How CounterPledge Works
A simple mechanism that turns political spending into charitable giving.
Make a pledge
Choose your candidate in the Texas Senate race, an amount from $5 to $1,000, and one charity from our list. You'll enter the contact and employment information federal law requires for political contributions, and your card details. Your card is verified at this point, not charged. Verification places a temporary $1 authorization that appears as “Democracy Engine,” our payment processor. It disappears within a few days and is never billed.
The drive
Pledges collect during a matching drive. Each drive closes on a Sunday at 3:00 AM Eastern, and the exact closing time is shown while you pledge. During the drive you can see how many people have pledged on each side, but not the dollar amounts. Amounts are revealed when the drive closes.
The match
When the drive closes, we add up each side's pledges. The two sides cancel each other out dollar for dollar, and every canceled dollar goes to charity (before fees). If one side pledged more, donors on that side have their pledges split proportionally between their charity and their candidate. Say one side pledges $100 and the other $80: the $80 side is fully matched, and on the $100 side every pledge is 80 percent matched, so a $10 pledge sends $8 to charity and $2 to the candidate. In total, $160 goes to charity, $80 from each side. The diagram below shows how it works.
The charge
Right after matching, your card is charged once, for exactly the amount you pledged. The matched portion goes to the charity you chose, and any unmatched portion goes to your candidate's campaign committee. CounterPledge never holds your money at any point; payments are processed and disbursed by Democracy Engine, a processor that has specialized in political contributions since 2009. Democracy Engine deducts a 6 percent processing fee from the amounts it disburses, and CounterPledge charges a 1 percent platform fee.
The reveal
Results are published after every drive: how much was matched, how much went to charity, and how much went to each campaign. You'll get an email with your personal breakdown. Then the next drive opens.
Example: how a drive splits
$160 to charity · $20 to Side A's candidate · $0 to Side B's candidate
Every pledge on Side A is 80 percent matched: a $10 pledge sends $8 to charity and $2 to its candidate. Figures are before fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why pledge here instead of donating directly to my candidate?
If a dollar helps one campaign about as much as the other, what matters is the gap between the two sides' money, not the raw totals. Taking $100 away from the other side moves that gap exactly as much as giving $100 to your own, and that is what a matched pledge does, while sending both donations to charity instead of into the arms race. If nobody matches you, your money goes to your candidate anyway, just like a direct donation.
Why would anyone on the other side participate?
For the same reason you would. They'd rather see money go to charity than to a campaign they oppose. The mechanism treats both sides identically: nobody gets an advantage, and every matched dollar is one the opposing campaign doesn't receive.
How is this different from just giving to charity?
If you give $100 to charity directly, the other side's donor still funds their campaign. If you pledge $100 here and get matched, $200 goes to charity (before fees) and the opposing campaign doesn't get the $100 it would have received. Your donation does double work.
How exactly is the match calculated?
When a drive closes, we total the pledges on each side. The smaller side's total is matched in full: every dollar of it goes to charity (before fees), along with an equal number of dollars from the larger side. On the larger side, each pledge is matched in proportion to the overall split. An example, with all figures before fees: say one side pledges $100 in total and the other pledges $80. The $80 side is fully matched, so all of it goes to charity. On the $100 side, $80 is matched and $20 is not, which works out to 80 cents of every pledged dollar. Someone who pledged $10 on that side sends $8 to their charity and $2 to their candidate. Altogether, $160 reaches charity: the full $80 from the smaller side and the matched $80 from the larger side. The only money that reaches a campaign is the $20 unmatched remainder on the larger side. Allocations are computed to the cent, and the full drive totals are published at every reveal so you can check the math.
Who handles the money?
Not us. CounterPledge never takes custody of your money at any point. Payments are processed and disbursed by Democracy Engine, LLC, a nonpartisan payment processor that has specialized in political and nonprofit contributions since 2009 and operates under its own FEC advisory opinion. Democracy Engine charges the card, sends the matched portion to your charity, sends any unmatched portion to your candidate's committee, and provides the committee with the compliance data federal law requires. Democracy Engine deducts a 6 percent processing fee from the amounts it disburses. CounterPledge charges a 1 percent platform fee on each pledge, disclosed before you confirm. Disbursements go out on Democracy Engine's schedule after a drive closes, so for a drive that closes just before the election, unmatched contributions may reach campaign committees around or after election day.
Which charities can I choose, and why these?
Six national charities: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, American Red Cross, Feeding America, Fisher House Foundation, and Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. We chose large, widely trusted organizations whose work people across the political spectrum support. Donations to St. Jude are received by ALSAC, its fundraising organization. CounterPledge is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with any of these organizations; they are simply where the matched money goes.
What will I see on my card statement?
Two things at most. First, a temporary $1 authorization from "Democracy Engine" when you pledge. It is never billed and drops off within a few days. Second, after the drive closes, one charge for your pledge amount, labeled "DEMENG*CounterPledge" or "Democracy Engine."
Can I cancel my pledge?
No. Pledges are binding once confirmed. This is part of the structure the FEC approved, and it protects everyone in the drive: your pledge may be the reason someone on the other side gets matched.
What if my card is declined when the drive closes?
Your pledge simply doesn't go through and no money moves. Nobody else's outcome changes. You're welcome to pledge again in the next drive with an updated card. Deliberately submitting a card you expect to fail, or misrepresenting who you are, violates our Terms of Service and will get you banned from the platform. It can also carry legal risk: knowingly providing false information in connection with federal political contributions can violate federal law.
Why do you ask for my employer and occupation?
Federal law requires campaign committees to collect and report this information for contributions. We collect it so the committee receiving any unmatched portion of your pledge can meet its reporting obligations. See our Privacy Policy for exactly what is shared and with whom.
Is there a limit on how much I can pledge?
Federal law caps contributions at $3,500 per candidate per election in this cycle, and our system enforces that cap across all your pledges. We also cap individual pledges at $1,000 right now.
Is my contribution tax deductible?
We don't make any claims about deductibility, and you will not receive a tax receipt from the charity for a matched donation made through CounterPledge. The portion that goes to your candidate is a political contribution, which is never deductible. For the portion that goes to charity, consult your tax advisor.
Do the campaigns participate in this?
No. No campaign is involved with CounterPledge in any way. Unmatched contributions reach them through Democracy Engine the same way any online contribution would, along with the donor information federal law requires.
Is this legal?
Yes. In 2015, the Federal Election Commission issued Advisory Opinion 2015-08 to a platform called Repledge, concluding that Repledge could match opposing pledges and send matched money to charity. CounterPledge is built to operate within that framework.
Whose idea was this?
Several people proposed and developed this idea before us. UCLA law professor Eric Zolt and his Repledge co-founders, Jonathan DiBenedetto and Noah Ornstein, designed the mechanism, first brought it to the FEC in 2012, and won approval in 2015. The philosopher Toby Ord explored the broader concept, that opposing sides can both come out ahead by trading conflict for charitable good, in a 2015 paper on what he called moral trade. Others have worked on versions of the idea since. CounterPledge is our attempt to put it into practice.
Who runs CounterPledge?
CounterPledge, Inc., a Delaware company founded by Nicholas Heath and Andrew Trousdale. Our goal is to pull money out of the political arms race and put it to better use. You can reach us at support@counterpledge.com.
What happens after Texas?
Texas is our proof of concept. If we can divert large sums away from the campaign arms race and into charity together, we plan to expand CounterPledge. Proving it works in one race is the first step.