The Million Dollar Foundation pools a million dollars from people who want a problem actually fixed — then aims every dollar at a single problem. Anyone can propose it. The people who fund it vote. The board decides. The work happens in public.
The whole model fits in one breath: pool the money, surface the problems, let the backers speak, let the board answer for the choice, and do the work where everyone can watch.
Anyone can submit a problem worth a million dollars. No credentials required — just a specific problem and a measurable finish line.
Backers pledge into one fund — $25 or $25,000, it all points at the same target. The fund does one thing at a time.
We publish a shortlist of the strongest proposals. Every backer gets one vote — one person, one vote, regardless of gift size.
The vote is real input, but the decision belongs to the board — on the record, with reasons published. You'll always know who chose and why.
The full million funds the fix, with a public ledger and public progress reports until the finish line is crossed. Then the next fund opens.
A hundred dollars into a big charity is real generosity — and statistically invisible. You never find out what it did, because on its own it didn't do anything measurable. The same hundred dollars, pooled with 9,999 others, is a fully funded, single-minded attack on one specific problem.
A million dollars is a strange amount of money. It's too small for governments to mobilize around and too big for a bake sale — which is exactly why so many million-dollar-sized problems just sit there, year after year. It's enough to hire real people, buy real equipment, and finish a scoped piece of work. That gap is the reason this foundation exists.
And one problem at a time, because focus is the whole trick. No portfolio spread thin. No overhead empire. The fund fills, a problem is chosen, the money moves, the work is public — and then we do it again.
Every backer owns a stated, visible fraction of one finished outcome — not a rounding error in someone's annual report.
The best proposals often come from someone who already knows exactly how they'd fix the thing — and can't, because they have a job. If your proposal is selected and the board judges you're the right person to run it, the foundation can fund you to lead the work, full-time, for a year.
This isn't a job posting, and there's nothing to apply for. Propose a problem worth a million dollars; leading the fix is a possibility, not a promise.
A brand-new foundation has no track record to point at. What it can offer is rules written down in plain language, published before the first dollar — so it can be held to them.
Anyone proposes. Backers vote, and the vote is real input. The final decision belongs to the board — made on the record, with reasons published. A new foundation asking for money owes you a straight answer about who decides. This is it.
If the first fund hasn't reached its target after two years, every backer chooses: roll your money into the next fund, or take it back. We're stating that policy here, before we take a dollar, precisely so we can be held to it.
No. One backer, one vote, whether you pledged $25 or $25,000. Votes are never for sale — and the vote advises, the board decides. Money buys a bigger fraction of the outcome, not a bigger say in choosing it.
Not yet, and we won't pretend otherwise. The Million Dollar Foundation is newly formed and does not yet hold IRS 501(c)(3) status. That's why we're taking pledges, not payments: no money moves until the legal rails are in place, and we'll email every backer before they are.
Every dollar in and every dollar out will be published in a running public ledger — not an annual PDF. Overhead comes last, gets minimized, and gets reported like everything else.
A specific problem, a measurable finish line, and a credible case that a million dollars covers it. "Solve homelessness" isn't a proposal. "House and case-manage the forty chronically homeless people in this county for two years" is.
Both take about two minutes. Neither costs you anything today.
We're taking pledges, not payments. Nothing is charged now — you're telling us, on the record, what you'll put in when giving opens. We'll email you before a single dollar moves.
You're on the founding backer list. We'll email you at each milestone — and before any money moves, you'll hear from us first.
No credentials, nonprofit, or pitch deck required. We read everything, acknowledge every submission, and publish a shortlist. Backers vote on the shortlist; the board decides.
We read every submission and will acknowledge yours by email. When the shortlist is published, you'll be the first to know where yours stands.
One email when something real happens: proposals open (that's now), the shortlist, the vote, the decision, the work. No weekly padding. Unsubscribe anytime.
We will never sell or share your address.
✓ You're in. Watch for the first milestone email.