Our mission
The attention economy, rebuilt
Forge Foundation is building a consent-based advertising model where the people who generate ad revenue decide where it goes.
The attention economy problem
The attention economy is the system by which platforms compete for your time and focus, then sell that attention to advertisers. Google generated over $265 billion in advertising revenue last year. Meta generated over $135 billion. Every time you see an ad — on a website, in a feed, before a video — you are the product being sold.
So how much is your attention actually worth? Advertisers pay between $5 and $50 per thousand ad impressions, depending on the audience. The average person sees thousands of ads per year. That translates to real money — money that flows directly to shareholders, not to you, and certainly not to causes you care about.
This is sometimes called surveillance capitalism — the harvesting of behavioral data to power targeted advertising at scale. The arrangement is so normalized most people never question it. Forge was built to offer an alternative.
A different premise
Forge is built on the idea that your attention is yours. When you choose to give it — by voluntarily watching an ad — you should have a say in what happens to the revenue it generates.
So we built a platform where you do exactly that. Watch ads when you want to. Earn marks — our governance token. Each quarter, allocate those marks to the nonprofits you believe in. The revenue follows your marks.
No targeting without consent. No data sold. No algorithm deciding what causes matter. Just people directing the money their attention earns to causes that deserve it.
The 80/20 model
Forge is transparent about how revenue is split. There are no hidden fees, no investor distributions disguised as operations, and no vague promises about "giving back."
80%
Community pool
80% of net ad revenue flows into the community pool each quarter and is distributed to nonprofits proportional to user mark allocations. The community governs this entirely — Forge doesn't pick winners.
20%
Forge Foundation
20% of net revenue funds Forge Foundation — platform development, infrastructure, legal, and operations. We're transparent about this. Building a platform that works requires sustainable economics, and we don't hide it.
"Net" means after actual operating costs are deducted from gross revenue. Operating costs include hosting, payment processing, and similar expenses. Both pools are calculated on net, not gross.
Interested in advertising on Forge? Learn about reaching a cause-aligned audience →
How we vet causes
Every nonprofit on Forge must meet two non-negotiable criteria before it can appear on the platform:
- ✓Registered 501(c)(3) status — the organization must be a federally recognized nonprofit in the United States.
- ★Four-star Charity Navigator rating — the highest available rating, indicating strong financial health, accountability, and transparency. We re-verify this annually.
No cause pays to be listed on Forge. No cause can buy its way into the featured tier. If a cause loses its four-star rating, it is removed from the platform until the rating is restored.
Built differently
Consent-based advertising
Forge is a consent-based advertising platform. You watch ads because you choose to — not because an algorithm decided to show them to you. No passive tracking, no forced impressions.
Privacy-first by design
Forge does not sell personal data. Advertisers receive only aggregated, anonymized statistics. No behavioral profiles. No third-party data sharing. A genuine alternative to surveillance advertising.
Marks are governance, not currency
Marks can't be bought or sold. Influence on Forge comes from participation — not payment. This principle is foundational and non-negotiable.
Transparent economics
The 80/20 split is published. Operating costs are deducted before the split, not hidden inside it. We document how every dollar flows.