Most people have little trust in the working of bog charity organisations, speculating that these use a sizeable portion for their operations and little goes into the actual relief funds or projects. However, with a Blockchain system these doubts can be resolved with transparency in transactions, decreased operating costs, and overall efficiency in the process. These cynical ideas can be undone and lead to increased donations.
Absolutely! We have spent a lot of time researching this issue and naturally it is most prominent for younger generations that have grown up with constant news of exploitation of charitable giving, although the culprits are largely the third-party fundraising companies that charities use. These guys can charge the charity up to 17 times the value of a monthly pledge they obtain from the general public, and the charity has to pay this
upfront which makes it harder for the smaller charities in their donor acquisition efforts since they do not have the funds to engage in these sorts of promotions.
There is so much more blockchain can do to revolutionise the giving experience though, but a lot of the current blockchain projects seem to not fully realise the potential here. Most of them are essentially keeping the current giving paradigm and just enabling charities to accept blockchain payments, offering a public ledger and smart contracts that release funds in stages. Don't get me wrong, it is a good start but there is so much more that can be done, especially in addressing the lack of engagement from Millennials who have 50% less engagement with charities than Baby Boomers according to the Blackbaud 2016 Giving Report. With current life expectancy and aging donor behaviours, charities have about 10 to 20 years to address this or the amounts received will plummet.
Thanks for the insightful post on philanthropy in the cryptoverse