Photo by Martin Austermuhle

By Benjamin R. Freed and Sarah Anne Hughes

Cause the “Philanthropub” that gives away all of its profits to charity, has found a new beneficiary: itself. The do-gooder restaurant, which opened last October, needs to buy a new air conditioning unit, but doesn’t want to dip into its own funds, as such an action would cut into the amount it can give away.

So instead, Cause’s owners are taking a page from General Motors, Citigroup, and AIG and asking for a public handout.

The restaurant launched an Indiegogo campaign today seeking $11,000 to purchase a new air conditioning system. The reason why you, Joe Public, should buy the air conditioner instead of the business owners is stated on the site:

We don’t want to take it out of our operating funds, because that means less money for our charities. So we are asking for your help. If you give us $11 now, we will have a cold one waiting for you the next time you come in. Essentially, you are just pre-purchasing your next drink! If we can get 1,000 of you to help us out, then we are there. What’s that old saying—many hands make the load lighter.

Photo by Joe Newman.

Cause’s drinks cost between $3.50 (for a Keystone Light) and $10 (for a fancy cocktail), so this donation is almost an even trade if you enjoy mixed drinks. Sorry, Cause. If you’re looking for a bailout, it should be in exchange for equity in your business, just like the government got from GM. Not for a T-shirt ($20 donation) or a cocktail party ($500 donation).

Also, Cause’s owners, Nick Vilelle and Raj Ratwani, might want to reconsider their definition of “operating cost.”

“We cover all of our operating costs, the rest is profit and that gets donated,” Ratwani wrote in a DCist comment when readers questioned the stability of Cause’s business model, which appears to have overlooked the fact that shit breaks.

In the mean time, Cause has been attempting to keep itself ventilated—restaurants can get pretty toasty without air conditioning—by leaving a back door open to create a slight draft. However, the stopgap solution has irked the restaurant’s neighbors, some of whom complained last night at a meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B, at which the restaurant also presented its plans for a roof deck.

We’ve reached out to Cause’s founders to ask them about the campaign. We’ll update if we hear back.

Update: Cause co-founder Raj Ratwani answered some questions about the campaign via email.

“We set aside reserves to handle foreseeable expenses that might arise from our operations. This is a practice that most businesses do,” Ratwani said. “We have been dipping into our reserves to maintain our current AC system, but it is clear that we need to get a whole new system in place. Given that it is our first year of business, in a very difficult industry, we don’t have all the funds to pay for a new system. Because we have had so many people ask us how they can support us we have decided to reach out to our supporters. For those that want to give they can. It is completely voluntary.”

When asked if he regrets the business’ practice of giving away all of the profits at all, he replied, “Not a single regret! We knew this would be a difficult process and that there would be challenges along the way. We are willing to take the risk because we believe in the idea and we want to find a new way to support charities.”

He also didn’t have an qualms about asking the public for help: “We get hundreds of emails from people asking about ways they can support us. This includes financial inquiries as well as ways to volunteer, etc. This campaign is one way that people can support us if they decide they want to.”

With 66 hours left to go, the Indiegogo campaign has raised $467 of the $11,000 goal.