Lemonade’s Giveback to the ACLU
The ACLU aims to protect and defend American rights, values, and liberties. They work in the courts, legislatures, and communities to preserve the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the US, fighting any attempts to take away or limit civil rights.
Through the Giveback to ACLU, the Lemonade community supported the ACLU’s Project on Speech, Privacy, and Technology. Through this project, our members have helped to protect and expand freedom of expression in its many forms, including protest, media, online speech, and the arts!
The 2017 Lemonade Giveback
Our total Giveback for 2017 was $53,174, and this number calls for some context: this amounts to 10.2% of our revenue. As a point of reference, the Fortune 100 give 0.08% of their revenues each year (CECP p.36). So if year-one is anything to go by, Giveback has the potential to 100X that benchmark. Time will tell, but early indications are encouraging.
We had 21 cause-centric-groups as of June 30, and 14 (66.7%) received a Giveback. Here’s a fun fact: among these 14 causes, an average of 18% of premiums were given to charity. These funds can go a long way when put in the right hands.
But it’s more than just numbers. Giveback amounts to a change in kind, because it isn’t dependent on profits (Lemonade hasn’t turned a profit yet). We think of Giveback as a social contract among our community, where the size and allocation is determined not by our big profits or big hearts, but by the good fortune and good behavior of our members. Remember, it’s not our money.
As our Chief Behavioral Officer Dan Ariely explained, “it’s money our community has entrusted to us, first and foremost to help our members recover from unfortunate events in their lives, and secondly, to help the less fortunate in our broader community.”
Share your ACLU impact, and read more about our 2017 Giveback here.