepreneurship and nonprofit leadership. He is the founder of The Mission Motor, an organization dedicated to accelerating social impact through creative and sustainable solutions. With a strong background in strategic planning and execution, Blake’s leadership has been instrumental in driving the success of various mission-driven projects. Blake Hannagan on LinkedIn.

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

The most likely causes of failure include insufficient agent participation, low consumer interest, or challenges in effectively communicating the program’s value proposition. If the project fails, the primary outcome would be a lack of significant impact on charitable donations through this channel. However, even in failure, the project will provide valuable insights into consumer behavior and the viability of similar models in the future, informing subsequent efforts in the social enterprise space.

What other funding are you or your project getting?

Currently, the Commissions for a Cause project is primarily funded by Brad West, who is covering initial costs to launch and operate the pilot phase. We are actively seeking additional funding from philanthropists, impact investors, and foundations interested in supporting innovative philanthropic models. This additional funding will be crucial for expanding the program and increasing its impact.

donated $50

Sasha Cooper

3 months ago

My partner and I made notes on all of the projects in the EACC initiative, and thought this was one of the more convincing among some really strong competition.

Our quick and dirty notes:

They: I wish EA would do more in the way of financial incentives/efficiencies etc; insurance people make a lot of money, and if this can successfully incentivise them with more customers that seems amazing

He: I liked this more the more I thought about the success of similar targeted-fundraising projects (High Impact Athletes, Founders Pledge). Would have liked a more concrete proposal ('develop marketing materials' feels like the organisational CV equivalent of 'proficient in MS Word') and more on what success/failure would look like, but the idea seems well worth testing, and the founders sound really solid

<3

donated $160

Jason

3 months ago

Added funding up to minimum level.

Rationale: I give a good deal of weight to sweat equity / skin in the game, and Brad has this on Profit-for-Good like projects in spades. This incarnation doesn't run into one of the big structural problems that I forsee with building many Profit-for-Good businesses from the ground up. Specifically, there is no entity here with a deep treasury who is willing to run at a loss for a while to crowd out the P4G competitor. Rather, in this context, what the consumer is getting from the Commissions for a Cause agent is the same insurance product at the same price.

A remaining concern: The low barriers to entry make the model easy to copy if successful, so high-impact charities would likely be competing with US children's hospitals, animal shelters, and other very popular charities. Still, the insurance market is massive enough that capturing a sliver of value is still valuable, and I don't weight most non-high impact charities' value at zero.

donated $50

Sasha Cooper

3 months ago

@Jason 'The low barriers to entry make the model easy to copy if successful, so high-impact charities would likely be competing with US children's hospitals, animal shelters, and other very popular charities.'

Fwiw the most directly comparable project I can think of to this failed because the barriers to entry were much higher than it superficially seemed. I also haven't seen much evidence of the rest of the charity world trying to ape in on somewhat comparable initiatives that have worked (e.g. High Impact Athletes) - my sense is the rest of the charity world generally doesn't have the collective coordination to copy something like this.

donated $160

Jason

3 months ago

@Arepo The difference here, I think, is the presence of a third party motivated to undercut the Commissions for a Cause program. That third party is non C4C commissioned agents, for whom C4C is a lead generation / advertising program that some of their competitors engage in. So the question for them would be how they can get enough of the halo effect of C4C at a significantly lower cost. I think we see something vaguely similar with weak animal-welfare certifications; consumers may treat charitable element as a binary checkbox and not dig into the specifics that determine whether it is performative nonsense or legit.

One data point: I am reminded several times a year in mailings from my realtor that she gives a fraction of her commissions to some foundation associated with her brokerage that works somehow on housing-related issues. I assume the amount is nominal, and that the foundation is ~useless. (The master foundation seems to be the one described here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/realogy-charitable-foundation-celebrates-10-year-anniversary-and-225-million-in-total-funds-raised-and-donated-248828831.html) But this suggests some awareness on the part of major commission-based players that promising some charitable benefit in exchange for business could move consumer behavior. $2.4MM/year for an outfit with ~250K agents is peanuts, though.

donated $100

Sofia Balderson

3 months ago

I love moonshot projects and I really hope you succeed. I really appreciate and value your persistence Brad and keeping going on top of your job. Happy to support!

donated $140

Kevin Xia

3 months ago

I consider Profit for Good a bit of a long-shot, but one with enormous potential. If successful, I believe the initiative can be fundamentally landscape-changing for the farmed animal movement and I'll welcome any well reasoned attempts at such ambitious goals. As a side note, I greatly appreciate the recognition of informational value that this project may bring about.