The Green Brothers: A Multimillion-Dollar Philanthropy Machine
The Green brothers, John and Hank, have built a multimillion-dollar philanthropy machine through their online presence. Their journey began with John's bestselling novel, The Fault in Our Stars, which skyrocketed to the top of Amazon's charts and The New York Times bestseller list before its publication. This success was largely due to their hyper-engaged online fanbase, cultivated since 2007 through their YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers. The channel, which has amassed 4 million subscribers, serves as a platform for their philanthropic endeavors, which have grown exponentially alongside their careers.
Their first Project For Awesome in 2007 saw them flood YouTube with awareness videos, raising over $20 million for various causes, including Save the Children and Partners In Health. This project was a collaborative effort, with Hank's chaotic excitement complementing John's thoughtful, methodical approach. The brothers have since expanded their educational video series, CrashCourse, which is used in high schools across the US, and SciShow, a scientific sister project with 8.3 million subscribers.
The Green brothers have naturally fallen into the roles of internet science and humanities teachers, with a survey of MIT students finding that 95% had watched a CrashCourse video. They have also launched Study Hall, an extension of the concept, allowing students to gain college credit for less than a third of the usual cost by watching videos online.
Currently, the brothers are focusing on harnessing their followers to fight global health injustices. In October, Partners In Health cut the ribbon on a Maternal Centre of Excellence at the Koidu Government Hospital in Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. The construction and start-up costs of $50 million were largely funded by John and Hank's audience, businesses, and personal donations.
The Sierra Leone project was an experiment to see if online communities could mobilize against long-term problems such as a maternal mortality crisis. Between 2019 and 2025, John and Hank exceeded their $25 million fundraising target by encouraging viewers to set up regular donations, establishing a matching fund, diverting ad revenue from their videos, and making significant personal donations. The resulting Maternal Centre of Excellence triples the capacity of the Koidu Government Hospital's maternity ward and special-care baby unit.
John and Hank's preoccupation with sickness has permeated John's novels, inspired by his own health issues, a brief period spent working as a student chaplain at a children's hospital, and a touch of hypochondria. Hank's interest is scientific, driven by curiosity about the inner workings of the human body.
John has also started working on tuberculosis, a disease that claims over a million lives annually, despite being curable since the 1950s. He has been strengthened by his online audience, who successfully lobbied pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to stop enforcing its patents on the TB drug bedaquiline, allowing millions to access lifesaving treatment. A similar campaign against Danaher saw the company lower the prices of its TB tests within a week.
Hank, who has published two sci-fi novels, is working on a non-fiction book about cancer. In 2023, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, from which he is now in remission. He embraced his illness with curiosity, turning it into a positive step.
The brothers will continue to support Partners In Health through Good Store, inspired by actor Paul Newman's Newman's Own grocery business, which donates all profits to children's causes. Good Store started as a sock subscription, selling designs by independent artists, and has expanded into household essentials, with 100% of profits going to charitable causes, significantly supporting the Maternal Centre of Excellence and tuberculosis treatment in Lesotho.
In the face of overwhelming global health crises, the Green brothers stay hopeful by focusing on the story of progress they're a part of. In Sierra Leone, government and NGO initiatives, including theirs, have led to a 78% reduction in maternal mortality since 2000, a faster decline than any other country in the world. John and Hank's community can take pride in their role in this accomplishment.
