EarthFund platform update 09/19
Testing our automated DAO creation, Airbnb-ifying the platform, and Carbon Removal DAO’s first two proposals
Our automated DAO creation tool is ready for testing, so we’re gearing up to take our v.1 platform to the next level.
👋 We’re EarthFund, the decentralized platform using blockchain, DAOs, and crypto to revolutionize the giving economy and give you more of a voice in the shape of tomorrow.
This is post #12 in our new weekly update on everything that happens behind the scenes at EarthFund’s (distributed) HQ.
Hey Earthlings 👋
We have exciting news!
A large part of our automated DAO creation feature is just about to enter testing, which is a huge step forward in our journey to taking DAOs and decentralized philanthropy mainstream.
That said, we’re going to be rigorously testing this new feature to make sure it works and we’ve squashed as many bugs as possible, so don’t expect it live imminently. (We’ll get you an ETA once we’ve completed the first round of testing.)
However, as soon as it’s ready, anybody will be able to launch a DAO, swap 1Earth for their own governance tokens and start making the world a better place. We’re very excited.
But before we jump into the meat of the update, we just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your support and belief in the long-term vision of the project, despite bumps in the road, setbacks, and market conditions.
The bear market has been tough for everyone involved and we’re all working hard behind the scenes (quite literally 24/7) not just to secure funding to continue growing the platform despite market conditions but to build a platform that can weather bear markets.
Building a platform that can weather bear markets
And at a macro level, donations and philanthropy are largely unaffected by global markets. When times are good, donations are up. But when times are bad, donations don’t fall by much.
For example, in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, giving in the United Kingdom was largely recession-proof (Cowley et al, 2011). Donations went up when things were going good, but didn’t drop by much when things were bad.
And evidence from the United States shows a similar pattern. People donate more when things are good, but don’t stop donating when things are bad. (List and Peysakhovich, 2011)
Just look at 2021. Despite the global pandemic and global economies taking a hit, crypto donations were up last year by 1588% and $484B was given to charity in the USA alone.
Now, granted, post-2008 donations to philanthropic causes have been slightly more affected by economies and markets. However, studies have shown that a lot of this has to do with trust in charities, big businesses, and how the funds are used, rather than a change in attitude towards giving (Meer et al, 2017).
👆 All of this is why EarthFund matters
We’re not just tackling the crisis of trust in non-profits by creating a system that builds trust through transparency and decentralized decision-making.
We’re not just building an online platform that allows for donations in cryptocurrency or fiat from anybody around the world so that philanthropic efforts become borderless and global.
We’re creating a platform that rewards everybody in a stable cryptocurrency for making the world a better place. This means that as long as people are donating and you’re using your 1Earth to join communities, suggest projects, and vote, you’ll be getting rewarded in USDT regardless of what the market is doing.
EarthFund is reinventing the giving economy to give people more power, reward users, and break down the traditional walls between organizations and their supporters.
Token creation and on-chain KYC are in testing
This week, two key elements of the platform are about to begin testing:
🌍 Token set up flow: this lets users set up their own ERC-20 governance token and do things like name their token, set the symbol, upload a token icon, choose supply, mint with 1Earth, decide whether to autostake users for rewards, set a DAO launch date and decide the max supply for each user.
🌍 KYC on-chain: as we said last week, giving people who donate in crypto tax breaks was always one of our big goals. And KYC on-chain is a big part of cracking that nut. (You can read more here.)
But the other benefit of the KYC on-chain is that it helps build safe communities. Anybody that’s ever got a message from Fake Alex Vergara or the EarthFund imitators knows that the crypto space has a safety problem that is off-putting, scary and frankly dangerous for newcomers.
By having online communities full of verified users created in a way that cannot be circumvented, every DAO on the platform becomes a safe space walled off from scammers and free to focus on getting rewarded for making the world a better place.
(Case in point: look at our Telegram community vs other projects. Our moderators' Blade Runner-like quest to eradicate bots and remove scammers/trolls has created a unique channel where everybody feels safe and is kind and supportive. Lots of other projects aren’t like that at all.)
We’ll update you on the results of the testing in next week’s update.
More work on the governor contract 💪
The EarthFund governor contract is the brains behind the automatic DAO creation and over the next few weeks, we’re going to be hard at work making sure it works perfectly and is ready to automatically launch everything somebody needs to start their own world-changing DAO.
That includes automatically creating:
- ERC-20 governance token pegged to 1Earth
- ERC-20 smart contract for the the token
- ERC-20 donation contract (that automatically splits the donations according to causenomics)
- Gnosis multi-sig wallet
- Coinshift treasury management
- Snapshot governance system for gasless voting
- ENS subdomain
- Subdomain on the EarthFund platform
Our team is working double on getting this ready soon, so watch this space.
A quick word on development
Everything we’re doing on the platform is done with mass adoption in mind.
We can’t follow the same roadmaps and principles that other platforms use because they’re being designed for people who already know the difference between quadratic voting and conviction voting.
We’re building with everybody in mind. We want to completely eradicate the learning curve behind Web3.0 and blockchain.
Why? Because we can only achieve real, meaningful change if it’s easy for everybody to get involved with making a difference.
Airbnb-ifying the EarthFund platform
Airbnb turned the travel industry on its head by taking the power from hotels and giving it to individuals and we’re doing the same with giving, so it makes sense that we look to them for UX lessons.
When you land on Airbnb, do you want to read about their business model? Or read a blog post? Or learn about their team? Or do you want to book a place to stay?
And when people land on earthfund.io, what are they going to be looking to do? Join a DAO, donate to a DAO or start their own DAO. (Probably in that order.)
So it makes sense that rather than taking a GoFundMe-style approach to our homepage (see below) that focuses on a mix of different journeys and educational content…
… that we instead help people find trending causes, join communities they care about or get started launching their own DAO without needing to search around or head to the footer of the page.
Enter the new Airbnb-inspired “top layer” of the platform
[Note: this design is our v.1 draft. Copy and design are not final.]
As soon as you land on earthfund.io, you’ll see a call to action, inspirational language, the ability to filter communities by their focus, the ability to search for communities, projects that are raising money (to encourage donations), CTAs for starting a DAO…
In other words, it’s a homepage designed to take users straight to where they want to go on the platform.
We’re going to be working on this some more this week, but this is just another example of how we’re taking Web3.0 and applying the best lessons in UX and CX from Web2.0 to take decentralization mainstream. 💪
An update on our fundraising
Last week, our advisory council met with a consultant that specializes in Web3.0 fundraising to discuss our strategy and ensure that we structure the deal in the smartest way possible for the long-term growth of the platform.
This week, we’ll be meeting again to sure up the final details and begin the big push to bring in more working capital for the project.
We appreciate that you’re all eager for more transparency and insight into the fundraising process, but unfortunately, we can’t say too much publicly to reveal our hand or announce information that would undermine our position.
Last week, the Carbon Removal DAO launched 2 proposals to fund and support community-led reforestation projects around the world.
You can read all about the projects here 👇
And in just a few days, the Carbon Removal DAO has raised enough to fund these first few projects and reward the community in USDT for helping to create a brighter, greener tomorrow.
Q1. Can we stop selling treasury tokens to allow the price to recover?
This has been THE big question of the week. This is the ultimate goal of the fundraising efforts: to use working capital raised from VCs to fund the development of the platform and reduce/remove the need to sell treasury tokens.
But right now, we are so close to finishing the platform that it doesn’t make sense to pump the brakes on development. (And remember, we’ve already reduced our operating costs by over 50% since the start of the bear market.)
We will be in a much stronger position to negotiate with a working platform.
And once the platform is fully operational, we’ll be able to scale up new DAO founders, who will all be buying and using 1Earth to mint their tokens at a 1:1 ratio.
Not to mention, we’ll be able to secure larger partnerships, get more eyes from PR and go on a big marketing and promotion push.
For those who donate to a DAO on the platform that is not associated with a 501c3, will there be some sort of compensation at all?
We’re still figuring out the logistics and legalities of the tax benefits for non 501c3 DAOs, but the chances are that (at least initially) you won’t be eligible for a tax relief on donations to non-501c3 DAOs.
However, this question is a little flawed. Philanthropy — at its core — it altruistic and selfless.
Sure, the pragmatic reality of the situation is that lots of people donate for tax relief. And we’re building the platform to tap into that.
But GoFundMe has raised over $15B in donations since launching with no promise of tax relief. It’s just a platform where people donate to do good, feel good and be good.
And there’s a lesson there.
If you create trust with people — through the cause, the platform and all the tangential things that they factor into their decision-making — then the warm fuzzies they get from donating are often enough to negate any lack of tax incentive or pragmatic reason to donate.
👆 And that’s exactly what we’re building.
How can you help? Help us spread the word
- Leave a positive comment on KuCoin’s new comment functionality
- Follow us on Twitter and give our posts a like/retweet → this would be huge for us. Our Twitter profile is key to spreading the word beyond crypto and into the kind of spaces where future DAO members (and maybe even founders) hang out.
- Join our Telegram community (if you’re not a member already)
- Talk about EarthFund in EarthFund-adjacent spaces (maybe mental health communities or carbon/climate change communities on Twitter)
- Tweet about EarthFund or interact with us on social media (got to feed those social media algorithms!)
- Ask us questions — we’re always available to answer questions in Telegram. (And if our community team doesn’t have the answers, we’ll get them for you.)
- Leave a positive comment and bullish rating on CoinMarketCap
- Like 1Earth on CoinGecko
Until next week, a massive thanks for being part of this journey with us!
Let’s build a better tomorrow, together.
New to EarthFund? Here’s everything you need to know 👇
Start a world-changing DAO with its own token.
Join a community of like-minded people.
Donate crypto to change the world.
All from one place.
EarthFund takes the power of centralized organizations like governments and global charities and gives it to communities dedicated to causes.
It allows everyday people like you to affect change. And using crypto and the blockchain, it lets you have a voice in decisions and fund the causes you believe in.
Powering it all is the 1Earth token, an ERC-20 token that can be staked in exchange for governance tokens that give you a voice on the platform.
By buying the token and joining the EarthFund DAO, anybody in the world will have a vote on how the EarthFund treasury is used to fund planet-saving projects around the world.
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