The solution to public goods funding; aka Equity for Charity, Manifold Impact Certs

Proposal status: Mostly done, awaiting a prototype. Would love any high-level feedback, or any statements of interest in providing or receiving funding!

TL;DR

• Allow any charity (like AMF) or creator (like Scott Alexander) to raise money by selling equity/tokens.
• The equity is a share of future “profit” of the charity or creator, like stock in a public company
• The charity “profits” when any donor (like SBF, Open Phil, or an ACX reader) burns their personal equity stake
• Bonus: To set up a predictable revenue stream, sell this equity through recurring monthly payments.

Examples

McDonald’s is a for-profit company that sells hamburgers for money. They use the proceeds to pay for patties & buns & employees to sell even more hamburgers. When they needed money to get started, they sold equity (a percentage of ownership in their project) in an IPO, in exchange for cash up front to pay for the setup costs of buying materials and paying employees.

**Climeworks is a nonprofit that sells carbon offsets for money.** They use the proceeds to develop better carbon offset technology and sell even more carbon offsets. When they needed money to get started, they sold equity to investors, in exchange for cash up front to develop the tech and pay employees.

Givewell is a nonprofit that sells “impact” for money. They use the proceeds to develop more effective ways of achieving “impact” by publishing research and funding other charities. When they need money to attract a high-performing COO from the for-profit world, they could sell equity, representing a claim on the future cash flows of donors continuing to pay for Givewell’s “impact”. (And also grant equity as part of the COO’s compensation package).

Astral Codex Ten is a blog that sells blog posts for money. It uses the proceeds to pay for the continued writing of more blog posts. When Scott, the author, wants more money to fund a large book review contest, he could sell equity in the ACX project, a claim against the future cash flows of people continuing to pay money for his writing.

The ACX Book Review Contest is a platform where a lot of different writers sell book reviews for money. When a writer wants money up front to pay for their time writing the book, they sell equity in their review. The secondhand market for book review equities act as prediction markets over which reviews will ultimately win the contest. The contest judges can look at these prediction markets before deciding, allowing the wisdom of the crowds to shape their final judgements.