Well, most ETFs charge a fee by gradually taking a small amount out of whatever amount you invested in the fund. So over the course of a year some ETFs might take 0.15% of your investment as fees, and others might take 0.50% or 0.75%. This pays for all the normal expenses of managing a fund.
We are not like most ETFs, obviously. We will have all the same expenses as a normal fund, but on top of that we intend to eventually be paying thousands of the world's best and brightest climate activists and artists money so that they are actually able to devote their time to the climate emergency, while also boosting our financial return. Normal funds pay $0 to support climate activists. But the vast majority of our revenue will be paid out to thousands of climate activists and organizers.
If we were going to only charge an ETF fee, we'd probably have to charge 3-4% per year. But for complicated reasons it's not a viable option for us to charge more than 1% per year. So we're charging 1% in ETF fees, and membership fees will cover the rest. We will attempt to deliver financial returns which pay back far more money to our investors than they pay in fees (although we can make no promises about fund performance). We hope you will find our membership experience to be valuable, and our climate impact to be priceless.
The ninja membership is the same as the regular membership except it costs $50/month, you get a 🥷 badge on your profile, and you gift memberships for 4 other people who belong in our community but cannot afford to pay.
Legend has it that ninjas have the supernatural ability to "split" themselves into multiple bodies (bunshin-no-jutsu) to overwhelm their opposition. Similarly, ninja members pay for 5 memberships, multiplying our forces. You can browse the list of people who can't afford a membership and choose 4 people, or we can choose beneficiaries for you. We suspect that ninja members wear ninja costumes at Trick or Treat events, but we don't actually know, since they're invisible.
If you can pay for a membership, please do that. If you can't, then fill out
this form. Your answers will be visible in a publicly-viewable webpage that will be shared with all ninja members. If a ninja member decides to gift you a free membership you will receive an email. If you never hear back about your application it means that no ninja members have chosen to gift you a membership.
No. Over time we will launch several areas that regular members cannot access, including private spaces where access is restricted to the Candymakers, the Brain Trust, the Commissioners, and more. But those groups are smaller, and most of the action will be happening in the spaces where normal members hang out.
Here are our community guidelines. If you don't agree with them, don't buy a membership:
Act in service of our mission: "to use the power of our collective money and influence to change the incentive structure of the global economy, such that the companies which provide the most public benefit are the companies that succeed, thereby causing companies to take more ambitious actions to address problems like the climate emergency."
Be kind and respectful to human beings. Intense debate is welcomed, just don't be mean, and remember that in online discussions it's easy for people to interpret words as mean even if that's not how they are intended.
We may attack brands, but not people. It is OK to say,
"I can't believe ACME didn't agree to do what we asked. Let's launch their whole company into the sun! What a stupid and evil company!" But it is NOT OK to say,
"We are going to take Susan Q Widgerton, the CEO of ACME, and launch her into the sun! What a stupid and evil person!"
No climate denial. People with moderate or conservative beliefs are valued and their thoughtful perspectives are welcomed here, especially on matters of business, investment, and law. But vocally advocating for "moderate" climate solutions instead of "radical" ones is now climate denial, and is therefore banned, simply to protect the time and sanity of our members.
All of the obvious stuff: No posts that are spam, abusive, hateful, offensive, racist, sexist, transphobic, off-topic, disruptive, threatening, sexually explicit, harassing, malware, violates someone's personal privacy, violates someone's intellectual property rights, impersonates someone else, falsely misrepresents your affiliation with a person or entity, or violates the law.
That's it! We will simply remove you if our team decides that you are being toxic or the quality of the dialogue would be higher if you weren't a part of it. For now, these rules will be interpreted and enforced by Brent Schulkin
but we will distribute moderation duties as soon as it makes sense. You can also find the guiding principles of Trick or Treat
here.
