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How Is Upsolve Free?

2 minute read Upsolve is a nonprofit tool that helps you file bankruptcy for free. Think TurboTax for bankruptcy. Get free education, customer support, and community. Featured in Forbes 4x and funded by institutions like Harvard University so we'll never ask you for a credit card. Explore our free tool


In a Nutshell

A note from our CEO on why transparency matters to us.

Written by Jonathan Petts
Updated March 21, 2023


Dear Community,

Transparency is one of our nonprofit’s core values. That’s why it’s important to us that you know how we can offer Upsolve's services for free, how we spend our money, and who owns Upsolve.

How Is Upsolve Free?

Upsolve is free for three reasons. First, we receive funding from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), a government-funded nonprofit established by the U.S. Congress. We’re lucky that Congress believes that low-income people should receive free access to their legal rights. LSC funding helps us build and maintain our free tool.

Second, we receive funding from charitable foundations and individuals. Some of these individuals are wealthy people who want to give back. Some of them are Upsolve users who want to pay it forward. These include leading foundations like the Robin Hood Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the New York Bar Foundation. They also include individual donors like Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google; Chris Sacca, an early investor in Instagram, Uber, and Twitter; and Jim Breyer, an early investor in Facebook.

Third, we receive funding from private independent attorneys who provide free evaluations to people on our website who ask for them. This is important because we recognize:

  • Only an attorney can give you legal advice.

  • Only an attorney can tell you whether you should file for bankruptcy or not.

  • Our self-service software tool is not a good fit for everyone. Read more about the limits of who we can help. We make no representation of the quality of these private attorneys and they have no affiliation with Upsolve. Many people decide, following a free evaluation, not to file for bankruptcy, or, if they qualify for our tool, to use it for their bankruptcy.

To be a more effective, sustainable, and impactful nonprofit, we believe it's important to generate earned revenue. Read more on why. In 2020, about 70% of our total revenue came from government funding and charitable donations, and about 30% came from program service revenue.

How Does Upsolve Spend Money?

Our number one expense is salaries. Running a technology nonprofit is expensive, as it requires a specialized set of skills that we need to hire for. We also spend money on our office rent, traveling to conferences, insurance, software, and marketing. We spend a small amount of money on accounting and bookkeeping, team building, and office supplies.

Who Owns Upsolve?

We’re a nonprofit. This means that the American people own Upsolve. You own Upsolve just as much as I do.

Best,

Jonathan Petts

CEO and Co-Founder

- Judge Robert Gordon, Ret. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Maryland, Upsolve Advisor, and author of "Change The Bankruptcy System To Help End Cycle Of Poverty."

"The income tax system is extremely, extremely complex. Much more complex than the bankruptcy code. But yet we have TurboTax...I don't understand why we can't do something similar to that for simple Chapter 7 bankruptcies."

- Judge Henry Callaway, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Alabama and co-author of “Too Broke for a Fresh Start” with Upsolve Co-Founder Jonathan Petts



Written By:

Jonathan Petts

LinkedIn

Jonathan Petts has over 10 years of experience in bankruptcy and is co-founder and CEO of Upsolve. Attorney Petts has an LLM in Bankruptcy from St. John's University, clerked for two federal bankruptcy judges, and worked at two top New York City law firms specializing in bankrupt... read more about Jonathan Petts

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Y-Combinator

Upsolve is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that started in 2016. Our mission is to help low-income families who cannot afford lawyers file bankruptcy for free, using an online web app. Our team includes lawyers, engineers, and judges. We have world-class funders that include the U.S. government, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and leading foundations. It's one of the greatest civil rights injustices of our time that low-income families can't access their basic rights when they can't afford to pay for help. Combining direct services and advocacy, we're fighting this injustice.

To learn more, read why we started Upsolve in 2016, our reviews from past users, and our press coverage from places like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.