BitGive foundation, a bitcoin and blockchain technology-based non-profit organization has announced its launch of the Giving Tuesday campaign, a donation transparency project aimed to leverage the Bitcoin network and the distributed ledger technology for social good.
The decentralied and transparent nature of the Bitcoin network’s blockchain technology allows anyone on the network to publicly trace and track transactions. Using the same concept, BitGive enables donors and organizations to easily trace their donations and see exactly how their funds are being allocated and disbursed.
“We are excited to participate in Giving Tuesday for the second year in a row. This year, donations will be directed to our Donation Transparency Project, the inaugural project of our Bitcoin Charity 2.0 Initiative,” announced Connie Gallippi, Founder and Executive Director.
“We are blazing new trails to leverage blockchain technology for the nonprofit sector. This new way of giving and providing accountability to philanthropic efforts will reward the good players and set a whole new standard,” he added.
The impact of a purely decentralized, transparent and peer to peer network in the non-profit sector is invaluable. Most donations, especially the funds sent from global organizations to central authorities and governments, are intercepted by corrupt political leaders and intermediaries, especially in developing countries.
The blockchain technology allows donors to send small to large payments instantly, with significantly lower costs and greater transparency. Since donors are fully aware of the routes of their funds and exactly how it is used, it eliminates any possibility of corrupt financial activities.
An example of this is the Water Project in western Kenya. Due to the country’s substantially low bank adoption rate and poor financial infrastructure, it is extremely hard for non-profit organizations to raise funding to continue its campaign. Bitcoin and the blockchain technology however, allows anyone to “be their own bank” and enables instant transactions, opening up a wide range of opportunities for organizations such as the Water Project.
“The blockchain and Bitcoin present an incredible opportunity to dramatically lower our costs to transmit money to countries like Kenya,” says The Water Project’s President Peter Chasse. “At the same time, it can also enable a shift to real-time, end-to-end transparency into how nonprofits like ours put donations to good use.”
While many developing countries fear to use Bitcoin due to liquidity issues, bitcoin has the potential to disrupt the non-profit sector. Once developing countries establish a stable bitcoin payment infrastructure, non-profit organizations will be able to receive large bitcoin payments with greater liquidity.
“The ability to follow your donation and how it supports positive and impactful work around the world is a huge opportunity. Connecting donors to the direct outcome of their generosity while providing transparency is a giant leap ahead in the nonprofit world and offers tremendous opportunity for disaster relief efforts as well as programs delivering support around the world on a regular basis,” explained the BitGive foundation.