What are transaction fees? If sufficiently low, this could enable some use cases I’ve had personally where I want to, for example, donate $2 to charity at the click of a button every time I’m begged for change, or if I find myself somewhere remote and unable to access vegan food or something
Unfortunately, we are currently bound to general paypal transaction fees, which depend on region, card type, and so on, and are a bit too high to make a $2 dollar payment worth it. But once we are a non-profit, we will have access to other, much cheaper options.
Maybe reach out to Nick Fitz and Ari Kagan about their experience with the earlier versions Sparrow/Momentum app if you haven't already. It's not the same deal but their are some parallels. (I'm also happy to chat about this.)
Wow, I’m really excited to see this initiative take shape! 30 new high impact charities to choose from, you've come a long way. I love that you’ve put together a Theory of Change, it’s such a critical but overlooked step for any serious NGO. Wishing the best to the team, Patrick, Benni, and Antilia.
I hope GoodWallet sparks the kind of high-impact behavior change the culture could really benefit from. I’ve really enjoyed using the web app, and would love to see it available on the Play Store as well. Removing that small bit of friction could help push those already impressive early user numbers even higher! Kudos to you
We’re building a frictionless way to turn everyday transactions into donations to the world’s most effective charities, and we’re seeking funding and partners to accelerate our growth.
We’re building GoodWallet, a digital wallet that makes donating to high-impact charities as simple and seamless as sending money to a friend. Our simple, flexible design supports a wide range of real-world uses, such as repayments between friends, tips for creators, business payments, and peer-to-peer fundraising. By embedding effective giving into everyday financial flows, we aim to unlock new counterfactual donations and introduce more people to the principles of effective altruism.
For more on our functionality and vision, see our last post from July:
🔗 GoodWallet: Turning Everyday Repayments into High-Impact Donations
Since launching in May 2025, we’ve grown to 150+ early users, processed $1,500+ in donations, and secured conditional 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsorship with SparkWell, allowing us to provide tax-deductible receipts during fundraising and after.
If you’re excited about this idea and would like to support us in scaling it, we are currently seeking funding to take the next steps.
Patrick: In charge of business operations. PhD in Data Science and Health, graduate of AIM’s Founding to Give program, currently exploring FinTech in non-for profit and for-profit areas. 10% pledger.
Benjamin: In charge of the full software stack. PhD in Particle Physics. AI scientist. Has built software applications before, in previous small-scale startups with Patrick. 10% pledger.
Antilia: Guides our research and choice-architecture and ensures EA alignment. Oxford Economics PhD candidate in the behavioural science of effective giving. EA Oxford President. 10% pledger.
So far, GoodWallet has been built and operated by a small voluntary team, but to realize our vision of real growth, we now want to get a legal foundation and build a professional core team.
Our goal is to make effective giving as seamless and habitual as everyday payments. By embedding GoodWallet into repayments, marketplaces, and apps, we aim to create entirely new streams of counterfactual donations.
With funding, we plan to:
Our aim: by year two, drive $200,000+ per year in counterfactual donations to highly effective charities. We’ll rigorously measure impact by assigning weights to donations based on how likely they would have occurred without GoodWallet, ensuring we neither overstate nor understate our effect.
Our vision is to make effective giving a default behavior within everyday transactions, enabling counterfactual donations that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise.
We’ve mapped out how GoodWallet achieves impact, including our assumptions, uncertainties, and success metrics. You can view the full Theory of Change here:
🔗 GoodWallet Theory of Change
If you are interested in supporting GoodWallet, know someone that might be interested in investing some of their annual donations to GoodWallet, or simply want to learn more about the process, please reach out to [email protected].
Have been using this and one thing I love about it is that it allows me to start conversations about donations and impact with non-EA friends when they want to pay me back for something. Feels less preachy and more natural than it otherwise would. Thanks for working on this!
Thanks for consistently using the GoodWallet and giving us so much helpful feedback all the time @Christoph Hartmann 🔸 :)