Village Pledge

VillagePledge is a gateway for every day individuals to kick in pledges for HBCU graduates.

In the Spring of 2019, multi-billionaire Robert Smith made an incredible promise during his commencement speech at Morehouse College. He would donate approximately $40 million to pay off the entire student loan debt of the graduating class. This announcement immediately went viral, sending shockwaves throughout the media. The announcement did more than just elicit cheers and media inquiries however, it also inspired entrepreneurs Jeffrey Reeves and Claude Dixon. They began conceptualizing an easy-to-use model for the everyday individual to have a hand in empowering the next generation of HBCU graduates.

The key when building VillagePledge was to offer users a variety of accessible donation options.

With a few taps, a user can select an HBCU (or more than one) of their choice, connect a payment source, and contribute via a simple “round-up” feature. Users can also set up a recurring dollar amount at the interval of their choice, or even make one-time donations. Then, at the end of a year (or as needed) they can review a summary of how much help they were able to provide.

While browsing VillagePledge, users can learn more about the HBCU of their choice.

The app also serves as a gateway for users to learn more about the HBCUs and its graduates to which they are contributing. Background on academics programs, extracurricular activities and campus life, any social media presence and contact information. Chop Dawg designed the app so users can easily see how much they have contributed. The color system shows users whether or not their donations are still active, and they have the option to make changes at any point and set the donation increment as low as they want.