War conflict in Ukraine made many companies and web platforms take action. Now almost anywhere you go online, you will see a banner calling to “donate to Ukrainians.”
(Images from volunteers' blogs - @odessamama and @zirochka)
You will see it on Amazon, Apple, Airbnb and other websites. Of course, this is a great way to raise funds because these websites have huge web traffic and exposure. However, such fundraisers are not transparent.
I checked Amazon’s fundraising for Ukrainians, and it redirected me to the Red Cross foundation. I have nothing against the Red Cross, but after reading some of the Q&A on their website, I understood that I need to trust their choice blindly with how they spend my donated money. I don’t know how my money will be used, nor will I be given any report. My biggest concern is will it reach someone actually in need instead of being wasted on bureaucracy and other intermediary players. Since many fundraising companies are large organizations, a portion of my donations will be used to support the operation of the organization.
Now let me tell you how decentralized technologies have fully revolutionized fundraising.
Let’s take Hive, for example. In short, Hive is a decentralized social platform where you get paid for writing articles and posts and for “upvoting” (i.e. liking) the posts. In this article, I won’t be explaining in detail how Hive works; it will be a topic for a future article.
At the beginning of the war, many Ukrainians started to write posts and diaries on the situation in Ukraine.
Not only did these posts receive a lot of support from the crypto community, but they also sparked a completely new concept of fundraising.
How Hive revolutionized fundraising?
Before, if you lived in a different country to the one in crisis, your only option was to donate to large organizations such as the Red Cross without knowing how, when your donations would be spent, and who you helped.
Now, with decentralized social platforms like Hive, you have an option to donate locally and learn how every penny you donated was spent.
How?
On Hive, you will see many posts with the hashtag #ukraine, and some posts will be from people-volunteers who are in Ukraine collecting donations to help victims affected by the war. When you go to their page, you will see the posts and reports they write. These reports are usually written in detail on how the donated funds were spent with photos of people who received help and photos of receipts. It is very transparent.
(Screenshot from the report @odessamama https://www.waivio.com/@odessamama/6dydbf-compassion-and-sympathy)
The entity behind the account can be both a person or a small charitable organization. These volunteers can be located in different parts of the country, and you can read to what causes they collect donations (for example, help with shelter, help with groceries, etc.).
Every volunteer person/organization has different ways to collect donations. It can be via a local bank transfer, PayPal, or cryptocurrency. They can also fundraise through NFTs (where you buy NFT and the funds from the purchase go to the cause).
You can read their posts and reports and see if you want to donate to them.
How can you trust such volunteer people and micro organizations?
A reciprocal question to you, how can you trust large organizations? It’s their reputation, you might say. Similarly, these volunteers that collect donations on HIVE have a reputation on this platform. You can check how long they have been posting and what they are writing and posting. You can check whether there are any complaints or bad comments under their posts because, in contrast to the platforms like Facebook or Twitter, nothing can be deleted from the blockchain.
What’s more, in contrast to large organizations, the volunteers will tell you exactly how your money was spent with photos and receipts. Also, you can always directly communicate to the volunteer via comments and ask or suggest how you would like your donation to be spent. Can you do that with the large fundraising company? I don’t think so.
You can try donating a very small amount at first to see if your donation is received and spent well.
Why use decentralized platforms and not other social media?
It is true that you can use other social media such as LinkedIn or Facebook to write reports. However, decentralized platforms like Hive have unique advantages:
First, every person builds reputation and trust.
Second, every post receives money for upvotes. The more upvotes, the more people will see your post. This money can be used towards a charitable cause. It is especially important when volunteers are just starting out, as they may not get any direct donations but only get money from the upvotes. This allows them to start spending, helping, and growing their charitable channel.
Third, blockchain technology gives you extra confidence that posts and comments will not be removed from the platform.
Here are a few volunteers in Ukraine to who you can donate to:
https://www.waivio.com/@odessamama
@odessamama lives in Odessa. He regularly reports on the situation in Odessa. He collects donations in crypto (such as Hive, BTC, Monero, Litecoin), PayPal, and E-transfer. From the donations (including the upvotes on HIVE), he gets humanitarian aid -groceries, medicine, and fuel for soldiers and their families in need in Odessa.
Check out the full reports on his page.
https://www.waivio.com/@zirochka
@zirochka lives in Kyiv and regularly writes a diary. From NFT for Peace, she raised more than 2,000 USD, which was spent on medicine and groceries for people affected by the war, especially the elderly and children. She writes detailed posts on how much money was spent and about every person who received help.
https://www.waivio.com/@ilysarazom
@ilysarazom is an association of people who provide support to victims of the war all over Ukraine. "Their team consists of several business owners who have remade their structures. Currently, it is 22 people, 70+ drivers and stuff. The purpose of the organization is toprovide food, medicine and clothing to all those in need." They accept wire transfers and payments in crypto (check their website)
In summary, decentralized platforms on blockchain changed the way we make donations. It made fundraising local, fully transparent, and without large organizational bureaucracy and fees. You actually see how your donations make a difference.
Subscribe to my Youtube channel Subscribe to my Telegram channel
Crypto Dive🥇 is growing to become the number one channel to educate as many people as possible about decentralized technology. Crypto Dive Ru (Crypto Dive in Russian)
#decentralization#decentralized#crypto#cryptocurrency#binance#newtocrypto#beginner #beginnersguide #beginnerguide #ukraine #ukrainewar #warinukraine #ua #crisis #war #welcometocrypto #donations #crypto #cryptodonations #nft
#help #fundraising #charity #hiveuacharity #hive #cryptocharity #helpukrainians