Team America 2026

A Creator Collaboration to End Citizens United

"We must end Citizens United and Super PACs. Democracy is one person, one vote—not billionaires buying elections. They have the money. We have the people. I hope this message will spark a grassroots movement all across the United States for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling. We must overturn Citizens United.” — Bernie Sanders 

Overview

Thanks in large part to Citizens United, corruption is out of control. We see it everyday in 4K.

This is an ACTION Plan for "Team America 2026," a creator collaboration harnessing, focusing and leveraging the full power of the internet to pass a constitutional amendment to End Citizens United and Make Corruption Illegal Again! The process is proven. We have the people. In fact, we have a supermajority—everyone who wants to end corruption. The broadest coalition in history. 

Hello,

I'm Stan Tillman. Early in my career I was a Quality Engineer for Intel and later the Director of Regulatory Affairs for Kodak. Since retiring I have searched for a way to enact a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and "Make Corruption Illegal Again!" I have found it.

In 2014, as part of William Ostrander’s now defunct Citizens Congress anti-corruption organization, I was involved in a week long meeting with national anti-corruption organization representatives working on a constitutional amendment to end Citizens United. Participants included Lawrence Lessig, Trevor Potter and Hedrick Smith.

The state-by-state strategy for a constitutional amendment to end corruption proposed by RepresentUs following the Women’s Suffrage approach would take 30 years. We don’t have that much time. It’s now possible to get to the goal much quicker. I will explain exactly how.

Corruption is the root of every major problem in America and the BIGGEST threat we are facing. Pew Research reports that a supermajority of Americans know that “Money in Politics” is the root of corruption and every major problem we are facing—the skyrocketing cost of living, unaffordable health care, runaway inflation, forever wars, the climate crisis and on and on...

Short of a violent revolution, which no one in their right mind is advocating, overturning Citizens United to end corruption takes a constitutional amendment—that takes a HUGE grassroots movement.

Everybody knows “Money in Politics” is our BIGGEST threat.

And everybody knows there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

Until now.

Creators Jimmy Donaldson (known online as MrBeast) and Mark Rober have proven several times now that grassroots movements for good causes driven by internet influencer collaborations are highly effective at successfully reaching their goals (#TeamTrees, #TeamSeas and #TeamWater).

Their validated proof of concept and established turnkey playbook can be applied to organizing a grassroots movement capable of enacting an amendment to end Citizens United and "Make Corruption Illegal Again." 

Background

The powers that be are so arrogant and cocksure of themselves that they no longer make any attempt to hide their insatiable greed and total lack of concern for citizens. They are openly looting our country.

This plan is patriotic, not political. Our movement, "Team America 2026," includes Democrats, Republicans, Independents, third party voters and voting age nonvoters—everyone appalled by the in-your-face corruption running rampant in our government. It will also include every non voting age American who is old enough to be concerned about their future.

Supporters of the No Kings movement, Fight Oligarchy campaigns, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street all share a deep distrust of concentrated power and an overriding belief that the political and economic system is corrupt and "rigged" against ordinary citizens. This movement will be larger than all of those combined—even former MAGA supporters who feel betrayed by Trump will join in, most notably for example, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Joe Rogan (it may come as a surprise but it is absolutely true—they are just as horrified, if not more so, by the level of corruption as the rest of us).

However, unlike those movements, Team America 2026 will be a sustained movement with teeth (see STEP 2 "Internet Petition" below) and will achieve the desired result—the 28th Amendment to "Make Corruption Illegal Again!" There is now a way to do it. WE Can Do It! Here's how.

The Plan

We are experiencing a COMPLETE SYSTEM FAILURE. We need an URGENT SYSTEM UPDATE— a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

When was the last time you updated your system? Our operating system, our constitution, is the longest continuously running operating system in history. We have only updated it 27 times in 239 years. Money in Politics has prevented us from updating our operating system for the past 34 years. No wonder it's been hacked. Billionaires hacked it so that they don't have to pay their fair share of taxes and can get away with looting our country.

GREAT News — The Amendment is written and is ready to go. In February 2025 Representative Pramila Jayapal reintroduced the “We the People Amendment” (H.J.Res. 54)  saying: "Corporations are not people and money is not speech…"

We just need to push it over the top. That will take a HUGE grassroots movement.

More GREAT News — Jimmy Donaldson and Mark Rober, two highly popular internet influencers, have proven that influencer collaborations can quickly organize HUGE grassroots movements that get results for a good cause (ref. Team Trees, Team Seas and Team Water). To fully appreciate the power of an internet influencer collaboration you’ve got to watch the Curiosity Stream video, “The Story Behind MrBeast's Love of Giving.” Fast forward about two minutes (2:03) to the start of the section where Donaldson tells the story of how he and Mark Rober launched Team Trees.

Donaldson is the only self-made billionaire influencer on the internet today. In 2024 TIME Magazine crowned him “The Most Watched Person in the World. " He receives an estimated 29 million to 37 million views per day in the U.S. alone across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

Donaldson partnered with Mark Rober to launch "Team Trees" and plant 20 million trees to help fight climate change. Their grassroots movement was a HUGE success—together, working as a team, they:

• Recruited more than 600 internet influencers to join their team
• Organized over 800,000 supporters
• Reached their audacious goal in only 56 days

In their own words:

Mark Rober said, “We reached out to other influencers. More and more people started liking it and retweeting it so it was clear there was an appetite for this… We quickly built a large group of influencers and took over the internet…"

He goes on to say, "I think the biggest thing we wanted to prove is that the internet isn't just all talk. If we really put our minds together to make a positive change, we can actually do it. You know, you can be a force for good in the world and you don't have to have all these superpowers. You can just be like a dude, with his buddies, having fun and doing cool stuff that makes people happy."

One influencer involved said, “The reason I'm most excited about this is it feels like the Power Rangers when they all assemble at the end and fight stuff together to do good.”

Influencers fired up their fans and kids got their parents on board. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, “Schools and student groups got involved with Jimmy Donaldson's and Mark Rober’s Team Trees movement by hosting fundraisers, organizing local events, and incorporating the initiative into classroom lessons.”

We should expect even more involvement and enthusiasm for the Team America 2026 campaign to end corruption and save our democracy and our country.

Don't just take my word for it, see for yourself — for the full impact, click the photo above to watch the preliminary video.

We hope to spark a HUGE grassroots movement driven by internet influencers to put the heat to the feet of politicians to enact the 28th Amendment to Make Corruption Illegal Again! Any amount helps. Don't forget to share. Thank You.

ACTION Plan

STEP 1

ACTION Required: Internet Influencers — Launch Team America 2026 , a Donaldson/Rober-type internet influencer collaboration of 20,000 to a million plus influencers to help Americans pass a constitutional amendment to End Citizens United and Make Corruption Illegal Again.

GOAL: 20,000 Influencers (just .2% of the 10 million influencers in the U.S.)

There are over 10 million influencers in the U.S. and many influencers are already speaking out on corruption in our government due to "Money in Politics." Many more, and maybe even most, would do so if asked. Involvement in Team America 2026 can increase their views, viewers and ad revenue while supporting a good cause. We need to focus the power of an enormous influencer collaboration on this one issue, the most important of our lifetimes, ending Citizens United so we can begin to fix the problems we are facing. Influencers can get paid to save our country just by continuing to do what they already do.

When influencers join together as a team and collaborate for a good cause it's like going from the power of a spotlight to the power of the sun focused on a single spot.

We need a group of influencers to kick this off by reaching out to other influencers to join the team. Each of them need to reach out to their fans, followers and subscribers. And each of them needs to reach out to everyone they know.

You love your country. Be the patriot you are. Influencers please launch a Team America 2026 influencer collaboration for an Urgent and Critical System Update--a constitutional amendment to "Make Corruption Illegal Again."

There is no better way to honor our country's 250th anniversary than for us to join together as a team to “Make Corruption Illegal Again.”

One thing is certain, the influencers that launch Team America 2026 will save our democracy and go down in history as true American heroes. Be a patriot, launch the movement to save our democracy and our country. Launch “Team America 2026,” a HUGE influencer collaboration, the largest in history, to overturn Citizens United with a constitutional amendment.

Team America 2026 will give young Americans new hope. As Kat Abughazaleh said on Morning Joe, "There are hordes of young people that are motivated and energized to do something." Their enthusiasm and support will put the heat to the feet of our politicians, push the amendment over the top and save our democracy, our country and their future.

Influencers can keep doing what they are doing and increase their views, viewers and ad revenue by participating. They just need to spend some of the time promoting this movement, daily.

Please help. We encourage all 10 million influencers in the U.S. to support the cause and we ask every American to join OUR Team. Share this message of hope. 

Let's all join together on the same TEAM and put the HEAT to the FEET of our politicians to pass the 28th Amendment to Make Corruption Illegal Again.

STEP 2:

ACTION Required: Influential Americans — Launch an Online Petition

ACTION Required: ALL Americans Sign the Petition/Pledge

GOAL: 20 Million signatures

In addition to launching “Team America 2026”, we need to post a Future of Life Institute online petition, like the Musk/Wozniak online petition to pause AI development, with a Call to ACTION to sign the pledge to vote out of office any politician who doesn’t also sign the petition and vote to support this amendment, telling politicians in no uncertain terms: "If you don't sign our petition and support the amendment to end corruption, YOU’RE FIRED.” The pledge approach coupled with consequences certainly worked for Grover Norquist.

Stand together to end corruption. It's not political, it's patriotic.

Bradley Tusk has spent $22 million of his own money to develop free and open source online voting software with validated and verified signatures. It has been tested by seven state governments. It can be used to put teeth in this petition. To paraphrase Tusk, our team has “one BIG advantage and it isn’t money”: Americans want to end corruption. The challenge is to channel their frustration with seeing billionaires get away with everything every single time into a powerful political force.

Tusk says, "Once constituents have the ability to weigh in online, the incentives shift completely.” The overwhelming majority of citizens of all ages weighing in via the internet “will finally change the politics of the issue... There’s one cause, and one cause only, that unites all elected officials: staying in office… We don't need politicians to defy human nature. We just need them to do what already comes naturally to them—looking out for themselves."

"Rather than just complaining about politicians or wishing they were somehow better people, we have to reset their priorities. We have to make getting things done an absolute condition of their holding office.”

STEP 3:

ACTION Required: ALL Americans Spread the Word

GOAL: Everyone Get 3 to 10 other people to sign the pledge

This message needs to go viral. Please share with 3 to 10 or more people and ask each of them to share it with 3 to 10 or more on every social media platform.

In his book, Vote With Your Phone: Why Mobile Voting is OUR Final Shot at Saving Democracy, Bradley Tusk said:

“If enough Americans stand up and demand it, if you express your support continuously on Instagram, X, on TikTok and YouTube to your friends and family, in newsletters and blog post to people who hold office and those who aspire to, in meetings and rallies in all the myriad places that politics happen, then eventually, despite the entrenched opposition, we will prevail… It’s the only thing that can save both our democracy and our country.” 

If we apply maximum star power, get everyone everywhere all at once involved talking about this issue and crank up the volume to ten it will be impossible for politicians to continue to ignore us.

Our Future Depends on It

The failure of our political system due to BIG Money in Politics is the most important issue of our lifetimes. It negatively impacts every man, woman and child alive today and it will well into the future. Unless we take ACTION.

We need to fix this. There is only one way. "We must END Citizens United."

This is not political, it's patriotic. Be the patriot you are. Join this fight to Make Corruption Illegal Again!

Now there's a way to do it.

In Closing

The American Dream is Dead. Billionaires killed it. Many young people can’t afford to buy homes. They blame Boomers like me. They’re right. We inherited a well functioning system and took it for granted. Now we are leaving them a HUGE mountain of debt and a BIG reeking mess. The kids deserve better.

Our government is broken. BIG Money broke it. We need to fix it. 

But can we?

Hell yes we can! We’re Americans. We fix stuff. That’s what we do.

"We Can Do It!"

Please get involved, donate and share.

Thank you,

Stan Tillman

 

 

Want to know more?

Keep reading.

The "Team Playbook"

Just exactly how did Mark Rober and Jimmy Donaldson reach out to other internet influencers for Team Trees? 

MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), Mark Rober, and campaign director Matt Fitzgerald relied on a highly coordinated, data-backed strategy rather than generic open calls to recruit hundreds of creators.

Team America 2026 has the advantage of being an open call to all citizens, creators, celebrities, influential people, patriotic politicians and everyone else old enough and able to help. I can even envision the support of more than a few billionaires who care about the future of our country. I am certain some have just been waiting for someone to come up with a viable plan. This is that plan.

Data-Informed Targeted Outreach

Instead of messaging influencers at random, Team Trees used viewer analytics to map out overlapping creator audiences. They personally reached out to key YouTubers across diverse niches—ranging from tech (MKBHD, Linus Tech Tips) and gaming (DanTDM) to commentary, beauty, and education—to ensure maximum reach across different corners of the platform. 

Team America 2026 will target all 10 million influencers in the U.S. In addition, every influential celebrity and personality will be asked to participate for as long as we still have a country called America. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Every one of us is needed to maintain our freedom and the survival of our country. This movement is not a one-and-done. 

Synchronized Launch Strategy

For Team Trees, creators weren't just asked just to share a link; they were instructed to make original, tree-themed content tailored to their own specific style and post it simultaneously on October 25, 2019. For example: 

• Linus Tech Tips built a tree-planting cannon. 
• DanTDM planted infinite trees in Minecraft.
• Mark Rober engineered drone-based tree-planting technology. 

Team America 2026 will be ongoing and longterm—a coordinated launch, while beneficial is not critical to our success.

Secret Pitch Videos

To maintain strict confidentiality and build momentum ahead of launch, they created private, unlisted video invitations. These secret pitches directly outlined the ambitious scale of the project ($20 million for 20 million trees in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation), provided clear action items, and explained the coordinated release schedule. Team America 2026 will not require a HUGE coordinated initial splash, it will quickly build organically.

Peer-to-Peer Organic Virality

Though the core team directly pitched a few hundred creators, the massive splash on launch day created a snowball effect. Uncontacted influencers scrambled to join the movement, leading to over 80,000 videos created by more than 4,200 global creators independently. 

Friendly Competition & High-Profile Gamification

By adding a live donation leaderboard on TeamTrees.org with an initial self-donation and a playful challenge ("I dare you to take this space from me"), they gamified the campaign. This sparked competitive donations among high-profile tech executives and creators—most notably Elon Musk, Alan Walker, and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke. 

Over 600 creators made original content for #TeamTrees, and over 4,200 total influencers posted about or contributed to the movement globally. Below is a list of the key influencers, digital personalities, and high-profile figures involved across different categories.

Team America will target all 10 million American creators. If only 0.2% sign on that is still 20,000. Considering the magnitude of the problem and the supermajority of American in favor of fixing it, that is a lowball number but a good start. We will very quickly see who supports saving America and who is betting against us and "making bank" on our country's demise.

Core Organizers & Lead Creators

• MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson): Main co-founder. Kicked off the campaign by attempting to manually plant 20,000 trees with his crew. 
  Wikitubia - Fandom
• Mark Rober: Co-founder and former NASA engineer. Built automated tree-planting drones for his launch video. 
  The Shorty Awards

Signing up MrBeast and Mark Rober would guarantee our success; however, we can do this without them. All we need is a reasonable facsimile—at some point the number and popularity of top influencers will compensate for a lack of there support (I cannot for the life of me imagine that they would not want to help or even lead the charge).

Tech, Engineering & Science

• Linus Tech Tips (Linus Sebastian): Engineered a high-powered tree-planting cannon. 
• Marques Brownlee (MKBHD): Tech reviewer who posted launch content and promoted the initiative heavily across social media.
• Smarter Every Day (Destin Sandlin): Joined the initial planning team and created educational science content for the project.
• Simone Giertz: Built an automated tree-planting robot.
• AsapSCIENCE (Mitchell Moffit & Gregory Brown): Created animated educational videos explaining the carbon-capture math of planting 20 million trees.
• The Infographics Show: Visualized the global environmental impact of the project. 
• Veritasium (Derek Muller): Educational science creator who promoted the campaign's ecological goals.

Gaming & Livestreaming

• DanTDM (Daniel Middleton): Built a massive automated tree-planting farm in Minecraft Hardcore. 
• Ninja (Tyler Blevins): Promoted the campaign to his gaming audience and made significant donations.
• PrestonPlayz / Preston (Preston Arsement): Created custom tree-planting challenges.
• Unspeakable (Nathan): Participated in synchronized launch content.
• LazarBeam (Lannan Eacott): Gaming creator who made campaign-focused videos and stream challenges.
• Jacksepticeye (Seán McLoughlin): Hosted charity livestreams to raise funds for the initiative.

Animation, Entertainment & Vlogging

• PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg): Promoted the campaign in his videos and made a substantial donation under his fanbase name. 
• TheOdd1sOut (James Rallison): Animated creator who released custom artwork and video content.
• Jaiden Animations: Supported the launch with custom animated content.
• Rhett & Link (Good Mythical Morning): Covered the project on their show and planted trees on set.
• The Try Guys: Featured the initiative in their videos.
• Zach King: Created custom illusion/editing short-form videos around planting trees.
• Collins Key: Promoted the initiative to younger audiences with custom challenge content.
• FaZe Rug (Brian Awadis): Produced vlog-style content promoting the cause.
• Joey Graceffa & Hannah Stocking: Lifestyle and comedy creators who pushed launch-day links to their audiences.
• Jeffree Star: Beauty creator who joined early with major top-tier leaderboard donations.

Music, Entertainment & Tech Industry Donors

While not traditional YouTubers, several major public figures and musicians used their influence and capital to drive the viral leaderboard competition:

• Alan Walker (Musician/DJ): sparked the donor leaderboard war with a $100,001 donation to beat MrBeast.
• Marshmello (DJ/Producer): Promoted the movement to his audience.
• Elon Musk ("Treelon"): Donated $1,000,000. 
• Tobi Lütke (Shopify CEO): Donated $1,000,001 to top Elon Musk. 
• Marc Benioff (Salesforce CEO): Donated $900,000.
• Jack Dorsey (Twitter CEO): Contributed multiple donations totaling $350,000.
• Susan Wojcicki (YouTube CEO): Donated $200,000 and filmed a video with Mark Rober. 

Here is the expanded breakdown of creators, channels, and public figures who made dedicated videos, held streams, or drove major contributions to the campaign:

Education, Science & Commentary

• TED-Ed: Released a lesson video explaining the ecological science of mass tree-planting.
• Philip DeFranco: Covered the campaign launch on The Philip DeFranco Show and directed news viewers to donate.
• SciShow (Hank Green): Published a dedicated compilation exploring the carbon-capture math behind 20 million trees.
• ElectroBOOM (Mehdi Sadaghdar): Engineered a high-voltage "Taser Tree" to promote donations.
• TierZoo: Rated trees on a biological tier list based on their ecological traits.
• Life Noggin: Produced an animated breakdown on strange tree biology.
• Joe Scott (Answers With Joe): Explored tree ecosystems as carbon sinks.
• Numberphile: Analyzed mathematical tree concepts (TREE vs. Graham's Number) to channel viewers to the campaign. 
• Adam Savage (Tested): Promoted the engineering aspect of the initiative across social platforms.

Gaming, SMP & Esports Creators

• Technoblade: Streamed and uploaded dedicated Minecraft videos directing his fanbase to donate.
• Skeppy & Slimecicle: Hosted custom in-game Minecraft survival events tied to tree planting.
• KreekCraft & Sketch: Played and created custom tree-planting challenges in Roblox.
• Ph1LzA: Ran a charity livestream in his Minecraft Hardcore world to raise funds.
• SMii7Y & LoverFella: Ran Minecraft streams where every in-game tree planted correlated to real-world donations.
• AntVenom & LDShadowLady: Published dedicated survival builds supporting the launch-day push.
• MM7Games (Miniminter / Sidemen): Built large-scale Minecraft forests to drive European audience awareness.

Vloggers, Comedy & Variety

• penguinz0 (Cr1TiKaL / Charlie White): Covered the project on his channel and drove donations through commentary streams.
• Jarvis Johnson: Reviewed terrible 1-star internet reviews of natural parks to raise awareness. 
• RoomieOfficial: Paid musicians on Fiverr to record a custom #TeamTrees anthem. 
• Azzyland: Created DIY recycling and environmental hack videos centered around the launch. 
• Matt D'Avella: Produced minimalist lifestyle commentary connecting consumption habits to environmental action.
• Ellie and Jared: Family vloggers who participated in hands-on planting content alongside the core crew.
• JackSucksAtLife: Personally planted hundreds of real trees to fulfill a challenge. 

DIY, Art & Visual Effects

• EvanAndKatelyn: Built stained-glass style tree art using resin.
• CG Geek: Rendered a 3D visual effect simulation of 20 million trees populating landscapes.
• CircleToonsHD: Created an animated drawing tutorial centered on trees to direct subscribers to the link.
• PeterSripol: Engineered an R/C airplane designed to drop seeds from the air.
• James Bruton: Built a functional electric guitar out of a potted plant. 

Major Corporate & Platform Backers

• YouTube (Official): Matches $1 million in user donations directly through the site's donation feature.
• Verizon (via Verizon Up): Matched $1 million in donations.
• Discovery Channel: Filmed and released a TV documentary (Code Red: Seeding Hope) profiling MrBeast and Mark Rober's campaign.
• Plants vs. Zombies (EA Games): Ran an in-game charity event and donated $50,000.

Niche & Special Interest Creators

• Guava Juice (Roi Fabito): Made dedicated DIY tree-planting videos for younger audiences.
• Steve Mould: Analyzed the prehistoric origins of coal beds in relation to tree decay.
• LEMMiNO: Released a short documentary-style breakdown on trees.
• Scott Manley: Explored space history by focusing on the "Moon Trees" grown from seeds flown on Apollo 14. 
• Bathaniel Nandy: Attempted to plant 20 million trees virtually inside Super Mario 64. 
• Sexplanations (Dr. Lindsay Doe): Used plant biology to deliver an educational talk on tree reproduction.
• Medlife Crisis: Traveled to evaluate the world's widest tree to tie into the campaign. 
• Animal Wonders Montana: Highlighted ecological relationships between wildlife species and forests.

International Creators & Regional Ambassadors

• Life Where I Came From: Japanese cultural channel that examined forestry and timber practices in Japan.
• Rare Earth: Documented sacred trees and local lore in Okinawa, Japan. 
• Mrwhosetheboss (Arun Maini): Promoted the campaign to UK and international tech audiences alongside MKBHD.
• Mini Ladd: Produced commentary content to mobilize European viewer donations.
• Lost Pause: Integrated anime meme culture into the campaign to reach niche online communities.

Memes, Music & Pop Culture Figures

• Tay Zonday: Wrote and recorded an original "Plant A Tree" song for the campaign.
• Grandayy & Dolan Dark: Prominent meme creators who flooded Twitter and Reddit with campaign-focused memes.
• Ricky Berwick: Created a comedic video centered on planting a chocolate tree.
• OfficialDuckStudios: Produced chaotic comedy vlogs centered on planting trees.
• Anthpo: Created viral public prank videos dressed around the tree theme.
• Jesus Christ (Gospel / Meme Creator): Recorded a viral character video endorsing the campaign.

The success of Team Trees directly laid the operational blueprint, partnership structure, and creator trust required to execute Team Seas two years later. Rather than starting from scratch, Mark Rober, Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), and campaign director Matt Fitzgerald treated Team Trees as a proof-of-concept for how to mobilize the internet for tangible environmental impact.

1. Proof of Concept & Creator Trust

Before Team Trees, a multi-creator, synchronized campaign on that scale had never been attempted. Once creators saw that Team Trees successfully raised $20+ million, reached 1 billion video views, and actually delivered on planting real trees via the Arbor Day Foundation, trust was established. When the team pitched creators for Team Seas in 2021, influencers knew the organizers had the logistical capacity to execute another massive campaign, drastically lowering pitch friction. 

2. Standardizing the "1 Unit = $1" Metric

The core secret to Team Trees' virality was its clear, simple metric: $1 = 1 Tree Planted. It gave audiences a tangible mental model for their contribution. For Team Seas, they adapted the exact same formula to marine debris: $1 = 1 Pound of Trash Removed. 

3. Scaling the Non-Profit Vetting Model

For Team Trees, the team partnered with a single, established 501(c)(3) (the Arbor Day Foundation) to handle operational execution while YouTubers handled media and fundraising.

For Team Seas, they scaled this model to a 50/50 split between two specialized non-profits: 

Earth.Org

• Ocean Conservancy: Handled manual beach, ocean, and coastal cleanups. 
• The Ocean Cleanup: Handled river interception technology (using automated Interceptor trash-collecting boats) to stop plastic before reaching the sea. 

4. Refining the Outreach Engine

Team Trees relied heavily on individual direct messages and unlisted YouTube video pitches to creators. For Team Seas, they refined this into a turnkey "creator playbook":

• The Launch embargo: Over 10,000 creators from 145 countries received a secret embargoed launch date (October 29, 2021) to publish simultaneous videos, creating an inescapable "takeover" effect on feed algorithms worldwide. 
• Pre-Shot Anchor Content: Mark Rober and MrBeast spent months filming hands-on, high-production launch videos—including traveling to Bajos de Haina in the Dominican Republic—to ensure the campaign opened with massive visual impact.

5. Re-engaging the Ultra-Wealthy & Tech Leaderboard

Team Trees proved that gamified leaderboards on TeamTrees.org could spark donation wars among tech executives (like Elon Musk, Tobi Lütke, and Marc Benioff). When Team Seas launched, the team re-engaged those high-net-worth relationships early on, allowing TeamSeas.org to cross its $30 million target in just over two months. 

More About the Overwhelming Influence of Jimmy Donaldson

Billionaires buy elections by buying media, media companies and internet platforms. Platform media is crushing radio, TV and print media. To change voters’ views you need viewers. Content is worthless if nobody sees it. Donaldson, known online as MrBeast, is the best in the world at getting views by a long shot. 

He receives an estimated 29 million to 37.5 million daily views in the U.S. alone across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. In comparison, Fox News’ The Five, the most-watched program in cable news, gets 3.6 million daily viewers. He has one video, “Subscribe for an iPhone,” that hit one billion views in 39 days. Let that sink in. Based on the worldwide distribution of his fanbase, an estimated minimum 140 million to 235 million of those views were from the U.S. He has 10 videos with over a billion views with three of those approaching two billion. His game show series Beast Games on Amazon ranked as Prime Video's most-watched unscripted series of all time. It reached No. 1 on the platform in over 80 countries.

Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewing him for the New York Times video “MrBeast on Cracking the Attention Economy,” said on stage to a large crowd, “Literally, he’s got billions of viewers!” Want to pass the 28th amendment to end corruption? This is the power you need to beat BIG Money. You can’t buy that. Billionaires can’t buy that. 

If he’s so popular why haven’t I heard of him? No surprise. How old are you? Seventy-five percent of his fans are under 30. Ask any kid if they know who MrBeast is. Watch their eyes light up and a BIG smile shoot from ear to ear. Try it.

Donaldson has developed a formula for viral videos that can be applied to any and every age group. He has been perfecting it since he was 13. Through hard work, trial and error, countless hours of research, controlled experiments, focus groups, and continuous improvement he has truly made a science out of virality.  He has analyzed it to the nth degree starting with the first 5 seconds of a video down to the colors highlighted in his thumbnails. Check out Aprilynne Alter’s YouTube channel for detailed analysis of his formula. I recommend starting with “How MrBeast Solved YouTube.” 

Donaldson has proven his ability to turn views into action. It will take a HUGE grassroots movement, focused on the biggest problem of our lifetimes, ending Citizens United, to push a constitutional amendment over the top. He has launched a series of highly successful grassroots movements. His “Team” call-to-action internet influencer collaborations kick up the power of platforms to a whole other level. 

Jimmy’s first such highly successful campaign, “Team Trees,” resulted in the planting of over 20 million trees in only 56 days to help fight climate change. Not just any trees, they worked with the Arbor Day Foundation to ensure that they planted “the right trees in the right place at the right time.” 

One of MrBeast’s team members said, “It was just so crazy to see us smash our goal in so little time. I honestly did not think we were going to hit the goal by the end of the year. But we crushed it. I cannot express in words just how amazing the YouTube community was and how much love they showed Team Trees. And how hard they pushed it and how great everyone was. It really was beautiful to see all these hundreds, if not a thousand plus creators, come together and support this one cause for good.” 

That’s the kind of enthusiasm, focus and involvement needed to pass an amendment. Is there any other way? The Team Trees collaboration only included an estimated 600 to a thousand influencers. Imagine a collaboration of thousands, if not tens of thousands of influencers focused on the 28th amendment to end Citizens United, the most important issue of our lifetimes. Envision them talking about it everyday and mentioning it every chance they get. Working with Jimmy will be fun, add to that all the most influential people and internet influencers in the country focused on this one issue. Jimmy even got Musk to donate a million in support of Team Trees.

Collaboration is like going from a spotlight to the full power of the sun focused on a single spot. The power to pass the 28th. To enact the 28th amendment to “Make Corruption Illegal Again” (catchy slogan, right?) we need to launch “Team America 2026”. The enthusiasm it will generate will be over the top. What better way to celebrate our 250 year anniversary than the 28th?

To fully appreciate the power of an internet influencer collaboration you’ve got to watch the Curiosity Stream video, “The Story Behind MrBeast's Love of Giving.” Fast forward about two minutes (2:03) to the start of the section where Donaldson tells the story of how he and Mark Rober launched Team Trees (Click the PLAY button in main photo above to watch the video).

In the video Jimmy tells one of his team members, “This is something that I truly care about. I think we can do it…” When he asked around to see if it was even possible everyone told him he was crazy. That it was impossible. So of course because he lives to do the impossible, he upped his original goal to plant one million trees, to 20 million trees.

He said, “I threw out a tweet and I was like, ‘To celebrate 20 million subscribers, I want to plant 20 million trees. If anyone wants to help, reach out.’ And that's where this ball started rolling… by making such an audacious goal and just saying, you guys the only way this happens is if we all band together and really sell that vision…” 

Jimmy fired up his followers and the kids got their parents on board. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, “Schools and student groups got involved with MrBeast’s and Mark Rober’s Team Trees campaign by hosting fundraisers, organizing localized tree-planting events, and incorporating the environmental initiative into classroom lessons.”

Donaldson said, “We get messages all the time from moms who are like, 'Yeah, my kid watched your video and now they want to volunteer. They want to donate their own money and give their allowance…'”

Mark Rober said, “This was tooth fairy money. This was sixth grade bake sale money. And the real power here is that kid who's now part of Team Trees, who donated $2, they also are much more likely to turn off the light when they leave the room. Or if they see their friend putting trash on the ground or not recycling, say yo, like I'm on Team Trees, all right.”

This is the biggest battle to save democracy since the New Deal. We need to launch a HUGE internet influencer collaboration, “Team America 2026,” and enact the 28th and to celebrate our 250 year anniversary. With Jimmy’s help organizing a HUGE grassroots movement we could most certainly enact the 28th amendment. 

Why do I believe he would help if only asked by the right person? Jimmy doesn’t need money. He’s a self-made billionaire philanthropist who has stated in podcast interviews (such as on Flagrant and Theo Von's This Past Weekend) that his core mission in life is simply to "do what's best for people”. One of his earliest viral videos was of him walking out of his house, down the street and giving $10,000 cash, the entire amount he got for his first paid video, to the first homeless person he saw.

Why don't I just write to him and ask him myself? I have tried contacting him. Jimmy literally has over one billion fans, followers and subscribers worldwide. AI says the odds of my letter getting in front of him are literally zero.

Jimmy avoids politics to keep from alienating his fans. Saving our democracy and our country isn’t political, it’s patriotic. And he’s patriotic. Donaldson told Theo Von that he wants to be president someday. He said that he wouldn't eye the Oval Office until he is in his 50s or 60s. He’s only 28.

Our country can’t wait, we need him now. This is URGENT. Ending corruption has overwhelming support, especially among his base, young people. Their enthusiasm and boundless energy is needed to pull this off. After all it’s their future we’re talking about. They have a vested interest. Instead of taxing billionaires, our corrupt government has charged $40 trillion to their credit card and priced them out of the housing market. They will bring their parents along too, especially on action to end corruption. 

To prove he cannot be bought, he floated the idea of giving all of his money away right before launching his campaign for president. He says he believes entering the race with zero dollars in his bank account would prove he is immune to lobbyists and financial influence. He has voiced frustration with leaders over 70 and says that the country is “overdue for younger presidents.” He says he wants to accomplish everything he can in his business first, and then spend roughly 10 years working his way up through local and state-level politics before attempting a presidential run.

I can’t imagine him turning down a request to join the team to save democracy and our country for the kids. But, I’ll let you in on a little secret—you don’t need MrBeast to pull this off. All you need is to replicate what he has already proven works. How many internet influencers and influential people do you think support ending corruption? Nearly all? Influencers will line up to sign up. Even sports podcasters and cosmetics content creators will enlist to save their country. We just need to focus this powerful force of nature on this one issue.

Donaldson has developed a formula for viral videos that can be applied to any and every age group. He has been perfecting it since he was 13. Through hard work, trial and error, countless hours of research, controlled experiments, focus groups, and continuous improvement he has truly made a science out of virality. 

He has analyzed it to the nth degree starting with the first 5 seconds of a video down to the colors highlighted in the thumbnail. Check out Aprilynne Alter’s YouTube channel for detailed analysis of his formula. I recommend starting with “How MrBeast Solved YouTube.”

Jimmy got into YouTube because he saw it as a way to earn money to help out his mom after his parents divorced. They were wiped out and had to declare bankruptcy after the 2008 market crash. Hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, author of The Mortgage Meltdown, said in an audio recording on his website that the banks and Wall Street spent only around $150 million lobbying to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act that separated commercial banking from investment banking, as well as all of the other 13 laws passed after the Great Depression to prevent it from ever happening again. I don’t think Jimmy or most people know that. The bankers and Wall Street made off with trillions and, adding insult to injury, our government bailed them out and not us on top of it. How ironic that government corruption, in a roundabout way, motivated Jimmy to become an influencer.

The leverage of government can do BIG things, for good or bad. Here’s a sad fact. Jimmy’s heart is in the right place, but as humans are prone to do, he couldn't see the forest for the trees. When it comes to the science, focusing on saving the existing forests is far more important than planting new trees. Why? PBS Tera looked into the impact of Team Trees on the environment and interviewed Climate Change Biologist Beverly Law, Ph.D. They reported that for the first 20 years new trees are a net source of carbon, not taking in as much through photosynthesis as is given off. 

With the stroke of a pen Trump wiped out all of Jimmy’s hard work on Team Trees to fight climate change, by a HUGE margin. Recent changes to Federal policies and severe budget cuts to the U.S. Forest Service enacted by corrupt politicians have led to accelerated logging targets and the bypassing of standard environmental reviews thus speeding up old growth timber harvesting. The agency also now lacks the staff to do preventive fire-thinning. In 2025, the Forest Service treated 35% fewer acres for wildfire risk. I doubt Jimmy knows this. It should be even more motivation for him to join our team.

Extra Credit Reading

We are experiencing a complete system failure. Bill Maher said, “With OUR Government, everything is broken. It's hard to even name an issue the government is involved with that isn't broken." Tucker Carlson summed it up, "Our political system has collapsed into paralysis and looting.”

The disastrous 5 to 4 Supreme Court Citizens United ruling has led to corruption spinning out of control. We see it everyday in 4K. Justice Clarence Thomas, an unelected political appointee, cast the deciding vote. Investigative reports by ProPublica have revealed that Thomas accepted millions in undisclosed luxury gifts, travel and property from billionaires prior to the decision that opened the floodgates to Money in Politics. He claims that his donors are "close personal friends" and that the previously unreported "gifts" had no influence whatsoever on his judicial opinions.

Money talks. In America today, unless you're a billionaire, you are voiceless.

Naomi Klein told Amy Goodman, “there has never been a coalition more broad than the people who believe in this world. We believe in the future.” The billionaires we’re up against “are betting against the future right now. They are not only betting against it, they are actively fueling the fires that are burning this world. If we have the courage to really look at the bleakness of what they believe in, which is apocalyptic, then we have our work cut out for us. ‘We’ being the people who actually believe in this world, in the beauty of creation and in each other.” 

Our democracy is under a full-blown attack. In his new book The Nerd Reich, author Gil Duran has exposed how a small circle of Silicon Valley tech billionaires have declared war on democracy. Duran argues that emerging technologies—specifically cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence models, social media algorithms, prediction markets (and I would add data centers)—are being leveraged as political weapons to bypass government regulation, spread propaganda, and concentrate wealth and power in the hands of billionaires. It’s part of a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule. This is only the most recent incarnation of the ongoing effort by the Epstein Class to complete their takeover of our government and put an end to OUR democracy. Its origins can be traced back decades to the 1933 Business Plot (ref. Smedley Butler) and the 1971 Powell Memo (ref. David Sirota).

Help save our democracy. Take ACTION.

 

Food for Thought

“We will not achieve change by prayer alone. Our problems can only be solved through action. We are not powerless. We must work hard, with vision. WE must take action.” — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Laureate, speaking at the 11th Nobel Peace Summit: “A World Without Nuclear Weapons”

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back—concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.“ ~ Often attributed to Goethe, but it’s the work of William Hutchinson Murray from his 1951 book: The Scottish Himalayan Expedition