How to Make a Dent in The Universe With The Lemonade Giveback

At Lemonade, we set out to create an insurance company driven by social good – and that meant no marketing fluff or philanthropic giveaways. Instead, we wanted to build a different system – one that would bring out the best in all of us, and that would have social impact embedded in its very foundations.

That’s what the Lemonade Giveback is all about. Since our launch in September 2016, Lemonade has donated over $6,164,548 to an incredible range of nonprofits via Giveback. As the Lemonade community grows, so does the potential of our Giveback—from just $50,000 in 2017, to over $2,000,000 in 2022.

Unlike any other insurance company, we donate all unclaimed premiums to charity. What does that mean? We take a flat fee from your monthly premium, use the rest to pay claims, and give back what’s left to causes you care about each summer. So that annual donation doesn’t come directly from your pocket – instead, it comes from the good behaviour and good fortune of the Lemonade community.

Want to dive deeper? Read on for everything you ever wanted to know about the Lemonade Giveback programme — and for the entire list of Lemonade’s Giveback charities, scroll down.

Here’s a quick preview of what we’ll cover:

• What is the impact of Lemonade’s Giveback?
• How does Giveback really make Lemonade different?
• The Lemonade Giveback nonprofits

The Impact of Lemonade’s Giveback

Since the Lemonade launch in the US in September 2016, there have been 6 Givebacks. In 2017, Lemonade donated over 10% of its revenue to 14 Giveback causes, which amounted to over $50,000. In 2018, the Lemonade community donated over $162,000 to 15 nonprofits. In 2019, we donated over $630,000 to 26 charities. In 2020, we donated over $967,647 to 34 nonprofits. As the Lemonade community grows, so does the potential of our Giveback, and in 2021, we donated over $2,000,000 to 65 non-profits around the world. Some notable donations include $295,785 to the SPCAI to help give life-saving care and shelter to rescue animals, $118,559 American Forests to plant trees in critical ecosystems, $57,136 to Thorn to help protect children by removing abusive material online. $65,659 to Feeding America to provide lunches to the hungry.

How Giveback Makes Lemonade Different

Our Giveback program does more than just allow our Lemonaders to support causes they care about. It also changes the relationship between us (the insurer) and our Lemonaders, by aligning our interests.

Traditionally, insurance companies make money by saying ‘no’ to claims. Every pound they pay out in claims is a pound less to their bottom line. This creates an inherent conflict of interest between insurers and their customers, a system designed to bring out the very worst in people.

Lemonade is different. By taking a flat fee and using the rest to pay claims, we’re never in conflict with our customers. If there’s leftover premium, it goes to charities chosen by Lemonaders themselves- so Giveback is baked into our business model.

In other words, Giveback ties our hands, so we’ll never be in a position where we’re deciding between making money and approving claims. We’ll never fight over the same coin.

When your unused pounds go to charity, it’s not an extra payment from your pocket. It’s simply due to your good fortune and good behaviour – your unclaimed pounds roll over to make a difference for someone else in this universe.

The Giveback model predicts that not every group will get a Giveback every year, but we hope most groups will have more good years than bad.

Social impact is a guiding value at Lemonade. We are a proud member of the B Corp community, and one of the world’s only public benefit insurance companies. Our goal is not only to make insurance easy, simple, and instant – but a social good rather than a necessary evil. We want to make it easy for you to do good.

If you already have a Lemonade policy but haven’t selected your Giveback cause, make sure you download the Lemonade app. You’ll be prompted to pick a cause you care about and will have the opportunity to read more about each one. If you don’t have Lemonade yet, scroll through our list of causes below, choose one you’re passionate about, and get a Lemonade policy in seconds. If you get a policy through one of the links below, you’ll automatically be assigned that cause for your Lemonade Giveback.

The Lemonade Giveback nonprofits in the UK

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH)

Everyday more than 600 seriously ill children and young people arrive at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). Day in, day out, doctors and nurses battle the most complex conditions, and the brightest minds come together to achieve pioneering medical breakthroughs.

Anthony Nolan

Anthony Nolan is a charity that makes lifesaving connections between people with blood cancer and incredible strangers ready to donate their stem cells. For someone with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant could be their last chance of survival. And for that person, their family, and their friends, your donation could fund the search that can give them their second chance of life.

Choose Love

Choose Love does whatever it takes to provide refugees and displaced people with everything from lifesaving rescue boats to food and legal advice. Their work has reached over 1.8 million people and supported over 250 fast-acting community organisations across Europe, the Middle East and along the US-Mexico border.

The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN) 

TERN enables refugees to thrive through the power of their own ideas. Since 2016, they have worked with more than 350 refugee founders across the UK helping to establish 100 new refugee-led companies.

Stop Hate UK

Stop Hate UK operate the UK’s only free dedicated 24-hour anti-hate crime reporting service for all monitored strands of a person’s identity or perceived identity (Disability, Race, Faith, Sexual orientation and Transgender identity). 

Crisis

Crisis provides vital help to thousands of homeless people every year throughout the UK. From finding a home to finding a job, or help with their health and wellbeing, Crisis reaches homeless people in 12 areas across England, Scotland and Wales.

Clean Air Task Force

Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organisation working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalysing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. 

Cool Earth

Protect the rainforest and fight the climate crisis with Cool Earth. Cool Earth get cash and give it directly to indigenous people and local communities living in rainforest to stop deforestation at the root. Keeping tropical rainforest healthy cools our planet – it’s the most effective carbon-capturing technology we have. 

Together for Animals

Together for Animals, believe no animal should suffer from injury, disease, abuse or neglect. Donations received are shared equally with Blue Cross, Mayhew, SPANA and World Horse Welfare – so you are helping cats, dogs, donkeys, and horses in the UK and in some of the world’s poorest communities.

BTW, if you don’t see your favourite cause on our list, let us know – we’d love to see if we can help support them too through our Giveback program. Drop us a line at [email protected].