He sold baseball cards on his South Shore elementary playground. It was just the start

• In April, Mike Filbey launched Pepper, a nonprofit that helps everyday people make a difference through small charitable donations.
• Filbey had launched two successful start-ups by the time he was 22, Cbay and Butcher Box.

COHASSET – Before he was even 26, Cohasset native Mike Filbey built two successful startups. (More than two if you count his elementary school business ventures.) Now in his early 30s, he has launched a nonprofit that helps small donors make a big impact with their charitable dollars.

"I really want to help everyday donors make a difference," Filbey said. "That's our North Star, to make charitable giving easier and faster than it is today."

The new company is called Pepper – named for how a small pepper can have an enormous punch, Filbey said.

Revolutionizing charitable giving

Filbey said he hopes to create a culture of giving. In 2018, for the first time ever, less than 50 percent of Americans made charitable donations, he said, a drop of almost 17 percentage points from 2000, when more than 66 percent of people donated. Filbey said widening income inequality and a growing reliance on "mega-donors," who give hundreds of millions annually contributed to this.

"Small donations can have ripple effects," Filbey said. "There's power even in a small amount."

Subscribers to Pepper donate $10 a month, which is distributed among four charities in sub-Saharan Africa, where 40 percent of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day. These organizations work to prevent malaria, extreme poverty and blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency. All of the $10 goes directly to the groups, Filbey said. There is an additional 2.7 percent payment processing fee for the Pepper subscriber. So far, Filbey said about 100 people have signed up, without any real marketing starting yet to publicize the nonprofit.

Filbey and his team partnered with these four for their proven cost effectiveness, which has earned them recognition by GiveWell, a research organization that evaluates the amount of good accomplished by charitable programs.

To people who think they can't make a difference, Filbey says that by joining Pepper, they'll know that they've helped to keep 16 children free from malaria and warded off blindness from another 15 children every year.

A born entrepreneur with a social conscience

As a boy, Filbey cornered the market on trading cards in elementary school. With money earned shoveling snow and mowing lawns, he'd walk a mile to Pastimes, a memorabilia store once operating in Cohasset center. At recess, he resold his purchases, earning a reputation as the go-to source for coveted collectibles.

At age 17, he launched Cbay, which helped clients downsize by selling things online quickly, reducing the stressfulness of moving. Filbey's company photographed merchandise, measured the dimensions of furniture and negotiated with buyers. "No one wants to do all this," he said.

The business spread throughout eastern Massachusetts. Filbey remembered presenting to various Realtors at their weekly meetings as a teen. "Women would pull my cheek and say I should meet their daughters," he said.

"It worked," Filbey said (of the business venture, not the daughters). "It was great."

Even then, Filbey showed a social conscience in his business. Cbay donated 12 percent of all sales to WellSpring, a Hull-based nonprofit that provides education, counseling, food and affordable housing to area residents.

Early success, but at a human cost

Filbey's second startup venture, Butcher Box, expanded shipped grass-fed beef by mail to clients' doorsteps. It launched at a time when the so-called "paleo diet," which excludes sugars and processed grains, enjoyed considerable popularity.

Filbey's strategy was to gain endorsements from trusted influencers in the nutrition and health world. He said trust was important, because at the time, people weren't used to receiving meat in the mail. As head of the company's marketing divisions, he raised $200 million in annual recurring revenue in four years. But the long hours and intense pressure left him physically and psychologically drained.

"I was passing out, going to the ER in need of fluids," Filbey said. "That happened three times. The last time I ended up in the ICU.

"My identity was connected to Butcher Box," Filbey continued. "I loved it. But health is more important, so I left."

Once he sold his shares, his decision to make a significant charitable donation led him to research philanthropic organizations.

"There are 1.8 million nonprofits to decide from," he said. "There were so many decisions I was faced with. I want to help people start making a difference in 30 seconds."

Filbey said that Pepper incorporates the skills and experiences he gained as a younger businessmen to help everyday people with busy lives make a difference. "People want to know their money's well spent," he said. " It's about credibility. It needs to come from a source they can trust."