Research for Good was co-founded by Sean Case, Matthew Ronco and Baillie Buchanan and is described by Case as a “socially responsible” research company which will use a mix of panel, social media and other sample sources.

The company pays a donation to a charity of the respondent’s choice, whether they waive their own incentive or not. It could be anywhere from 50 cents to $50, Case said, but the average donation per completion tends to fall between $1 and $3.

Case said it was important to the success of the business that they recruit from all sections of society, not only from among those for whom a charitable donation is all the incentive they need.

“If you build a respondent database based purely around the charitable incentive you can’t sell full projects,” he said, pointing to hidden behavioural biases within a charity-only sample.

Case said Research for Good is heading towards 10,000 completions this month, with the company selling to other sample companies and directly to research agencies.

The company is currently recruiting participants through the website SaySoForGood.com and by working with small charitable organisations. It is also about to agree partnerships with several “large global charities”, Case said.

“When I go to work, I want it to be for something good – beyond just making money,” he said. “In this economy, with non-profits struggling and government grants disappearing, we need to support them. The MR industry needs to step up with more models like this.”

Research for Good allows respondents to donate to any officially recognised charity, of which there are some 1.3m in the US and 800,000 in Canada. The company works with a partner organisation responsible for distributing donations each month.

The company is online at www.researchforgood.com. It officially launches on Monday.