Returning Trust To Global Donations

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Following the Beirut blast, international aid flooded into the country to provide humanitarian relief. Many surveys were conducted in affected areas to compensate victims and help rebuild the destruction, however the execution of the funding was left to the local community. Given the lack of oversight and transparency, an influx of NGOs popped out of the blue to get a share of the donations yet quickly disappeared after providing little-to-no benefits. Of the significant amounts of funds received the money distributed to locals was minimal. Moreover, food and other donated goods were found on supermarket shelves and in stores being sold. Our solution was born from experiencing this real life event. 

Canadian Case Study - inflation consequences

Problem

Many NGOs use exorbitantly expensive Web 2.0 proprietary softwares that achieve varying and often limited success in reaching donors, driving event attendance, increasing digital engagement or inspiring new volunteers. (e.g Almabase) This approach not only reduces the success of the NGOs by limiting their ability to deliver the essential services they provide, it also breeds a lack of trust among individuals or entities looking to donate. We believe that we can build a better platform with the help of the Cardano Blockchain to mitigate or remove some of the major obstacles that exist in the current NGO and giving sector. 

Solution

We propose to build a Dapp that bridges the gap between donors and NGOs through the Cardano blockchain (called Cardano NGO = CNGO). Not only will our project bring value to the Cardano community, it will widen the whole ecosystem by transforming donors-NGOs softwares to a user-friendly blockchain-based web-page to improve end-user experience: the beneficiaries of the NGOs.

Our solution will connect donors to the NGOs via our platform on the Cardano blockchain, where all transactions are traceable and transparent. The impact will be global because donors have the ability to choose which cause, SDG (Sustainable Development Goals), or specific NGO to support and will also be exposed to a wider array of NGOs that support their preferred cause. Each listed NGO will have its pool where all donations are to be stored. Donor funds will be transferred progressively to the NGOs based on two main indicators; the NGOs’ needs for the target cause/SDG and the NGO’s evidence of expenditures. The blockchain technology allows the process to be transparent and ensures it can’t be edited or deleted. 

Some of the expected benefits of our platform include:

• Fiscal operations between donors & the NGOs will be immediate with low transaction fees.
• Donors will have accessibility and traceability of their donations 
• Any misbehavior or suspicious acts by NGOs are easily reportable
• The impact is universal and any donor can choose to donate to any NGO in the world.
• Traceability of funds is not public data. Donors will have the ability to choose to publicize or privatize the visibility and traceability of their funds.

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

Our proposal fits into the Dapps, Products, and Integrations challenge because we are delivering a web-based Dapp that will link NGOs, Donors, and Recipients on Cardano. In addition, we believe our solution may also have a potential positive impact on Nation Governance Systems due to the security and centralization challenges currently facing existing services. 

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

As our focus is not solely on the people within Cardano, but people outside the blockchain as well and how to onboard them, the challenges we might face along the way to create a platform that connects donors to NGOs in a transparent way are the following:

Risk 1: Some NGOs won’t believe in the efficiency of blockchain or don't have enough knowledge/information about blockchains, investing the time to educate individuals about the blockchain

Mitigation 1:The mentioned challenges above lie in the decentralized nature of the project, therefore we need to approach NGOs professionally and prove to them that the blockchain can help them restore donors’ trust, along with making the process of receiving payments easier and much faster.

Risk 2: Some NGOs might refuse to be transparent, they might not be willing to cooperate with our transparency rules 

Mitigation 2: The NGOs that won’t cooperate with our transparency rules and are not willing to provide proof of expenditures will be voted out or banned (delisted and put in the “banned NGOs” section). Corrupt NGOs will eliminate themselves by default before being listed as they have to be transparent and therefore will no longer have the possibility to mismanage the funds.

Risk 3: Rallying NGOs supporting a variety of causes that the community is interested in donating to in each country (animal rescue, kids rights, women rights, food programs, LGBTQ+, environmental, Red Cross…)

Mitigation 3: Build a strategic plan focusing on various countries along with relevant SDGs.

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

Our project is ongoing and will be completed in 4 phases. The first phase of our project focuses on the development of our minimum viable product (MVP) with relevant automations, NGO and Donor onboarding. Our team envisions this proposal will span 4 months from September 2022 to December 2022.

Phase 1: 

September 2022

• Build a research foundation to understand how such a platform could be a viable solution as a DAO for donor-NGO mediations (To be found HERE)
• Launching a website [ cngo.i0 ] with a purpose to provide detailed information about the roadmap & Sustainability model, the team & partners, the mission & vision  

October 2022

• Hire a web-designer to develop the UX/Ui based on the most relevant use cases and user journeys found and tested in the research

November 2022 - December 2023

• Hire a front-end, backend & a smart contract developer to build the MVP
• Whitelisting NGOs & donors
• Product Launch 

Phase 2: The Staking Pool (TBD)

Phase 3: The Validation (TBD)

Phase 4: The Launchpad (TBD)

Roadmap for our broader vision

Following the initial launch, it is our plan to release ongoing updates of the platform where vendors/suppliers of NGOs will be onboarded to optimize the monitoring of NGO expenditures. This will also provide valuable use cases and documentation so that donors have more clarity on where & how the funds are distributed.

Following the onboarding, vendors will be linked to NGOs on the blockchain which will encourage vendors not currently receiving payments in crypto to join the Cardano ecosystem as a new potential market arises. 

As a rule of taking part in our platform, the donations have to be used to purchase goods or services related to the cause strictly and not used for NGOs running expenses (documented with proof of purchases/invoices). This will not only display transparency of the donations being delivered; but in addition, show traceability of how they are distributed and used by the NGOs to avoid mismanagement or theft.

Long-term Goal [2 years ahead]

Build a tool that validates eligibility of NGOs in a form of badge based and integrate it within the platform. The criteria will be the recorded performance of NGOs since their onboarding on the platform.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

After having consulted with Cardano Developers we have reached the following budget amounts based on the level of work required to realize our vision::

The platform takes approximately 3 months to be developed and launched. 

To complete the work, we will need to hire for the following roles:  

• Development company partnership (UX UI design, front end developer, back end) 64.000$
• Marketing campaigns – Total Amount: 20,000$

Detailed Budget Breakdown:

1 week = 40 hours

1 day = 8 hours

Front End Developer: 30 working days / 52$/hour

8hrs x 52$ x 30days = 12480 USD

Back End Developer: 30 working days / 52$/hour

8hrs x 52$ x 30days = 12480 USD

UX/UI Designer: 15 working days / 52$/hour

8hrs x 52$ x 15days = 6240 USD

Smart Contract Developer: 20 working days / 78$/hour

8hrs x 78$ x 20days = 12480 USD

Crypto Integration(wallet connector, etc.): 15 working days / 78$/hour

8hrs x 78$ x 15days = 9360 USD

Development Operations (DevOps): 10 working days / 78$/hour

8hrs x 78$ x 10days = 6240 USD

System Architect: 5 working days / 104$/hour

8hrs x 104$ x 5days = 4160 USD

Marketing Budget: 20 000 USD

Total: 83440 USD (approximately 84000 USD)

In addition to overseeing the individuals who will be hired to build the platform, the team’s tasks will be divided into the following activities:  

• Raphael and Zuha will negotiate onboarding donors & NGOs. the design of user journeys. In this context, the research goal is to gather all configurations needed not only to brief the UX designer & tech team, but also to democratize accessibility on the tool that was built by posting it on Github.
• Marie-Claude will assist in increasing awareness of the platform and help with persuasive pitching by having presentations prepped with our branding guidelines. She will assist Raphael and Zuha in setting the sustainability strategy for the lifecycle of the platform.
• As auditor, Fadi’s first-hand input in auditing is much needed to better orient the research. He is also responsible for bookkeeping transactions manually, especially during the post-launch of the platform. A human factor will be much needed especially for A/B Testing.Marketing and auditing play major roles in both parts, research & implementation.

To help offset our costs and make us less dependent on Catalyst, a 1% transaction fee on each donation will be charged to compensate the team’s efforts (fixed salaries) & cover running costs. The rest will go into the treasury. 

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

Raphael Ibrahim

Founder / business development

Professional Business Developer with more than five years of experience in the business development processes.

Involved in product testing, management and development of new business opportunities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-ibrahim-7b6a7496/

Mohammad Mneimneh

Cardano Expert

Interior Architect background and cryptocurrency enthusiast and investor. Cardano expert and lover, having been in the Cardano for over 2 years, working in Cardano space as a Metaverse builder and making unique Metaverse assets for over 6 months, a Pavia.io verified creator and a 3D artist fanatic in Cardano Metaverse scenes.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mimom961

Website: https://mimom.io/

Fadi Tawile

Chief Financial Officer

Senior Executive with more than 25 years of experience in management accounting for wholesale, retail and manufacturing industry.

Expert in negotiation related to commercial, administrative or legal contracts with clients, suppliers and NGOs.

Investor in ADA for more than 2 years.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fadi-tawile-04127212/

Marie-Claude Abou Khalil

Marketing Expert

Founder of Switch Avenue Agency following expertise of 10 years in luxury brands setup and Marketing (Loyalty, CRM, SOP…), mass market retail online and offline marketing. Expert in Financial institution’s(banks and others) digital redesign and relaunch in Mena region. Mastercard’s Lead consultant in contextual marketing engine expansion and development in GCC and Mena region. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marie-claude-abou-khalil-6258a218/

Zuha El Helou

Anthropologist

Anthropologist and Philanthropist with 4 years of continuous experience in researching social and human science with UNESCO working on SDGs, with a special focus on SDG4 (Inclusive Education for all). Psycho-social support and community development volunteer for more than 3 years.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zuha-el-helou/

Team Breakdown

Management Raphael, Zuha & Marie Claude 

Operations    Raphael, Zuha & Fady

Marketing    Marie-Claude, Mohammad

Tech Team    TBD

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

Yes, we are creating an ecosystem with a long roadmap, so we might return to Catalyst in later rounds for further funding if needed. We might need the funding in phase 2 to integrate the vendor's interface with the platform, as well as creating our token and staking pool. However, our long term vision is that this platform will become self-sustaining. To cover the platform and team expenses in the future, we intend to add a 1% transaction fee on each donation received which will be reinvested in the delivery of the platform.

[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?

Now- Until September 2022

• Investigating operational procedures between donors & NGOs to configure the user journeys for CNGO platform and how it can become a DAO ecosystem.[LINK OF PROPOSAL]

Pre-Launch September 2022 - November 2022

• Utilize research findings to brief the tech team [management]
• Weekly internal meetings to track the progress and non-confidential information relayed to the broader community through social media
• Building focus groups to test the product [management & tech team]
• Design Sprints [tech team]

Launch  December 2022

• Finalize A/B testing and publish the platform [tech team & operations]
• Marketing campaign for awareness of the launch [tech team & marketing]
• Monitor the account creations [tech team & operations]
• Learn and record users behaviors 

Post-launch January 2023 - March 2023

• Onboarding 100 NGOs from different countries, with different missions by March 2023 [operations]
• Onboard 150 donors from different countries. [operations]
• Approach and onboard at least 5 humanitarian celebrities [marketing & operations]

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

By October 2022

• UX/Ui design ready and sent to back-end & front-end
• Cngo.i0 website is launched to provide detailed information about the roadmap & Sustainability model, the team & partners, the mission & vision  

By November 2022

• Smart contract developed to build the MVP

December 2022

• A/B testing finalized and platform “officially” launched.
• Onboarding donors & NGOs and begin operations

[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 impact of working to reach any SDG has a substantial impact on community development. Two main features of SDGs are decentralization and of course traceability, CNGO aims at targeting all the 17 SDGs in an indirect manner by simply bridging the gap between the donor and the NGO. Our end-user is the human being.