NFT Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs)

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

Establish the legal framework & partnerships for Non-Profit NFT projects to register as NPOs. The NFT-NPOs will maximize their ESG impact while offering incentives / NFT gifts to their donors.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

We are proud of our diverse and multi-cultural team of 10 people from 7 countries(also available to view at: https://genderunicorns.com/#team ). Our team comprises project managers, financiers, developers, marketing experts, legal consultants, advisors, data analysts and more

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

We propose to create a scalable framework and network that will assist in the legal registration of Non-Profit Organization NFT projects that are run to maximize their ESG impact while offering financial incentives to their donors. The administration of the NPO will remain focused on the ESG impact, while the community, supporters, and donors will be given the option to exercise for-profit objectives.

We propose the first case study of this framework to be the Gender Unicorns, the first NFT card game supporting gender diversity and equality. This project is self-funded by the submitter of this proposal, along with several more team members of the main Gender Unicorns team that can be seen here: https://genderunicorns.com/#team. The project will feature 20+ gender identities, interactive game alliances, a dedicated gender Wikipedia, and more. You can see our gameplay demo here: https://genderunicorns.com/.

Impact

There are several impact groups from this legal framework:

a. NFT Non-profit projects and initiatives

NFT Non-profit projects and initiatives will have open access to a straightforward framework that reveals the requirements, restrictions, pathway, process, and associated costs for becoming a registered NPO.

This will help them to minimize their time and efforts in this lengthy legal process, become more transparent in their activities, gain more credibility among their stakeholders, find more ways to engage and interact with their communities and supporters, help raise more funds and awareness for their causes, and maximize their social impact by being more data and community drive.

b. Traditional Non-profit projects and initiatives

This framework may also benefit established non-profit projects and initiatives that are not yet in the NFT space but wish to find new ways to engage with their communities and supporters while providing additional incentives to their donors.

Those projects will not be required to have the NFT element as a pillar of their services (in contrast to NFT-oriented non-profits) but will be able to add a new component to reward their donors for their contributions. This will help bring more awareness and credibility to the broader NFT and CNFT space.

c. Beneficiaries of non-profit projects

By creating this framework, a significant number of non-profit projects will be able to incorporate and get access to more funds and distribute those funds more transparently and directly to the beneficiaries.

The beneficiaries may also be eligible to use the NFTs and their verifiable, trustless features to get more actively involved in the community, increasing trust and connection with the administration team.

d. Donors/supporters/volunteers

All donors and supporters will have additional incentives to participate in each NPO-NFT project unavailable in traditional NPOs. More specifically, depending on the level of donation/contribution NFTs will be granted as gifts that will hold reputation or/and financial incentives. The NFTs will be limited and can appreciate if the NPO becomes bigger and grows its impact. It will also allow the potential of a passive income through lending those NFTs to unlock specific features such as participation in events, communities, awards, contests, games (like the Gender Unicorns), and knowledge bases (like the Gender Wikipedia), and more.

e., the Catalyst community

The Catalyst non-profit / ESG projects will find a tested framework and a network of collaborators that will help apply for an NPO status and prove their commitment to their causes with transparency and credibility. This will help establish a broader community of ESG projects from the Catalyst Community and beyond that will collaborate and use synergistic partnerships and economies of scale.

f. the broader Cardano community

The broader Cardano Community will benefit from a stream of transparent non-profit projects that will bring new awareness to the Cardano Ecosystem and its inherent advantages regarding transparency, decentralization, equality, eco-friendliness, and scalability. People interested in supporting the social impact goals will get to know the charitable side of our community and how we can work to improve life not only on a technological level but also on a social level. Beneficiaries of that new breed of NFT-NPOs will be able to find out about the Cardano Ecosystem and raise more awareness about it among their peers.

g. Our organization/team

We will be able to focus all our time on this project as volunteers or employees without being distracted or influenced by speculative gains. Instead, we will solely utilize our resources to maximize the impact and fulfill our ESG objectives while giving solid incentives to potential donors to support our cause.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Our NFT-NPO legal framework will offer free-to-access, open-source best practices for registering Non-profit NFT projects and Non-profit organizations.

This framework will minimize the research time and costs associated with such registrations. It will open the path for more ESG projects to maximize their impact through the power of Cardano NFTs.

The framework will additionally provide a more comprehensive, interactive way of involving all of the associated stakeholders (team, donors, beneficiaries, volunteers) by utilizing NFT features and NFT metrics.

Impact valuation will be directly measured and associated with the NFT holder metrics:

• the number of donations corresponding to the issuance of NFTs
• the number of users holding the NFTs
• the number of users playing an associated NFTs game (in our case, an NFT card game)
• the number of users contributing to the community Wikipedia, public forums, private servers
• the number of users creating social media clout and viral interest, attracting more users
• the floor price of the NFT collection
• the trading activity/volume of the NFT collection
• the NFT lending price per NFT
• the NFT lending passive weekly income and income variability
• other NFT metadata metrics customized to each NPO

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

The main risk to consider is that the legal framework and legal system of the main markets (starting with the US) that we plan to establish guidelines on the NPO registration may be utterly hostile to anything related to NFTs, regardless that the nature of the non-profit project will remain focused on a social cause.

Despite that risk, we are ready to push against a system that is resistant to change and put all of our influence and influence towards the acceptance of NFT non-profit projects and NFTs in general as a new technology that can revolutionize not only the technological status quo but also the status quo of operating charitable organizations.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Those are the main milestones for completing the suggested NFT-NPO framework and their estimated timeline:

1. Month 1: Create a database of attorney offices specializing in NPO registrations
2. Months 2-3: Receive offers for a thorough legal investigation
3. Months 4: Assign the contract to the best offer in terms of value and scope
4. Months 4-5: Work together with the attorney's office to develop the framework
5. Months 4-5: Gather the necessary resources, and create the application
6. Months 5: Apply Gender Unicorns as the first case study for US NFT-NPO registration
7. Months 6-8: Wait for approval or for amendment requests, and adjust accordingly
8. Months 8-10: Once the NFT-NPO is accepted update the framework
9. Months 8-11: Finalize the framework with media, tips, and budget breakdown
10. Months 11-12: Publish the framework and organize public calls with more NFT non-profits who wish to participate

The framework needs to have those requirements as a basis of the legal transition of a non-profit NFT project to an NPO NFT project:

1) the current project's team can become the NPO's board of directors;

2) the community and partners will not be treated nor considered as investors but instead will be able only to donate to us for the sole reason of advancing diversity and equality; 

3) thus no speculative promises will be made by our NPO to any legal entity; 

4) the NFTs will be distributed as a free gift to donors who reach a minimum donation threshold; 

5) the donation threshold will be lower for early donors, and for donors that donate higher amounts; 

6) each donor may receive more than one NFT; the NFT allocation can be proportional to the multiples of their donation compared to its corresponding threshold; 

7) if donations exceed a certain multiple, no additional NFTs will be allocated to the same donors to ensure a wider distribution of the NFTs; however institutional donors who agree to allocate their NFTs to their employees for free will have higher permitted allocations; 

8) each NFT owner will be allowed to use, play with, lend or sell their NFTs as they wish; the NFTs are within their absolute ownership; and 

9) individual/institutional NFT holders may experience profits from the sale of the gifted NFT, but this case is not a direct matter of concern for the NPO.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

The majority of the budget will be used to cover the expenses of the attorney's office which will collaborate with our team to create the framework and NPO application.

The total estimated budget for this project is: $28,500

The budget breakdown is:

1. Attorney database & outreach automation: $800
2. Attorney office consultation fees: $18,000
3. NPO registration fees: $1,200
4. Framework content creation and proofread: $3,000
5. Media creation: $1,500
6. Marketing: $4,000*

Please note that budget estimations are based on our current research and to our best knowledge. The most variable expense will be the attorney fees, which we may be able to reduce to some extent if we negotiate a better deal than the existing ones.

If any expense within the budget breakdown is less than the expected, then the remaining funds will be utilized for additional marketing campaigns that aim to promote this innovative framework and its associated projects, Cardashift, Project Catalyst, and the broader Cardano ecosystem

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

We are proud of our diverse, multi-cultural, multi-gendered, multi-talented team (also available to view at: https://genderunicorns.com/#team )

The core team of the Gender Unicorns is the following:

George Chrysochou - Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

George has an M.Sc n in Entrepreneurship from EDHEC Business School and a B.Sc in Economics from the University of Cyprus. He’s the CMO at Financer.com, one of the world's largest personal finance sites, and the founder of SocioBright Ltd, a Google Partner digital advertising agency.

Giorgos Georgiou - Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

George has an MSc (Eng) in Advanced Software Engineering from The University of Sheffield and a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from Sheffield Hallam University. He has more than eight years of experience as a Software developer and DevOps.

Inna Ivanova – Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)

Inna holds a Bachelor of Laws and BSc Degree in Management. She worked many years as Chief of Internal Audit in prestigious Russian firms. Today she is a managing partner in the Legal Company Amazon Corporate and Immigration Services.

Antonis Theofanous - Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Antonis is the director of the companies Amazon Investments, ACIS, and Pitsas Insurances. He has an MSc (Hons) in Finance from Durham University and a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He provides investment consulting services to HNWI from all over the world.

Luba Shevchuk - Performance Marketing Manager (PMM)

Luba is a passionate marketer with 12 years of experience in online advertising, PPC, and e-commerce. She speaks 4 languages fluently: English, German, Ukrainian, and Russian. She places herself easily in our client’s shoes and helps identify strategic opportunities and goals. Luba is from Ukraine and prays to see her family and her people survive the invasion. 🇺🇦

George Lazarou - Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

George has a degree in Sports, Events & Entertainment Management. Currently, he is working as a Senior Account Manager for a major online marketing company in Cyprus. George has experience in project management, affiliate management, digital marketing & media buying. 

Aizel Ash Villarino - Chief Community Manager (CCM)

Aizel has a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Airline Management from the Philippines. She manages a team of Admin Assistants and helps businesses expand their operations through data management and lead generation. She loves working with people and organizing events.

Olko Vladi - Lead Character Designer (LCD)

Olko has a professional background in graphics and user interface design, but her real passion lies in character design, visual development, and illustration. She has 9 years of design experience and created hundreds of unique characters in her career. She likes traveling, playing volleyball, and hiking. She comes from Ukraine and hopes to see her country free once again. 🇺🇦

Katerina Kuparadze - Lead Graphic Designer (LGD)

Katerina studied graphic design at IT college in Tbilisi, Georgia. For the last 6 years, she has worked full-time as a graphic designer. She specializes in logo design, social media graphics, web illustrations, and branding. She enjoys going hiking and playing video games, tennis, and piano. 

Evros Neofytides - Lead Web Designer (CWD)

Evros has a Bachelor's Degree in Graphics & Advertising Design. He’s the Director of Cyprus Graphics Shop, Co-Founder of SocioBright Ltd, and a Lead Designer for Contentworks Agency projects overseeing the creation and re-branding in the Finance Sector on behalf of their clients.

Marina Eromina – Chief Investment Officer (CIO)

Marina is a senior risk analyst at Alpha Bank in Minsk. She holds an Economics and Marketing Degree from the Belarusian State Economic University. Marina has experience in international transactions, digital banking, risk management, and applied mathematics.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

We do not foresee requiring additional funding for scopes similar to this proposal. We may, however, request additional funding for other elements of our NFT projects, such as the complete smart-contract development of the NFT card game that we are working on.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

There are a number of ways that seek to use to increase the transparency & accountability of our project such as:

• creation of a business plan signed by the relevant stakeholders
• full disclosure of all main team members 
• Weekly updates on our website and discord for the development of the project
• Continuous communication and collaboration with Cardashift's team
• Frequent updates on social media channels and requests for community feedback and due diligence checks
• Using a shared drive folder to upload all related invoices for the project expenses

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Success to us will be defined by establishing the NFT-NPO legal framework as a trust-worthy, proper guideline that will assist and encourage all nonprofit NFT projects to use in their efforts to become legally recognized as nonprofit organizations and thus maximize their impact.

More than 5 NFT nonprofit projects joining our course on becoming legal NPOs within the first 3 months of finalizing the framework will be considered a success. Having at least 3 of them succeed in becoming legal NPOs within the first 6 months will also be considered a success metric that we can use as a reference when trying to scale our framework's impact and promote the Cardano ecosystem to more established nonprofits.

During our outreach efforts, we will aim to have at least 5 established nonprofit organizations adopting our CNFT donation rewards system or other creative ideas from our associated NFT-NPO projects.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new proposal.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

The most related SDG goal is 16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

Our framework aims to create, support, develop and grow accountable and transparent non-profit organizations with the power of CNFT technologies.