Spare Change

About Spare Change

Spare Change is a small experiment in generosity, focused entirely on mental health: flip a coin, and it lands on a real, vetted mental health nonprofit you'd probably never have gone looking for. Read a little about the cause, and if it moves you, back it. Then move on.

It's a companion project from The Clinical Perspective, built to turn research literacy into something you can actually act on.

If you're in crisis right now,please don't wait on an app to help — call or text 988(Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7 in the US), or reach your local emergency services. Spare Change is a giving tool, not a substitute for real, immediate support.

Why mental health?

Mental health nonprofits are chronically underfunded and often invisible — a suicide prevention hotline or a small community mental health center rarely makes the news, and almost never makes a typical donor's list. Spare Change exists to put these organizations in front of people who'd genuinely want to support them, if only they'd heard of them.

Why a coin flip?

Most people want to give more than they do — the hard part is deciding where. Spare Change removes the decision. The randomness isn't a gimmick — it's the whole point. It surfaces causes you'd never have searched for, on purpose.

How it works

Every cause in Spare Change comes from Every.org, a nonprofit that vets and verifies real 501(c)(3) organizations and processes donations on their behalf. When you flip, Spare Change asks Every.org for a real nonprofit matching your chosen focus — crisis support, trauma recovery, addiction recovery, youth mental health, or access to community care. Never a made-up cause, never a fake number.

When you back a cause, Spare Change hands you off to that nonprofit's own donation page on Every.org to complete your gift. From there, your money goes directly to the cause. Spare Change never collects, holds, or touches a cent of it.

Streaks and badges

If you sign in, Spare Change keeps a running history of what you've backed — a daily streak, a handful of milestone and category badges, and a simple “Your Impact” page so the giving adds up to something you can look back on, not just a one-off feeling.

What Spare Change isn't

Spare Change is not a registered charity, not a payment processor, not a crisis or clinical service, and not officially affiliated with or endorsed by Every.org — it's an independent project built on top of Every.org's public API. See the Terms and Privacy pages for the specifics.