Karma - Charity Fund Sponsored by Dash Treasury

[djcrypto]

TL;DR: Use some treasury funds to help charities and boost Dash brand awareness/adoption/market cap.

Hi All,

I've been thinking about ways to give back, boost Dash's brand awareness, generate positive publicity and perception and help others. All of these will boost adoption and thus the market cap. It's a win-win-win.

As a libertarian, I feel that we should not rely on government agencies to steal our incomes through taxation. They spend it on war and corrupt practices (the death economy) then trickle-down a few percent back to us through devalued currency and depleted socialized entitlement programs. It should be up to us individuals to volunteer to distribute disposable resources to help those in need, in the most efficient and effective methods possible.

What I propose it to start a charitable fund that is allocated a certain amount of the treasury per month. Every month, we have the ability to change thousands of lives, but can also vote not to. I feel like not using the Treasury Funds is morally reprehensible and bad business practice. Instead of setting up a charity and all of the infrastructure required, we get Wachsmann PR to send out a PSA / Press Release to all charitable organizations and businesses to come to us with their ideas and projects. We set aside a minimum $100k/mo to encourage them to apply.

Why Philanthropy Will Increase Adoption

The most influential demographic, the millennial generation, is generally clueless about economics and survey says that 50% are against "capitalism". Therefore, touting an-cap values to clueless millenials just turns them off. What we need is to make them feel good about a "new movement" without forcing them to understand or like capitalism. They can just reap the benefits like trust fund kids - whatever. That new movement is to "change the world for the better". What better way to show that than to use the Treasury to help those less fortunate? Be a part of positive change!

For me, it's been easy to get people on-board with the advantages of DASH. However, that doesn't mean they will change their daily habits of using VISA cards and being enslaved by the debt money system. Imagine if we can shift the public perception of dark market internet drug money to something more socially acceptable (read: gov't friendly) that also makes a positive difference in the world! People will be lining up to use Dash.

I want Dash to be successful and I feel that Treasury Funds that go unused is reprehensible. As you may know, having first mover advantage with the Treasury is only valid if we move. At the least let's help people with this unused money! It will also help public perception, make Dash top-of-mind when thinking about a positive force, and as a bonus the masses will force government to be supportive of Dash rather than want to ban it.

I feel like this will be a great investment and help build desire for the economic Evolution.

Please comment and let me know if you support this concept.

 

[jimbursch]

How would you select the charities that receive the funds?

The principle is sound; the devil is in the details. Rather than throw Dash at a charity arbitrarily, we should do it strategically. Any thoughts on that?

 

[akhavr]

Ask charities to make their case via Budget Proposals?

 

[djcrypto]

Yes @jimbursch , as quoted in my OP
"we get Wachsmann PR to send out a PSA / Press Release to all charitable organizations and businesses to come to us with their ideas and projects"
IE: Proposals Sorry it was late when I wrote this.

Also, I think we should change the name of the fund to "InstantKarma" to align branding with InstantSend. Can't edit the title of the original post.

 

[oaxaca]

Ask charities to make their case via Budget Proposals?

A thousand USD is a lot to ask for a "charity". Maybe setup a testnet or parallel version to allow masternodes to vote on proposals without them incurring an out of pocket fee.

 

[Blake]

I say this is fantastic! IF DASH can steadily support good causes that give back and make lives better-how can this not be good for us?

 

[GrandMasterDash]

Personally, I would vote for joint ventures where charity is a part of the proposal e.g. The Crypto Show. But I wouldn't vote for specific charities on an ongoing basis because I think dash is far better than that. I would prefer that dash set up a foundation with specific objectives. This way, it could organise events and take complete control of how the money is spent and every aspect of branding e.g. organising a charity "Dash Run" to raise even more money.

 

[CaptainCalliope]

Inviting non-profit organizations to make proposals is probably not a very good idea in the long run. It would create more noise for masternode owners to sort through with minimal positive impact for Dash relative to this cost. Even if we had a well articulated strategy and guidelines to encourage the 'right kinds' of projects and organizations to be proposed, it would still be asking a lot for masternode owners to keep these in mind when offering feedback and voting.

Accountability also remains an issue. This is a difficult problem in the non-profit space in general with foundations creating all sorts of bureaucracy for accountability that are often are more work than grants are worth. Accountability is hard, as we know, and doubly hard when the accountable party is from outside the community. Strategies for this should be part of a proposal.

I definitely think philanthropy should be strategic! We should be selective around what organizations to give money to, and funds shouldn't be solely unrestricted.

We should give money to organizations with goals that align with those of the Dash network. Organizations focused on open internet, digital privacy and security, digital and economic policy, economic development, etc.

One major problem within the non-profit space is that foundation grant programs are usually hyper-specific. They set some goal or area of focus and organizations that receive these grants are forced to adjust their activities around. Unrestricted funds for general operations are rare. I think we should have a hybrid approach. We should definitely offer unrestricted funds, but with a fraction earmarked towards collaborations that benefit Dash.

For example, money offered to an arts service organization focused on arts entrepreneurship could include a stipulation that they introduce cryptocurrency literacy into their curricula. We can offer additional resources and training to help make this happen. This way, they get unrestricted funds to pay staff and we get a pipeline of artists and arts organizations who have awareness of dash as well as skills and infrastructure to take advantage of this new economy.

Philanthropy can also be a way to build relationships with talent we need within out network. Bringing tech-literate lawyers into the fold. Bringing in people with domain specific knowledge of key industries we might want to target.

This would also be an opportunity to be good citizens with the world of open source software by giving money to projects we depend on. Everything from community infrastructure to key software libraries used by the core team to obscure security projects with no funding that the internet depends upon to remain secure. There are too many volunteers in open source stewarding critical resources we take for granted that should be paid. Finding such projects and funding them wouldn't just benefit the wider internet and create good will, they'd ensure that infrastructure the Dash ecosystem depends upon are secure and resilient in the long term.

These are just examples. My main point here is that we shouldn't have non-profit organizations come to us, we should proactively seek organizations. For that we need an articulated strategy for building partnerships that strengthen Dash and to create a program for moving this strategy forward.

The level of work here would best be served by funding team (run as a sub-dao or otherwise) and recruiting people experienced in strategic philanthropy from outside our community to make it happen.

 

[algodon.franelas]

I would like to see DASH fund organizations that work on finantial education based on the new economy, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies (DASH - Digital Cash), focused on young people.

To open the next generation's mind to a new reality of prosperity all around the world.

 

[Clara Reiss]

Yes, Donating to the charity will always prove to be beneficial. For "changing the world for better cause" and eradicating the problem of poverty, charity donation help poor people who are suffering from poverty. Many NGO's are there also who help people those who are suffering from any loss. Few days back, I was reading this on a humanitarian mission for helping the humanity those who are less fortunate.

 

[EazyDay]

This is a great idea, we need to coordinate with the PR firm so we do not chase the same objectives. Also, someone had an idea about a DASH disaster recovery team as well. I made some inquiries with Kiva and Accion through a buddy. Looks like we have a charities team shaping up with all the comments. We should be able to brainstorm something. On a side note, I converted my team name over to DASH and Kiva. Entrepreneurial spirit is synergistic with DASH, I think? So I would like to throw that idea in the hat as well? https://www.kiva.org/team/dash