Social Offset is a nonprofit organization that facilitates charitable donations to left-leaning organizations to “offset” incidental financial contributions to events, organizations, or states that do not endorse left-of-center ideologies and causes. Social Offset describes its method as “like carbon offset but for your values.” ¹

As of May 2024, Social Offset is waiting for approval for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. ²

Founding

In 2019, future Social Offset founder Elena Gerstmann was at an airport looking for somewhere to eat dinner. However, the only available option was a restaurant that Elena was boycotting “due to their anti-LGBTQ+ financial support.” Gerstmann ended up “begrudgingly buying a sandwich.” ³

In 2022, Gerstmann’s wife and Social Offset co-founder Beth Surmont had a similar experience in which she traveled to a conference in a state that “had recently put forward harmful anti-LGBTQ+ policy.” Gerstmann and Surmont discussed the concept of donating to a nonprofit that advocated for pro-LGBTQ policies to “offset” Surmont’s indirect financial support for the state. This idea inspired the creation of Social Offset later in the year. ⁴

Activities

Social Offset creates campaigns that encourage individuals to donate to organizations associated with left-leaning cases to “offset” supposed harm caused by financially contributing to events, organizations, or states that conflict with left-wing ideological goals. For instance, in July 2024, Social Offset will be sponsoring a conference hosted by Agile Alliance, a software development ethics group, in Dallas, Texas. The campaign will offer conference attendees the chance to “offset any internal conflict you may have about tax spending in Dallas, Texas, that doesn’t align with your values by supporting local charities that do.” Donations to the campaign will go to the Inclusive Communities Project, which focuses on racial advocacy; the Resource Center of Dallas, which focuses on LGBT advocacy; and Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, which focuses on abortion access. ⁵

Social Offset also creates campaigns for left-leaning organizations to encourage charitable donations to local ideologically aligned organizations. For instance, in 2024, Social Offset is running a campaign for the FASEB Scientific Research Conferences in Melbourne, Florida, that encourages conference attendees to donate to left-leaning Florida-based groups, including Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, Equality Florida, and Conservation Florida. ⁶

The “key causes” supported by Social Offset are “racial justice,” abortion access, LGBT advocacy, environmentalism, “housing security,” and providing food. Social Offset also lists “election laws” as a cause. ⁷

Social Offset presents its services as an alternative to boycotting. According to Social Offset, boycotting can cause collateral damage that hurts innocent individuals associated with organizations or events. Social Offset gives the theoretical example of cancelling an event in Nashville, which “would have a huge economic impact” on hospitality workers, 73 percent of whom in the city are women. Social Offset also cites research from one of its funders, Destinations International, that boycotts tend to be unsuccessful in making social change. ⁸

Social Offset offers website development services including how to manage their own social offset campaigns. Organizations can pay Social Offset $750 or $1,500 depending on their statuses as nonprofits or for-profits, and Social Offset will design a website to funnel donations to specific organizations identified by the paying group. Social Offset reserves the right to withhold its services from organizations whose values diverge from Social Offset’s. ⁹

State Evaluations

Social Offset relies on evaluations made by other left-wing organizations to determine whether individual states abide by Social Offset’s moral values in their laws regarding domains. For “racial justice,” Social Offset cites the Southern Poverty Law Center‘s Hate Map as well as the Commonwealth Fund‘s scorecard of “Racial and Ethnic Equity.” ¹⁰

For abortion access, Social Offset cites KFF. ¹¹

For LGBT, Social Offset cites Human Rights Campaign and LGBTQ Map. ¹²

For environmentalism, Social Offset cites Climate Xchange. ¹³

For “housing security,” Social Offset cites the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. ¹⁴

For providing food, Social Offset cites Feeding America. ¹⁵

For election laws, Social Offset cites the Movement Advancement Project’s Democracy Ratings by State. ¹⁶

Funding

Social Offset’s founding partners are Visit Austin, Nashville Music City, and Visit Seattle. All three organizations are backed by their respective city governments to promote tourism. ¹⁷

Other partner organizations include Visit Atlanta, Visit Dallas, Visit Lauderdale, Visit Baltimore, the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, the MCI Group, Tenenbaum, Wired Brain, Flock Theory, D2 Creative, and Destinations International. ¹⁸

Partner organizations contribute between $5,000 and $20,000 to Social Offset. ¹⁹

1. “Browse the FAQ.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/contact-us/.
2. “Browse the FAQ.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/contact-us/.
3. “About Societ Offset.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/about-us/.
4. “About Social Offset.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/about-us/.
5. “Agile2024.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/event/agile2024/.
6. “FASEB Science Research Conferences in Melbourne, Florida.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/event/faseb-melbourne/.
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13. “Browse the FAQ.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/contact-us/.
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15. “Browse the FAQ.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/contact-us/.
16. “Browse the FAQ.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/contact-us/.
17. “About Societ Offset.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/about-us/.
18. “Partner with Us.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/partner-with-socialoffset/.
19. “Partner with Us.” Social Offset. Accessed May 18, 2024. https://socialoffset.org/partner-with-socialoffset/.