PerchLight lets a person in need ask for a specific item from a specific store, and lets a neighbor pay for exactly that. No cash changes hands.
If you’re like us, you often want to help when someone is in need. But we can sometimes feel reluctant if we don’t know if the need is real, or where that money will go. This gap in our confidence can sometimes overcome our desire to help, leaving those in crisis still stranded.
PerchLight closes that gap. A person in need posts the exact item they need and the store it comes from. Charitable organizations can, at their discretion, vouch for the need. A sponsor pays for that item. The purchase is made with a single-use card that works only at that store, for that amount, to be verified by receipt. The sponsor knows exactly what their gift did. The recipient keeps their dignity and receives the exact item they need. No cash ever changes hands.
We are launching first for families in crisis in Utah. Eventually the tool is intended to expand across the nation, with a special desire to help those who are unhomed or displaced.
PerchLight is a social impact, for-profit company, not a charity. We say so plainly, because it is built on the new underlying philosophy that every for-profit business should first seek to uplift the human condition and only then seek profits. That philosophy has a name: Good-First Capitalism.
Why not a charity? Because we are social impact entrepreneurs. This is how we work: we build something awesome that has a positive impact, make it earn its own way, and then use what it earns to build the next venture. By staying a for-profit venture, we stay nimble. A business answers only to the people it serves and the sponsors who use it, not to a charity’s grant cycle or a board calendar, so it can stay small, move fast, and change course the day a better idea shows up. The trade-off is that a gift made directly through PerchLight is not tax-deductible. So we partner with charities: a gift given as a donation to a Partner Charity that is accepting donations (look for the star on its badge) is tax-deductible, and it still buys the same item, at the same store.
Every business should be built first to improve the human condition, and only then make a profit. PerchLight is the first for-profit business built on this new philosophy.
Good-First Capitalism asks every business leader to take an oath at formation, renewed each year: put the good of people before profit, state plainly how the business helps and what harm it could do, and accept being held to that statement. Profit is honorable, but it comes second.
On October 6, 2026, PerchLight’s founder was the first to take the Good-First Oath, and our business published the first Good-First Human-Condition Statement. Both are public, dated, and renewed each year, so anyone can see our mission and hold us accountable to them.
A founder who builds, and advisors who have seen a lot of money move.
Founder
Nate lives in Saratoga Springs, Utah, and built the PerchLight platform. He holds a law degree and a master’s in business, spent years running IT demand and metrics programs for international teams, and worked as a professional mediator. His work as a social impact entrepreneur has been driven by his deep desire to help those in crisis around the world.
Advisory board
Dan spent forty years in commercial banking, from Bank of America to Zions Bank, where he served as Area President for North Utah County. Now retired, he brokers deals and opens doors for young companies. He advises PerchLight on banking, lending, and how a new company earns the trust of financial institutions.
Browse real needs, or post one. PerchLight is operated by Crackling Fire Enterprises LLC.