Almost Basic

Community + Cash = Magic.
We're testing what happens when financial support meets real belonging. This isn't charity—it's a shift in how we solve poverty.

Read on to hear our rationale. Hop to the Programs page to see where we’re starting to learn. See the Tools page for where we need help building the components that can be adopted elsewhere.

Poverty Drags Us All Down

It’s obvious that poverty hurts the poor. But it also harms the rest of us:

• We know how random life is, so we build buffers—leaving us less generous than we want to be.

• We love hearing what kids want to do when they grow up—until it’s time to get a job.

• Innovations that free us from boring, unpleasant, and dangerous work, innovations we should celebrate, become the enemy—don’t we “need” those jobs?

• The market, so good at distributing luxury and addiction, ignores basic needs—leaving governments and charities to overcomplicate simple problems like feeding people.

• Churches and nonprofits stay stuck in crisis mode—addressing problems money could already solve, with no time left to build real community.

Just imagine: if people simply had money, many of these problems would disappear.

Let it sink in: life is random. A car breaks down. A job is lost. A loved one gets sick. We cobble together safety nets: insurance, charity, food stamps, maybe payday loans (it’s expensive to be in need). Still, the holes remain. And when we fall through, the downward spiral begins. And all too often, we blame ourselves.

When one of us suffers, we all do. Society pays—through lost productivity, higher health costs, and emergency services. Communities pay—because people in crisis can’t participate. And the rest of us hustle to help, solving problems that cash could fix.

Imagine having a cure for cancer and refusing to use it. That’s what we’re doing with hunger, eviction, and desperation. The cure exists. We just refuse to administer it.

Instead, we’ve built systems that destroy hope and stall progress.

So Why Don’t We Just Give People Money?

Systemic change is hard. And voluntary generosity gets bogged down:

• Generous people get burned. A few people gaming the system can ruin it for everyone.

• We’re afraid. What if we make things worse? What if we enable bad behavior?

• Dignity gets in the way. The people who need help most are the least likely to ask.

We need a system that addresses all three of these barriers. Universal Basic Income—cash, no strings attached, for everyone—is the simplest answer. But political gridlock leaves national adoption far away.

So what can we do?

Almost Basic

Almost Basic is the idea that direct cash transfers—delivered with dignity, fueled by generosity, and extended through community—can fill the gap left by our failed attempts to micromanage poverty.

Is it free? No. It requires an investment … but done right, the return is massive. The ingredients already exist:

• Potential, locked in poverty

• Abundance, chasing soul-crushing objectives

• Community, stuck in crisis mode

We need strategy and infrastructure: dignity by design; progress on purpose.

Let’s start small. Let’s find or form tight-knit communities that offer dignity-first financial support: interest-free loans and cash infusions during life’s inevitable transitions. Let’s fund those communities. Then let’s make belonging come with built-in resilience.

Then, let’s help those communities scale. The joy of community isn’t just in sharing it—it’s in extending it. Find those who’ve been left out, welcome them in, and give them tools to thrive.

Generosity grows when people feel safe enough to give. And we’re building the tools to make that easy.

Get Involved

Let’s stop waiting. Let’s stop overcomplicating. Let’s build a better system—together.

Reach out. Join us. Help unlock what's Almost Basic.