The Giving Pond

5% of everything YourPond makes goes back to the community.

Revenue, not profit. So it's a real number from the first dollar, not a promise that pays out someday.

Why this exists

I've always been the person who keeps up. I'm the one making the introduction, remembering the birthday, asking who you should meet now that you've moved.

That takes real work, and I got tired of doing it out of a notes app and my own memory. So I built the thing I wanted. A place to organize the people in your life, so you can spend more of it in a room with them.

Community is whoever decided, at the end of a long week, to go.

It felt strange to build a company about that and not give anything back to one.

— Emily

The pledge

5% of revenue.

Not profit. Profit is a number I get to define. Revenue isn't.

Published every quarter.

The amount, and where it went. I'll tell you why I picked it too.

Given to people doing it in person.

Organizations that get real humans in the same room.

Even when it's small.

If a quarter is $12, this page says $12. If it's $0, it says that too.

The Pond

The Pond is empty right now.

Every gift shows up here as a lily pad. The amount, where it went, and why.

First report is the end of 2026. If this quarter brings in enough to be worth its own post, sooner. Otherwise it lands when the books close.

Suggest an organization

I haven't picked yet, and I'd rather not pick alone.

Emily@yourpond.io

Tell me the organization and one sentence about why it matters to you. I read all of it!

What I'm looking for

Local, in-person, and small enough that a few hundred dollars is a real number to them. Community centers, libraries, mutual aid, youth programs, neighborhood groups. Anything that gets people together.

The Shelf

Books, podcasts, articles, and organizations I keep coming back to on community and friendship.

book

Bowling Alone

Robert D. Putnam

Putnam counted every way Americans stopped showing up for each other and then published the graphs. It came out in 2000 and it reads like it was written last week.

book

The Anxious Generation

Jonathan Haidt

Haidt's case for what changed when childhood moved indoors. The chapters on unsupervised play are the ones I keep thinking about.

Front cover of The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker, with the title set inside a loose ring of overlapping watercolour blooms in pink, red and yellow.

book

The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

Priya Parker

Parker's argument is that most gatherings fail before anyone arrives, because nobody decided what the thing was actually for. The chapter on generous authority changed how I plan everything.