The Blockchain Trust Accelerator (BTA), a global platform for harnessing blockchain technology to solve social impact challenges, has created The Impact Ledger, an online registry of social impact blockchain projects, which span the nonprofit, public, and for-profit sectors.
“Blockchain technology is emerging at a time when broken systems, a lack of trust, and bureaucratic dysfunction are preventing civil society leaders from achieving their objectives. Many high potential blockchain for social impact projects — projects that could affect all facets of civil society — are currently underway,” explained Tomicah Tillemann, Founder of the Blockchain Trust Accelerator at New America, and Chairman of the Global Blockchain Business Council. “But these projects are far-flung, and differ widely in terms of their potential, the degree to which they leverage blockchain’s capabilities, and their stages of development.”
Operating as a not-for-profit collaboration between Washington-based think tank New America, The Bitfury Group and the National Democratic Institute with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Blockchain Trust Accelerator has received a six-figure anchor grant from Social Alpha Foundation.
Founded in Hong Kong in 2017 by Nydia Zhang and Jehan Chu, Social Alpha Foundation focuses on supporting blockchain education and outreach to empower communities to utilize blockchain technology for social good by providing “no-strings funding” to companies and projects that educate communities on blockchain for social change.
“Blockchain is one of the most significant technical innovations of our time. The technology can create records, contracts, and transactions that are highly secure, transparent, and resistant to manipulation,” @BlockchainTA and @safoundation17 to create the Impact Ledger, a record of global blockchain projects aiming to create social impact. #UNGA2018 #BlockchainCentral #ConcordiaSummit @TomicahTD @nydia_zhang”Social Alpha Foundation Co-founder and Chairman Nydia Zhang. “Blockchain is already being deployed in the finance sector, with over $1 billion invested in potential fintech applications. From strengthening resilience and managing identity, to improving the efficacy of relief efforts, blockchain is poised to have a profound impact on the world.”
How will blockchain serve to enhance communities and their projects?
“Attempts to catalogue activity in the space have lacked rigor, a mechanism for keeping information up-to-date, and a communication strategy to ensure information about projects reaches the right audiences,” clarified Tillemann. “The Impact Ledger will solve those issues by convening experts in the field to define parameters for inclusion in the registry; applying those parameters to researched and referred projects; implementing a plan for updating The Impact Ledger regularly with additions, deletions and relevant news on listed projects; and crafting a communications plan to raise awareness of the registry among key constituents.”
The Impact Ledger also aims to raise awareness of high quality social impact blockchain projects among key audiences, including NGOs interested in pursuing blockchain projects, funders exploring blockchain technology, as well as for-profits considering the creation of blockchain projects and/or partnering with those in another sector.
“The Blockchain Trust Accelerator will elevate the field of blockchain for social impact with The Impact Ledger, and we are proud to be supporting them as they build a definitive, vetted registry which promotes the understanding and flow of resources to blockchain for social impact projects, and which separates hype from projects with real impact and potential,” noted Zhang.
Successful applicants will receive financial grants ranging from US$10,000 to US$100,000 with no interest charged and no repayment obligations. Funding for grants will be raised in cryptocurrency from individuals and commercial projects that have executed successful token sales, creating a channel for donors to adopt corporate social responsibility practices.
“We founded the Social Alpha Foundation as we wanted to demonstrate the value of making philanthropy part of the crypto and blockchain experience by funding those who can imagine and realize solutions for a better future,” Zhang shared with Crowdfund Insider via email. “Blockchain is a young, often misunderstood technology, and its benefits have not been fully demonstrated in the real world. It is our aim to raise awareness among the blockchain community to understand the need for social impact projects to benefit humankind on a global scale. This is done by harnessing the power of early beneficiaries in the crypto space and empowering grantees to use blockchain technology for good, building the tools that will take us there.”