Littlefish Foundation Kiva-like DAO
Problem
Limited TRUST in International Organizations, lack of transparency, and lack of involvement in fund allocation in SDG activities.
Solution
A DAO inspired by kiva.org that funds SDG activists and builds opensource tech to make funding transparent, community driven and trust based
Total to date
This is the total amount allocated to Littlefish Foundation Kiva-like DAO.
About this idea
Problem in detail
Lack of transparency in funding activist and projects on the ground.
Recent tweets from Elon Musk and the UN prove International Organizations lack transparency. https://twitter.com/drelidavid/status/1454908461876195334?s=21
- Intensive farming and industrial developments are the leading cause of species mass extinction.
- About one in five persons in developing regions live on less than $1.25 per day.
- The number of children living in conflict zones has been increasing since 2000.³
- Energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Wildlife population sizes have dropped by two thirds since 1970
- Nearly 40% of plants are at risk of extinction.
- Global emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by almost 50% since 1990
- From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C
The war is global but the battles are local.
There are two types of activists: High-effort boots on the ground and low-effort supporters (monetary, social awareness, etc.). High-effort types are entirely local. Low-effort types are potentially global, but in reality, they are bounded locally by their social circles. The real power of low-effort types is their numbers. If we can bring awareness of local events to massive global crowds, then the power of large numbers will have an insurmountable impact.
Einstein said, "Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them". As individuals, we need to take action. Unfortunately, the problems worsen while conventional NGOs remain ineffective in solving the issues.
Donating and supporting activists on time and in the place of their activity is very important. So how can we make sure our donation is getting to the right hands and creating an optimal impact?
OUR SOLUTION:
Littlefish Foundation brings like-minded, like-hearted people together to work on practical applications of blockchain technology to address SDG issues. This starts by building a community that funds trusted activists around the globe who fight for SDG issues. It advances by building the infrastructure to automate the processes of the community by using blockchain technology. This requires working through a multitude of challenges, both technical and social. These efforts aim to establish a global network of activists and collaborators who support SDG efforts around the globe.
Some of the challenges we plan to work on will require the creation of general purpose DAO tools:
- Funding mechanisms to build a treasury (donations and alternative blockchain funding systems like minting NFTs),
- Treasury management systems with voting to decide how funds are allocated,
And more tools specifically fit for SDG activism purposes:
- Fast decision making systems to rapidly respond to global crises like wildfires, earthquakes, etc.,
- Validation systems for establishing trust between activists on the ground and fund providers.
Littlefish Foundation presentation slides could be found:
How does Littlefish Foundation address the challenge?
With our efforts, Littlefish Foundation will itself be a DAO that increases the amount of DAO transaction fees on ADA, that uses Cardano as the governance/management chain and help in developing the necessary tooling to make this all possible.
So when the challenge asks "How can we make Cardano the go-to choice for DAOs to manage themselves?" our answer is: by building a community with a mission that brings passionate, capable people together to work on the problems at hand.
Littlefish Foundation Whitepaper
Littlefish Foundation members are operating based on a whitepaper (work on progress) designed and adjusted by its members. All the guidelines and rules are registered as part of the whitepaper, including making adjustments.
Littlefish Foundation has a monthly members meeting and a weekly meetup at a breakout room at the Cardano4Climate meetings.
The whitepaper is accessible for anyone for review at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-wds2fdWasPPk1AvcUH2k5MPDWyvattbxa0WbM5wXnA/edit
Kiva.Org Vs. Littlefish Foundation
Kiva.org is a successful loan platform that connects small businesses (mainly in developing countries) and people worldwide wishing to provide capital. The capital is returned to the lender over time with no interest. The lender can donate some of the amounts to the Kiva operation. Please check the model on https://www.kiva.org/.
Like Kiva, Littlefish Foundation's objective is to group together community members and provide capital to trusted projects. Littlefish Foundation goal is that the money will come not only from donations but also from rewards on money placed in Littlefish Foundation SPO, and in this case, member capital is preserved.
Littlefish Foundation is different from Kiva as its focus is on donations and not investments, and the allocation of funds will be decided by the community.
Kiva lends money to low-income entrepreneurs and students; we aim to fund the activists in their organizations. With the support of the DAO, activists can find the resources to reach enough people by advertising their actions and supporting expenses.
Road Map
Our goal is to get active immediately and build the model and technology needed by doing and experiencing.
The following presentation (Cardano DAO Considerations for Gimbalab Playground) lays out the various frameworks for a successful DAO. Slide 7 shows the DAO adoption levels.
Here is the link to the ppt:
Based on that, our initial focus, therefore, is on the communitization phase (create and grow the community around communication channels and shared vision) and governance phase (Community submits and votes on proposals external to core operations)
Phase 1 - Preparation starting December 2021
Members express interest to join the Littlefish Foundation
Weekly meetups every Monday to discuss the DAO Whitepaper
Deliverables: Initial Whitepaper ready - and available for review
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-wds2fdWasPPk1AvcUH2k5MPDWyvattbxa0WbM5wXnA/edit
KPIs: over 50 initial members
Phase 2 - January - March
This phase will focus on the actual process of the purpose of Littlefish Foundation.
We will have monthly cycles:
- Members will transfer ADA to Littlefish Foundation liquidity wallet
- Members will present trusted projects
- Project members will apply for funding
- Members will vote on preferred projects
- Fund allocation based on members vote
- Monthly reports on fund allocation and impact
Governance
In this phase, we will continue adjusting the whitepaper based on actual discussions regarding the projects, funding range, voting, auditability, and more.
Weekly meetups will continue in this phase.
Deliverables:
Actual donation process
Improved whitepaper based on real activities
12 meetups
Plans for phase 3 and 4
KPIs:
By the end of March, over 100 members
Over $10,000 donation in the first 3 months
Phase 3 - April - June
Phase 1 and 2 will provide a lot of learning and bring together the community to take on larger and larger projects. In this phase, we will start putting our learning to use by finalizing working on governance and starting work on the necessary tech.
At this stage we will evaluate different income opportunities like SPO, staking, token sales, NFTs (badges and medals), tokenomics fundings from new projects and start work on them to establish income streams for the DAO other than direct donations from the community. We will also start work on the DAO tools necessary top automate our processes. First focus on that part will be on treasury management and voting systems to direct funds.
Deliverables:
- Governance: Community built manifesto on values, vision, mission
- 200 members
- $50K donations
Phase 4 - July - December
At this stage we expect to be in the process of creating full fledged DAO toolwork to manage our community. We will be establishing income streams, building treasury management systems, voting systems, and transparent validation systems to show how and where funds are being spent with proof of on chain. We hope to make serious headway in these challenges during this time.
Another concern will be to scale the organization to reach a truly global scale. We hope to achieve this by creating a sense of community and participation through gamification and badge systems for all types of collaborators.
Deliverables
- Income streams established.
- Transparent funding systems at work: initially through manual labor, community checking and validation. Later on chain. Expenses to maintain Littlefish Foundation based on proof of activities will also be reported in the same manner.
- Gamification with badges and medals. Community rewards for participants, collaborators and activists based on their specific social achievements, with the ability to share these achievements on social environments, possibly through NFTs.
- 1000 members
- $250K USD donations
Team
The team includes active catalyst community members, community manager - Cardano4Climate, and successful proposers. The group is diversified and has critical functions needed for such ambitious projects.
Here is more info about the initial team:
Cem Karaca, Emurgo Cardano Architecture & Design Developer Professional Student, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckaraca/
Sebastian Pereira Gutierrez, Emurgo Instructor, https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastianpereira33/
Özgür Yaşar Akyar, NGO founder, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozguryasarakyar/
Melanie Russo - Mother/activist. https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-russo-597226209/
Yoram Benzvi - a social entrepreneur, focusing on impact businesses models. https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoram-ben-zvi-446836
Mert Akyazı - Ethereum and NFT Developer, https://www.linkedin.com/in/mertakyazi/
Prof. Turgay Celik (Ph.D.) -- CV, NLP, AI, Trustworthy AI, https://www.linkedin.com/in/celik-turgay/
Emre Öktem - Senior frontend/IOS developer, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emreoktem/
Çağkan Acarbay - Senior Backend Developer, https://www.linkedin.com/in/%C3%A7a%C4%9Fkan-acarbay-b2210b136/
About Cardano4Climate
Cardano4Climate began as a challenge has became a community:
MISSION: Making the World Work Better for All People, Animals, & the Planet Preserve * Regenerate * Co-Create * Support * Empower * Thrive
A growing community around communication channels & a shared vision. Emerging from our social media channels, weekly meetings, monthly event, website, YouTube channel, & outreach both inside & outside of Catalyst.
Littlefish Foundation was initiated by Cardano4Climate members.
Budget
Funding for the activist's projects will be done by the Littlefish Foundation members as part of the project validation and it is not part of the requested budget.
The budget request will focus on fund 7 for Q1 2022 and support the amount of work and time needed to launch Littlefish Foundation.
3 people will lead and coordinate the activities for Q1, including:
- 12 meetups
- Whitepaper
- Website and presentations
- Analysis of the process
- Planning of phase 3 and phase 4
We estimate 30 hours per week/120 hours per month of work at a rate of $50 per hour for the first 3 months.
120h per month * $50 per hour * 3 months = $18000 for the team
The money will be distributed to members based on proof of activity, and we will provide a ledger with the details.
We also suggest an additional $6000 budget for outside expert support needed.
Overall budget: $24000
Expected Public lunch date: 18 Months
**Website:** https://littlefish.foundation/
Team
Cardano4Climate team, Emurgo Instructor, Cardano Architecture & Design Developer Professional Student, Computer Engineer, NGO Managers.
