Technologies such as NFT and bitcoins help to raise funds in an innovative way
With the evolution of technology, civil society organizations gain new ways to raise contributions in different and innovative ways. One example is the idea of creating a digital dress , which does not physically exist, for Brazilian top model Valentina Sampaio to wear and then auctioning it off as a way of raising funds during a campaign to combat violence against the LGBTQIA+ community.
The outfit made for Valentina — who is a star in the fashion world, being the first trans woman to be on the cover of Vogue Paris magazine — is just a virtual piece. An artist projected, on top of the Brazilian woman's body, the image of a white dress in which a reddish liquid, as if it were blood, drips onto the fabric. This work was sold in NFT format (English acronym for non-fungible token), which is a certificate of ownership of a digital product, with the guarantee of originality and exclusivity.
The Brazilian's 'dress' was auctioned for US$300,000 in September this year. The value represented at the time the highest value traded in an NFT linked to fashion, and the profit was donated to organizations linked to the LGBTQIA+ cause.
Creativity and historical importance can make a difference to the success of initiatives like this because, through NFT, it is possible to buy a digital certificate for anything.
Another example is the first tweet from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey that was sold this way. The amount reached corresponded to more than US$2.9 million. Dorsey's portion of the profit from this action was converted into the digital currency bitcoin and donated to the Give Direclty organization, which sends money to poor families in Africa and the United States.
In fact, it is important to always remember that donations in cryptocurrencies are made under the risk of the amount donated depreciating or appreciating in value, according to daily variations. However, many large international organizations see these transfers as a simplified way of receiving resources from different countries.
The United States Red Cross began accepting donations in bitcoins in 2014, and Unicef launched CryptoFund in 2019, which allows you to receive, hold and spend cryptocurrencies. The United Nations Children's Fund highlights that, through this initiative, it is possible to count on the transparency of blockchain transactions (the system that allows recording and tracking of information) and the low cost of sending amounts.
Many things that were unimaginable just a short time ago, as in the cases of Valentina and Dorsey, today facilitate philanthropy in different ways, with organizations seeing new ways to generate engagement, with important causes echoing much further and with the incentive to achieve of partnerships between different classes and sectors of society.
The culture of giving has a strong momentum to gain from the combination of technological tools in hand, different ideas in mind and desire in the heart to make the world better.
Carola Matarazzo – Executive Director of Movimento Bem Maior
This article was originally published on the Third Sector Observatory website .
