Voluntary.Gold: a community network

We are building Voluntary.Gold, a federated social action network for activists and volunteers to mobilize in support of the organizations and causes they care about, and be rewarded for their contributions.

https://voluntary.gold

DIFFERENTIATION:

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This will be the first ever platform designed specifically to empower autonomous volunteer communities to self organize in service of society. Not only will we be the first such comprehensive solution for this need, our three pillared architecture is designed to scale as the need grows. By aligning ourselves with various established decentralization movements in general, and the Cardano community in specific, we (collectively) will be positioned as thought leaders and prominent service providers in this space.

MARKET:

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As a decentralized solution for mobilizing volunteer communities, our market is the vibrant ecosystem of mission driven non-profits, grass-roots political campaigns, and open-source software development projects in which these communities naturally form.

PRODUCT:

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Our solution architecture fosters productive collaboration, social support, and intrinsic motivation as the three pillars for sustainable development of autonomous volunteer communities.

1. Federated Collaboration Hubs :
We are developing a federated network of open source collaboration hubs (client and server software), to keep organizations and volunteer teams connected, both on the web and on mobile. The hub servers can be installed at any domain, by any organization or autonomous volunteer collective. As an MVP, the first iteration of this software will be developed "off-chain". Leveraging the existing free and open source [nextcloud] [nxc] office collaboration platform, every hub in our network will "out-of-the-box" get custom email, online docs, file sharing, group messaging, audio and video chat, events calendar, kanban board, and access to all the other nextcloud plugins. Our free and open source "Voluntary.Gold Collaboration Hub" plugin for nextcloud will provide the special sauce that integrates with the blockchain rewards network, our community support network, and all other voluntary.gold collaboration hubs.

2. Social Support & Community Development :
Ours is both a technical and a social solution to community building. [Social support] [sos] is what makes the technology effective. This will be realized through training workshops and personal guidance offered from our own volunteer collaboration hub, and available across the network to all voluntary.gold communities. As a foundation, we will also be funding ongoing research into development of tools and techniques for applying empirically derived social theories, like [self-determination theory] [sdt] and others, to foster community growth. Part science and part intuition, our team of experienced professionals and trained volunteers will assist organizations and individuals alike in leveraging the power of decentralized leadership and cooperative teams to supercharge mission driven work.


Here are some examples of workshops we intend to host:

• "Understanding Blockchain as a Digital Proof of Contribution"
• "Mobilizing Trolls, Slackers, and the Disaffected, in a Decentralized Work Environment"
• "Hands On - Designing & Curating a Decentralized Knowledge Base."
• "Hands On - How Voluntary Ownership fosters Intrinsic Motivation"
• "Hands On - Incentive Design with Coins, Badges, & Coupons"
  
  

3. Motivating Rewards & Proof of Service on the Cardano Blockchain :
Volunteerism is a tricky thing to reward. On one hand, monetary rewards could be treated as taxable income, and are known to negatively impact [intrinsic motivation] [int]. On the other hand, having the time to volunteer without reward is a privilege only so many can afford to take. Additionally, the positive effects of having competence, autonomy, and relatedness with others has been well studied as [motivators in social contexts] [sdt]. As the third pillar in our solution architecture, we are designing blockchain [tokenomics] [tok] that will foster the growth of intrinsic motivation, while offering real value to those who need it, and offering a sense of ownership and freedom for all to universally validate their contribution to society.


These tokens will come in three flavors, which may be issued as seen fit by community hubs to their members in reward for voluntary participation.

• The openly tradable FT "coin", as a native asset on the Cardano blockchain, will quantify the value of one's voluntary contribution. The exchange value of these may grow as they come to represent the intrinsic value that volunteerism has in society.
• The non-tradable NFT "badge" tokens, leveraging the [ATALA Prism] [atp] identity management solution, will act as qualifier of a volunteer's contributions and status in each community hub. These may take the form of "membership badges" or "achievement badges" ect., and be used to validate certain transactions.
• The variably tradable NFT "coupons" may be minted in limited batches by community hubs, and awarded as bonus modifiers for qualified transactions. These may be minted in cooperation with participating businesses to represent special discounts on products or services. These may be minted as temporary modifiers of coin awards or badge assignments. These may have limitations on lifecycle and ownership as specified in each minting.

ADOPTION:

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• We are in the process of recruiting a few early adopter organizations (like Cardano) for our private beta release, from the political, open source, blockchain, and progressive non-profit sectors. The success of these decentralized volunteer communities will stimulate adoption by countless more organizations after the public release.
• Community adoption will be driven by organizational adoption and by our growing social media presence, advertising autonomous collaboration spaces for social good.
• Blockchain adoption, of wallets and tokens, will be supported by community hubs being able to act as token custodians. This service will eliminate the need for any individual to have expertise or "buy in" to the crypto way-of-life, and could reduce potential tax liabilities for those who would rather not hold crypto currencies.

POSITIONING:

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• As first movers in decentralized volunteer mobilization, we will be positioned to establish our brand as the industry standard by making a strong and positive impression on both client organizations and member volunteers.
• By aligning ourselves with the sustainably minded decentralization movements in general, and the Cardano community in specific, we (collectively) will be positioned as thought leaders and prominent service providers in this space.
• Regardless of future competition, we have the opportunity to open this market wide for growth and development. With tools for productivity, leadership training, and incentives for participation, our prediction is that volunteer engagement will skyrocket in benefit for all society and all business sectors.

BUDGET:

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With 50k ADA Cardano funding, our priorities will include:

• Legal Counsel – We will examine legal and regulatory requirements to discover how cryptocurrencies can best be used to incentivize volunteer work and non-profit donations, in the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, and other industrialized nations.
• Cardano Community Development – We will host and support as many Voluntary.Gold collaboration hubs for the Cardano community as needed to support the requirement of local community centers.
• Workshop Facilitation – We will collaborate to design and host multiple workshops for the Cardano community to teach best practices in community organization and decentralized collaboration.
• Software Development – We will continue development on the Voluntary.Gold nextcloud plugin and lead collaboration on the Voluntary.Gold native tokens and NFTs on the Cardano blockchain.

ROADMAP:

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March 2021

• Organize appropriate legal entities for funding open source development and supporting volunteer communities using crypto currency.
• Setup hosting environment for multiple community hubs
• Launch private beta for invite only sponsored communities
• Establish feedback and support channels for community development

June 2021

• Sales & Marketing
• Have 20 established & supported community hubs
• Have 2000 total members using the network
• Collaboration Hub
• Have 50 user interactions recognized and ready for token rewards
• Have white labeling for individual communities
• Have first version of voluntary.gold network dashboard for users
• Community Development
• Have first 5 essential workshops designed and delivered
• Have min 100 volunteers being trained in leadership roles
• Blockchain Rewards
• Finalize tokenomics design
• Begin development of NFT tokens on the blockchain
• Have FT coin developed and in circulation

SUCCESS:

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• Success for voluntary.gold will be the global adoption of this (or some combination of competing) blockchain powered solution for recognizing voluntary contributions to society.
• Success for the voluntary movement in general, will be the global incorporation of voluntary contributions as a functional element in governance design.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:

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• The research funded by our foundation will always be publicly available. White Papers will be released under a Creative Commons license and journal publications will require the stipulation of open access.
• The software development funded by our foundation will be copyrighted by voluntary.gold, under an open source license.
• The community development training and workshops offered by voluntary.gold will be copyrighted by voluntary.gold, under a CC license
• The logos, marketing assets, and trademarks designed by voluntary.gold will be copyrighted by voluntary.gold, license TBD
• The blockchain tokenomics will be under open source license as Cardano community co-developers see fit.
• Any other content co-developed or co-published with the Cardano community, will be under open source license as seen fit by its stakeholders.

TEAM:

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Manuel Mejia - Product Lead

https://manimejia.me

With 20 years exp as an entrepreneurial full stack web technologist serving multiple markets, and 6 years exp in various aspects of volunteer management at both national and local levels, this project is the latest iteration of a lifelong effort to empower the undervalued individuals in society. Manuel is a vivid big-picture dreamer and a roll-up-the-sleeves down-to-earth doer, looking forward to making this project come alive with whoever cares to dream it with him.

Adam Rusch - Community Development & Rewards

https://adam.rusch.me

With 11 years in learning technology, 15 years in political and non-profit volunteer management, 3 years studying and investing in blockchain technology, and a PHD in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, Adam is the subject matter expert in many aspects for this project. Couple that with his unwavering passion for empowering volunteerism in society at large, and you have an unstoppable force on the side of all things good. Amen.

Cyrus Mejia - Advisory Board

https://cyrusmejia.com

As co-founder of the largest animal sanctuary in the US, and board member of a national scale non-profit organization, Cyrus brings decades of experience and connections to help us build our own (volunteer) advisory board and make sure the tools we develop will actually be of use in the real world of volunteer management. He's also a founder's father, which simply means no holds barred in keeping us focussed and on target.

and you too…
Contact us at https://voluntary.gold
With grants from Cardano and other foundations, we are looking to hire multiple talented and dedicated people, who see the bigger picture and want to participate in it's co-created manifestation.

CONCLUSION:

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Volunteer communities have long been the backbone of civic society. Recently, industrialized nations have seen a decline in social organization membership as technocratic processes overtake the functions that civic groups once served. Social scientists have observed the negative effects on individuals and societies when this important source of social capital goes missing. [put]
It is our mission to contribute meaningful open source software and community building processes that support voluntary contributions in civic society.
For the Cardano foundation, the blockchain, and the community at large, our value proposition can be summarized as follows:

• We will host collaboration hubs and community development training
• We will develop the legal and social opportunities in incentivised volunteering
• We will address the big problem of building truly public forums online

We look forward to working with you all.
https://voluntary.gold

LINKS:

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[nxc]: https://nextcloud.com "NextCloud"
[atp]: https://www.atalaprism.io "ATALA Prism"
[sos]: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/social-support/art-20044445 "Social Support"
[int]: https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/intrinsic-motivation-the-missing-piece-in-changing-employee-behavior/ "Intrinsic Motivation"
[sdt]: http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_socialpsychtheories1/n21.xml "Self Determination Theory"
[tok]: https://decrypt.co/resources/tokenomics "Tokenomics"
[put]: http://bowlingalone.com "Bowling Alone"