set up donations and get funded by your community

Research, editing, travel, the camera that survived three boat trips: impact work costs money. Brand deals come with strings, and grants take months. Your community is already acting with you. Donations on chilli let them fund you too, directly, with a 0% platform fee: chilli takes no cut.

how donations work on chilli

• where people give: a fund button sits right next to your actions. On an action page it's the fund the fight section with fund @yourname. On your profile it's fund my work.
• your direct link: app.chilli.club/memberships/yourname/flow takes people straight to the donation flow. Handy for stories and newsletters.
• one-time or monthly: supporters choose. Monthly supporters can cancel anytime.
• 0% platform fee: chilli takes no commission. Banking fees (2.9% plus €0.25, $0.30 or £0.20 per payment, depending on the supporter's currency) are charged by banks and card networks to move the money, and are deducted from each donation before it reaches your balance. Donors and your public pages always see the amount they gave. Full breakdown and fixed fees: follow the money: how payments and cash out work on chilli.
• tip to chilli: at checkout, donors can add an optional tip that goes 100% to chilli (to keep the app running). It's on top of their donation, never taken from yours, never part of the banking fees calculation, and they can skip it. For example: a donor gives $10 and adds a $2 tip. Banking fees are $0.59, you receive $9.41, and chilli receives the $2 tip.
• powered by Stripe: payments are handled securely by Stripe.
• anonymous is fine: donors can leave you a message, or keep their donation anonymous.
• a goal that grows with you: in fund the fight and in the donation flow, a bar shows what you've raised against a round goal chilli sets for you, and the goal moves up each time you pass it. Nothing to set. Until your first donation lands, the bar hides its percentage, so a brand new page never shows "0%".

set it up

Donations aren't switched on for every account by default. Ask the chilli team to turn them on for you, then:

Stripe doesn't support every country yet. If yours isn't on the list, the app will tell you, and the chilli team can help you figure out next steps.

write your fundraising story

Your profile has a fund my work section with your fundraising story: a few lines telling supporters what their money makes possible. Be concrete. "Support my work" is vague. "Every €10 pays for one hour of drone footage over the trawlers" is a reason.

Your story also shows in full, in « quotes », in the fund the fight section of every action you create, right above the fund @yourname button. No story yet? Your bio shows there instead. Your bio says who you are. Your story says what the money does, and that's what gets people to tap.

I don't take brand deals from [industry], so this work runs on you.

Your support pays for [concrete thing 1], [concrete thing 2] and [concrete thing 3].

Monthly support lets me plan ahead and keep the pressure on. Cancel anytime, and chilli takes no cut of it.

your balance and cash out

Everything lives in your dashboard, under revenue:

• earnings: your all-time total, one-time and monthly combined, after banking fees.
• recurring income: "your work on chilli earns you [amount] / month", from your monthly supporters.
• paying supporters: the number of different people who've funded you.
• monthly summary: what you earned and cashed out each month.
• download transactions: a CSV of your full history, for your accountant or your spreadsheet.

Once the first donation lands, the dashboard home also shows a revenue card with your all-time total, one tap away from the full page.

When you're ready, tap cash out. You'll see what's available to cash out (new payments show as pending until they clear). Cash out opens once you pass a minimum amount. Before anything moves, chilli asks cash out [amount]? and shows where the money goes: "to [your bank] •••• [last 4 digits of your account]". Tap confirm cash out to send it, or not now to keep it in your balance. Transfers usually arrive in your bank account in a few business days.

Supporters can pay in around 17 currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD and more). You get paid in your own currency at the current exchange rate.

Wondering why a payment is still pending, what on hold means or how banking fees are deducted? follow the money: how payments and cash out work on chilli follows a payment from your supporter's card to your bank.

ask like a human

Lead with action, then invite support. Keep it short, specific and guilt-free.

[Number] of you emailed [target] this week. That's the loudest this fight has ever been. 🔥

If you want to keep me doing this full time: there's a "fund my work" button on my chilli profile. One-time or monthly, and chilli takes no cut. No pressure, the action is what matters most.

Everything I do here is independent. No sponsors telling me what to say.

If you want to back that, here's the link. 🫶

[link sticker to app.chilli.club/memberships/yourname/flow]

why independence matters

A fight like Caroline Gleich's campaign against the Stratos data center (38 targeted ways to act, 12K+ actions, a 75% scale-down in five weeks) takes real hours: research, targeting, follow-up. That's work worth paying for. When your community funds it, nobody else gets a say in which fights you pick.

real win · Caroline GleichHow Caroline Gleich made Stratos a national fightread the story

your next move

Ask the chilli team to switch donations on, then tap set up donations on your profile (or turn on your donation module on your dashboard) and finish Stripe in one go. Write three lines of fundraising story. Then turn one-time donors into a steady base with grow your monthly supporters (without guilt-tripping anyone).