Blockchain technology is being applied to fundraising, governance, humanitarian aid, and traceability with varying levels of traction and challenges. Fundraising has seen the most success to date, facilitating over $120 million in crypto donations to non-profits. Examples of governance applications include blockchain voting pilots and decentralized autonomous organizations. Humanitarian aid case studies focus on areas like refugee identity tracking, cash transfers, and medical supply chains. Traceability aims to address issues like human trafficking through verifiable identity as well as supply chain transparency in sectors such as agriculture. However, all applications face open questions around technological literacy, privacy, partnerships, and potential unintended consequences.

1. Visualizing Impact
Through Case Studies
An ongoing (and sometimes questionable)
conversation

2. Brief
Intro
Mahavilachchiya
Sri Lanka
2004
Pristina,
Kosovo
2007
Iboundji,
Gabon
2008
Port-au-Prince
Haiti
2010

3. Real Talk: Caveats
There are no shining examples of
blockchain-for-impact. We are still very (very)
early.
➔ Experimental
For better or worse – vulnerable people
are not lab rats.
➔ Susceptible
Tools can be levered for good
or…questionable ends.
➔ Complicated
Technological literacy, privacy, need –
these all impact engagement.

4. Topics We’ll Cover:
I. Fundraising
II. Governance
III. Humanitarian Aid
IV. Traceability
Challenge:
Which of these has the
most traction today?

5. Fundraising…by a lot.
On average, every
$1 donated (in
crypto) results in
$1.80 in impact.
World Vision
Source: Donate Crypto
Crypto donations
are projected to
surpass $10B in
the next decade.
The Giving Block, 2023
Source: TGB Annual Report
[In 2022,] half of
the Forbes Top 100
Charities are
fundraising via
crypto and NFTs.
CoinDesk
Source: Crypto Outperforms Market

6. 5,057 BTC
donated to
60 charities, worth
$86 million at the
time.
It remains one of the world’s largest
anonymous donations.
Pineapple Fund, 2017

7. “By keeping crypto in its native
form, UNICEF, donors, recipients,
and the public can track where
the money is going and how it is
being spent, providing an
unprecedented level of
transparency in the funding and
NGO space.”
— UNICEF Office of Innovation
Tip
Don’t wait till the end of
the presentation to give
the bottom line.
Reveal your product or
idea (in this case a
translation app) up front.
UNICEF CryptoFund, 2019-Present
Source: unicef.org

8. As of 2023,
$120 million in
crypto donated across
1,052 charities for an
average of
$26,000 per nonprofit
The Giving Block, 2018-Present

9. Governance
Encompasses topics such as:
➔ Voting
➔ Land Registry
➔ Educational Credentialing
➔ Healthcare
➔ Supply Chains
➔ Identity

10. Blockchain Voting
Cons
- Security: 51% attack
- Scalability: strained systems
- Interoperability: across
municipalities,
- Regulation: new technology
- Digital Divide: could increase
the gap
Pros
- Accuracy: tamper-proof
- Transparency: visible to all
- Auditability: public
accountability
- Automation: registration,
tallying
- Geographic Inclusion:
remove distance barriers

11. Blockchain Voting Pilot Projects
Sierra Leone
Dubai
Moscow
Zug
Colorado
West Virginia
Estonia

12. Decentralized
Autonomous
Organizations (DAOs)
A new take on an old form of coordination –
full of potential and basically a total mess.

13. Source: Tokenizedhq.com
Hierarchies
vs. DAOs

14. Source: Tokenizedhq.com
Ex: Types of DAOs

15. Notable DAOs

16. Humanitarian Aid
Case studies:
➔ Food / Supply Distribution
➔ Refugee Identity / Tracking
➔ Cash Transfers
➔ Vaccination Records
➔ Medical Supply Tracking

17. Sidebar: Identity
noun, plural i·den·ti·ties
the state or fact of remaining the same one or ones, as under varying aspects or conditions
➔ Who issues it?
Governments only?
➔ On what grounds?
Birth? Driving? Travel? Voting?
➔ Who controls it?
Issued once, then belongs to holder?
Controlled in perpetuity by the issuer?
➔ Is it portable?
Accepted worldwide?
➔ On what grounds can it be revoked?
Can the gov’t turn my identity “off”?
**A small sliver of a much larger conversation.

18. Meet Feras.
A lawyer in his home country of Syria,
in 2021, he fled with his wife and three
kids to escape the violence.
They spent 40 days in a refugee
camp before being moved to a town
in Jordan.
They now share a two-bedroom
apartment with four other family
members and he occasionally works
as a barber.
Source: Oxfam America

19. Tip
If one example isn’t
sufficient to help people
understand the breadth
of your idea, pick a
couple of examples.
World Food Program,
“Building Blocks,” 2017-Present
As of 2023,
4 million recipients
each month
$529 million in
cash transfers
$3 million in saved
bank fees
Source: World Food Program

20. Benefits of Blockchain
➔ Security
If executed properly.
➔ Savings
Instant, near-costless transfers.
➔ Auditability
Internal and potentially external
accountability.
➔ Staking
Generative earnings off one-time
donations.

21. Potential Pitfalls
➔ Technological Literacy
What does “I consent” entail?
➔ Big Data
How is it being used?
➔ Partnerships / Integrations
Who is behind the tech?
➔ Issues of Choice
Can a refugee really say “no”?

22. Traceability
Encompasses topics such as:
➔ Human Trafficking / Forced Labor
➔ Mineral Mining
➔ Fishing
➔ Agriculture
➔ Environmental Impact

23. Verifiable, global identity stands to upend
the human-trafficking market.
Passport fraud and
withholding workers’
identity documents are top
methods for enabling
forced labor.
Moldova
…is one of the most
trafficked countries in
the world.
In 2019, 66% of all
trafficked humans were
Moldovan.

24. “Using blockchain on top of
existing systems will flag and
record every unlawful attempt to
exit, helping to ensure that no
child is taken out of the country
using fake ID documents
produced by human traffickers.”
— WIN
World Identity Network, 2018-Present
Source: win.systems
Children at a Moldovan orphanage partnered with
WIN.

25. “The UN refugee agency’s data
collection practices with Rohingya in
Bangladesh were contrary to the
agency’s own policies and exposed
refugees to further risk.”
— Lama Fakih, crisis and conflict
director at Human Rights Watch
Image credit: Clodagh Kilcoyne/REUTERS
Source: Human Rights Watch
UN Shared Rohingya Data Without
Informed Consent

26. AgUnity, 2016-Present
2021-2023:
Projects in 9 countries
328 co-op partners
4,000+ participating
farmers
Source: agunity.com

27. Climate Action
➔ Strengthen trust & participation in climate negotiations
Trustworthy and tamperproof
➔ Digital Measurement, reporting, & verification
Price and supply coordination, identification of fraudulent sustainability claims
➔ Cost savings
Elimination of middlemen, smart-contract execution to reduce risk of non-delivery
➔ Democratization
Micro-transactions (<1 tonne) enable greater participation;
incentivizing climate-positive actions among app users
Source:Toucan Protocol

28. “To make our world a better place,
we need to build products that the
corrupt cannot abuse – Bitcoin is the
best example of that.”
-Olawale Daniel,
Nigerian Entrepreneur