Ben Lang

Read & Give by Bono - Read the news. Make a difference. Instantly.

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Read & Give is a Chrome extension that uses AI to analyze news content as you browse, and recommends trusted charities tackling the issues in the story. Donate to multiple charities with one tap and get weekly impact reports plus a unified tax receipt.

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Ron Levy

Thanks @benln for the hunt!

👋 Hello to everyone here who genuinely cares about the world and wants to make even a small difference. Let’s start the week by doing some good together!

Today we’re launching Read and Give by Bono - a Chrome extension that instantly turns your care, passion, or even frustration with the world into real-world action. Built on Bono’s donation infrastructure (read more about us below!), it brings a seamless giving experience to wherever you browse.

Here’s what’s inside 🧠✨

1. AI-powered cause detection - we analyze what you’re reading and surface the real issues behind the story.

2. Smart charity portfolios - we recommend the most effective, vetted charities tackling those issues.

3. One-tap donation - you set a monthly budget, and we split it across the charities in your portfolio.

4. Weekly impact reports - see exactly what your money is doing every week. Trust us, it's addictive!

5. Unified tax receipt - all your donations in one place, ready for tax season.

First time hearing about Bono?

We started Bono less than a year ago to make giving easier, smarter, and more impactful. We realized that everyday donors (people like us, not just the billionaires) deserve to donate with confidence, understand what their donation is actually doing, and feel good about giving more. Our mission is to make anyone to feel like a philanthropist, whether you're giving $5 a month or $50,000 a year.

That's also the reason that we currently focus on monthly donation plans and not just one-off donations. We believe that people really care, and we want to provide a radically different experience.

Now, with Read and Give, we’re bringing that power to the web, so every headline becomes a chance to help.

Thanks!

🙏 Huge thanks to our world-class team of makers and to all Bono users making a difference every week.

💥 Install the extension, try it out and please do tell us what you think!

Gabe Moronta
@ronch interesting concept, good luck
Ron Levy

@mogabr thanks mate, appreciate the support and feedback!

Rachit Magon

@benln  @ronch I think this is a great initiative in donation tech :) I'm wondering if it can help you with taxation as well, since in some countries donation can be claimed in taxes ?

Ron Levy

@rachitmagon thanks mate!
100% yes. The whole concept of Bono allows you to have a single deductible receipt no matter how many charities you donate to. That way you don't miss out on any deductions.

Tsahi Matsliah

I love the concept!
Give everyone the control to make the world a better place.

One question - What happens to my money when I donate to charities? Do you make money off of it?

Thanks 🙏

Ron Levy

@tsahi_matsliah thanks for the comment and for the good question - let me clarify that!

Bono does not take a cut from your donation. We plan to operate on an optional tipping model soon, where supporters can choose to add a tip to help fund the platform.
Your donation is split evenly between the charities in your portfolio. The only deduction is the standard third-party processing fee (e.g. Stripe or banks). After that, the remaining amount goes 100% to the selected charities.

Aaron O'Leary

Cool extension! For a second I thought this was by U2's Bono lol

Ron Levy

@aaronoleary thanks so much and lol! Both Bono (the singer) and us love doing good, but he has nothing to do with this. The company's name comes from the term "Pro Bono" :)

Chris Messina

This guy?

Ron Levy

@chrismessina not quite ;)
see my reply to @aaronoleary earlier lol

Sam @CRANQ

I'm loving how Read + Give transforms browsing into some form (I hope) of meaningful action :) w/ the vetted charities makes donating feel purposeful!!

This is philanthropy kinda reimagined for everyday people like me :))

Ron Levy

@cranqnow wow thanks Sam, that's what we were aiming for!!! we really appreciate the love :)

Sam @CRANQ

@ronch Anytime Ron, look forward to seeing this go forward!!

Ben Lang
Top Product
Hunter

go team bono, such important work!

Ron Levy

Thanks for the support and the love @benln !!!

Abdul Rehman

I just installed it, and I really like the concept. Turning everyday reading into small but meaningful actions is a powerful idea.

One suggestion: it would be amazing if there were an option to save or bookmark specific causes to revisit later, especially for moments when I’m not ready to donate right away.

Overall, this feels like a simple way to stay aware and do some good without feeling overwhelmed. Great work!

Ron Levy

@abod_rehman thanks so much for the feedback! I love the idea, makes a ton of sense, adding to the next version!

On Freund

What about privacy? does this mean you know my browsing history now?

Ron Levy

@on love your name, it's like Ron only shorter ;)
thanks, good point which I should have mentioned earlier tbh...
Your privacy is important to us. Read & Give does not track or store your browsing history. The plugin works anonymously and does not collect any personal information from your reading activity. The only time we collect data is when you choose to donate - and even then, we only store the information necessary to process your donation. None of it includes your browsing data.

Germán Merlo

Sounds interesting Ron! Like a smart summarizer for all those who constantly surf the internet! Definitively like it and I'll give it a try. Congrats on this impressive launch!

Ron Levy

@german_merlo1 thx mate, really appreciate it. Would love any feedback you have!

Ahmad ✨

Minimal, yet a powerful product!

Would love to know how are you handling browsing privacy on this.

Ron Levy

@aghamdii1 thanks mate, that was the goal!
Re: privacy, @on had the same question earlier actually, answered here but I'm copying the gist of it as well:
Read & Give does not track or store your browsing history. The plugin works anonymously and does not collect any personal information from your reading activity. The only time we collect data is when you choose to donate - and even then, we only store the information necessary to process your donation. None of it includes your browsing data.

Nimrod Kramer
It’s rare to have a product that helps you + actually makes the world a better place. Great stuff!
Shlomi Ben Atar

Is Bono only available in the U.S.?

Ron Levy

@shlomibenatar thanks! good point. ANYONE can donate no matter where you are, but we currently can provide a tax-deductible receipt for US donors only

BertramRay

That's so amazing. I really like your logo and creative philosophy. You are working hard to make the world a better place. Thank you very much for your kindness, and I will support you! Congrtulations!

Ron Levy

@limxn6 wow! thanks so much!

Yam Regev

What a unique tool! Good luck to @daneblagon and team

Ron Levy

@yam_regev thx man!

Natasha Shine Zirkel

Love this. Will help me give back to more relevant charities. Can I choose my own charities?

Ron Levy

@natasha_shine_zirkel1 thanks! appreciate it!

Well, yes and no :)
At the moment, you can select from a list of charities suggested to you by Bono, and decide if you want to add them all or only some of them to your portfolio. That said, soon, you’ll also be able to choose from more than 140 different causes and over 1.5M charities, so stay tuned!

Petr Ivan

This is such a clever concept, turning everyday reading into a direct path to help is a really refreshing idea. I appreciate the focus on making giving feel easy and transparent.

One thing I’d be curious to hear more about is your vetting process for recommended charities. Given how many less-than-reputable organizations exist, how do you prevent scams or ensure that only effective, well-run nonprofits make it into these portfolios?

Ron Levy

@petr_ivan thanks for the vote of confidence!

Yeah good question re: vetting:
Charities are selected by cause-specific curators and our in-house Bono Impact Team, based on rigorous vetting criteria. For example, the Ocean Conservation bundle is curated by Ali Tabrizi, the filmmaker behind Seaspiracy, and the LGBTQ+ Wellbeing portfolio is led by Emma Thorne, a leading mental health advocate. We actually have a whole blog post about that: https://www.bono.so/post/how-bono-chooses-nonprofits-for-each-cause

Petr Ivan

@ronch Thanks for the reply and the linked blog post, will take a look!

shem

Oh, that's a very cool concept! can you explain a bit about these "weekly impact reports" please?

Ron Levy

@shemag8 thx mate!
Sure, the weekly impact reports are basically the way each donor knows what their donation is actually doing. To be honest, it's a bit addictive lol.
Each week, you get a snapshot of what the charities in your portfolio did. These are bite sized updates that take less than a minute to read and really make you feel like you're getting your $ worth.

In addition, we make it easier for you to understand what each $ you give is actually doing. For example, counting the number of animals you've helped save, trees planted or families fed.
Here's an example:

shem

@ronch 👏👏👏

Yoav Vilner

Brilliant guys

Pulin Yu
Launching soon!

With AI analyzing news stories and recommending trusted charities, Read & Give makes donating effortless when the weekly impact reports and tax receipt feature are great bonuses!

Ron Levy

@pulin_yuuu thanks so much!

CaiCai

Impressive work! I appreciate the transparency about donation flows and the no-cut policy. How do you select and vet the charities included in the recommended portfolios?

Ron Levy

@hi_caicai thx! See my previous answer here, just so it's easier for people to follow up later. any additional questions lmk!