โ€œThereโ€™s no prize for the richest person in the graveyardโ€ is one of my favorite expressions. I believe an allocation of funds should go to helping others and our planet.

As such, Blackthorn is pledging 1%, following in the footsteps of Salesforce.com and Marc Benioffโ€™s โ€œ1-1-1โ€ pledge, in pledging 1% of:

  • Employee time
  • Product (our apps as donations and/or discounted for qualifying nonprofits)
  • Company equity
  • Owner equity
  • Profit

Time: Employees can volunteer for nonprofit causes, fully paid, with 1% of their annual time, which equates to approximately three days a year.

Product: As a company, we believe in helping qualified nonprofits (in the US, this is determined by 501(c)(3) status) with their causes, and we offer a discount on our products and services.

Money: If the company is ever acquired or IPOs, 1% of my equity and the companyโ€™s equity will be donated to nonprofit causes, as well as each year, 1% of the companyโ€™s profit.

Weโ€™re new to this, so if youโ€™re reading this and have experience with it, please reach out and give us any advice you have! It will help us in making our 1% program as beneficial as possible.

Regards,
Chris Federspiel
Founder & CEO