Demo: Marketplace for Impact Certificates

Abstract

There is growing demand for innovation in social sector fundraising.The conventional model relies on emotions rather than evidence, brand recognition instead of outcomes and marketing over impact.In this paper, we sketch out a prototype for an online giving platform modelled on a Pay for Success mechanism where donors pay retroactively for tangible impact already achieved.It uses impact certificates, currently limited to the carbon credits industry, to fund verified past impact from three civic participation organizations in India.The demo shows how blockchain can ensure single sale per outcome and enforce a fundraising cap based on impact created.Drawing on the historical database of over 5000 impact reports of the three partner organizations, we minted 27 impact certificates on the Ethereum testnet.Over the course of creating the demo, we raised USD 4034 from 133 contributors through the donation matching platform Gitcoin for purchase of these certificates.