7/ This Week in Web3forGood
A weekly roundup of the ways Web3 tech can used to make the world a better place.
Welcome to Week 7 in Web3forGood,
Last week, digital artist Refik Anadol raised over $2.5 million for charity via the sale of his newest digital artwork. That’s a lot of money! Art collectors and crypto-native donors are increasingly seeking to buy digital artworks that support causes they care about, beyond simply donating currency. Now that the ownership of digital art is verifiable via blockchain technology, there are so many opportunities in the space for social impact organizations to engage. This week, in addition to our usual roundup of links, we have three examples of organizations are using the sale of NFTs in different ways to raise money for a cause.
Please reach out if you would like to contribute to this newsletter, or if there is a project or person in this space that you would like us to reach out to or highlight. Coming soon: interviews and in-depth profiles. Who / what would you like to hear from? What’s on your radar?
Xx Abeera & Sam
What’s Inside
📣 Latest News
📚 What We’re Reading
🚀 Opportunities
📡 On Our Radar
🌊 Beyond Crypto Donations: Fundraising with Digital Art NFTs
📣 Latest News
Web3 Game Planet Mojo, One Tree Planted Help Reforest World With NFT Launch
World of Women launched WoW Emergency Fund with an initial pledge of $500,000 for humanitarian support in conflict zones around the world.
Decentralized Google Maps? Solana-Based Hivemapper Raises $18M to Build It
Moonbirds Shatter OpenSea Records With $240M Traded Within Four Days Of Launch
📚 What We’re Reading & Listening To
6 ways how Web3 Technologies can help improve the Scientific Record.
16 notable and influential women in the NFT world.
The ImpactDAO poster book depicts position changes in Web3, highlights current tools used by ImpactDAOs, and provides guidance on how to achieve holistic, modular solutions that combine expertise, talent, and resources to serve all living systems.
Humor-writer Joel Stein (anyone remember the old back page of TIME?) tackles setting up his first crypto wallet.
Key considerations for nonprofits when it comes to cryptocurrency from PNC Insights.
Have you heard of The Free Republic of Liberland? It’s a micronation that runs on cryptocurrency. Listen to its president debate blockchain technology with other leading experts on this recently republished Intelligence Squared podcast (a few years old, but still relevant).
Is everyone finally welcome in the crypto community—or is this just non-fungible tokenism?
🚀 Opportunities
Apply: Electric Capital is seeking technical and nontechnical people to build public goods for Web3.
Apply: Tribute Labs is hiring technical and nontechnical people to build and support DAOs.
Enter: The Blockchain Writing Content by Tatum and HackerNoon
Learn: Scholarships for Crypto College, an intensive learning program and lifelong community for those who want to be leaders in Web3, are available.
📡 On Our Radar
400 Drums is a series of NFTs derived from one-of-a-kind Indigenous drums handcrafted by David Fierro of the Okanagan Nation, which supports Indigenous artists, elders, language speakers, and tour operators to harness new online platforms to monetize their craft while sharing their teachings and stories.
Kotani Pay is building a solution that allows people to access blockchain technology to send and receive money without the need of internet connectivity or a bank account. In the process, they are educating underprivileged societies in mobile money, digital assets, and blockchain technology.
Defi Llama is a wiki maintained by volunteers that aims to become the encyclopedia of crypto.
🌊Beyond Crypto Donations: Fundraising with Digital Art NFTs
Whether it’s via a multimillion dollar gala auction or a simple purchase in an elementary school cafeteria, selling artwork to raise funds for a charity is a timeless, tangible way to connect donors with a cause.
Traditionally, charity art sales have been limited to physical works of art, simply because they could always be verified and the artwork could easily be displayed or stored (like “The Journey of Humanity,” an artwork that sold for $62 million at auction early last year to raise money for children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic); however, thanks to blockchain technology, ownership of digital artwork is now verifiable too, meaning digital art can now be sold (and even displayed).
The sale of digital artwork to raise funds for a variety of causes is an early use-case of Web3 tech. Just last week, acclaimed digital artist Refik Anadol raised over $2.5 million for three nonprofit organizations via the sale of his newest artwork collection, “An Important Memory for Humanity.” Moreso, the donation potential of the art is limitless - 30% of artist commissions on every secondary sale generated via the smart contract will continue to be donated, indefinitely.
Anadol is not the first artist to use digital artwork in this way. As the NFT market expands, artists and nonprofits continue to unearth more ways to collaborate to raise funds, connect with donors, and generate awareness. Some are more successful than others. Still, what’s clear is that, even without an added layer of social utility, NFT digital artworks that support charities attract cryptonative donors with money to spend on causes they care about.
These three projects use NFT art sales to fund three very different causes (connecting kids to the internet, providing humanitarian aid, and funding scientific research) in three very different ways. Each is a unique example of what’s possible when charity, art, and technology intersect.