A Simple Game. A Big Idea.

A few years back I watched a friend play touch football in Brooklyn. Afterwards we all piled into a bar and the team had this super simple way of raising money.

At the door was a small metal bucket. Everyone wrote their name on a $20 bill and dropped it into the bucket. A bit later, after some drinks, someone would dump all the cash onto a table and split it roughly in half - no counting, just two piles by sight.

Then came the fun part: someone, eyes closed, would draw a bill from one pile. The person whose name was on that bill won that half of the money. The other half went straight to the team.

It was the simplest and most engaging form of community fundraising I’d ever seen. People loved it. Everyone gave, and everyone had a real chance to win.

From Metal Buckets to Grassroots Giving

Fast forward to life back in Australia. After selling my first business, I took some time off and started working with grassroots sports clubs, community groups, and local fundraising initiatives. What I saw surprised me.

People were pouring their time and energy into sausage sizzles, trivia nights, and one-off events just to keep their clubs going. While these efforts brought people together, they rarely brought in consistent funding.

Over and over, I heard the same thing:

“We need reliable, recurring income - not just the occasional big fundraiser. And it’s got to take less time.”

That’s when I started looking into subscription-based giving models.

The Problem With Traditional Charity Subscriptions

The idea of steady, recurring donations is appealing. But the reality? Much harder.

Those people stopping you on the street - sometimes called “chuggers” (charity muggers) - are selling subscription donations. But shockingly, as little as twenty cents of every dollar may reach the actual charity. The rest? Eaten up by for-profit fundraising agencies.

Online giving platforms face their own hurdles: high acquisition costs and declining donor engagement over time. It’s tough to sustain.

A Digital Bucket for Every Cause

As I thought more about it, I kept coming back to that metal bucket in Brooklyn.

I loved its transparency. I loved how it aligned incentives: people gave because they cared and because they could win.

And that’s when the idea clicked.

What if we could create thousands of digital metal buckets - each one supporting a cause, each one pooling funds into a weekly prize for one lucky supporter?

It would be crowdfunded generosity, gamified. A lottery with purpose. A way to raise money that feels good, does good, and rewards everyone who joins in.

The Start of Something Generous

And so, with a couple of friends and this simple but powerful concept, we started Generous.

We don’t claim to have all the answers. But we know this:

With generous hearts and focused minds, we can help people support the things they love - and give them a shot at a win while doing it.

The digital age needs a new kind of giving. One that blends impact, engagement, and reward. We’re having fun building it.