Over the past few years, Impact DAO has emerged as a clear use case for DAOs. From raising money for a good cause to providing direct aid to those in need, the impact The DAO has already made in the world is great.
Today, we’ll be exploring two impactful DAOs, UkraineDAO and HumanDAO, to learn how they approached starting their organizations.
What is Impact DAO?
An impact DAO is a DAO created with the aim of achieving a good cause enabled by Web3 technologies. Think of it as a charity, non-profit or social enterprise super-powered by blockchain!
Impact DAOs can use the token to raise money or incentivize certain actions in a community. Or, their activities could be entirely on-the-ground, and their treasure stored in a DAO on-chain. Impact DAOs come in many flavors, so let’s take a look at three Impact DAOs that have flourished recently.
The Power of Impact DAO: Use CaseUkraineDAO
The mission of UkraineDAO is to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. The DAO raises funds to support the Ukrainian people and their soldiers during this time of war.
“The initial goal was to raise money for Ukrainian charities that had been accepting crypto for years,” said It is wet, co-founder of Ukraine DAO. “Within a few days, the Ukraine DAO raised $7M in crypto donations and transferred most of the funds to Come Back Alive, a charity that supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
The DAO is almost a year old, and is still supporting Ukrainians and the armed forces needed to protect them.
“They were absolutely critical to our rescue on the first day. The central bank introduced limits on foreign currency transfers in and out of Ukraine to prevent a run on the hryvnia,” she said.
Without the power of blockchain technology, they would not be able to raise funds as quickly as they could.
“Using the power of the Ethereum blockchain, Web3 technology and social media platforms, Ukraine DAO was able to establish itself, mobilize and deploy funds rapidly and with maximum transparency,” said Alona.
The UkraineDAO is a great example of how a DAO can be a mechanism to raise funds for a cause they care about.
HumanDAO
HumanDAO helps under-served communities earn crypto through play-to-earn gaming, play-to-learn blockchain academy and a gig economy assistant program in which you can earn crypto by completing tasks.
“Through its P2E (pay-to-earn) opportunities, learning platform and pocket assistant platform, HumanDAO provides many opportunities for individuals to learn and earn income,” said Chris, Founder and Creator of HumanDAO.
The problem with blockchain-based gaming is that you often need assets to get started, as all in-game assets are financial and therefore cost money. HumanDAO solves this by lending blockchain gaming assets to players so that they can earn money in games like Axi Infinity. The DAO takes a portion of the earnings in order to continue funding more players.
Through the learn-to-earn track, users can learn about Web3 through the HumanDAO Academy. Users learn how to access your Web3 Wallet, Web3 Basics, how to stay secure in Web3, basic financial literacy, and job opportunities in Web3.
People can also become pocket assistant to earn crypto. Users purchase a Pocket Assistant NFT, which gives them access to an assistant who can perform tasks for them, such as finding information online and completing tasks. NFT holders receive a certain amount of “Energy” each month, and 1 Energy is equivalent to 30 minutes of Pocket Assistant’s time.
In return for completing tasks, the assistant receives crypto. It’s a simple, easy way for people to earn crypto and access financial opportunities they may not have had before.
When you create a task, such as “Research and link to the top five DAO creation platforms,” the task goes to a pool of assistants. The website specifies that anything beginning with “find, collect, create, add, or search” is generally a valid action. Most of the assistants come from Nigeria, the Philippines and South America.
HumanDAO has shown that there are many ways to leverage web3 technology to help those in need!
How charities and public goods projects can benefit from the DAO structure
A DAO structure can be particularly effective for charity and social impact operations, as DAOs manage assets that are spread across borders. So, instead of limiting your donation to one country’s fiat currency, you can involve more donors and more people in the project.
This is especially true for UkraineDAO, as they would not be able to raise money from people around the world as quickly as they would without crypto.
HumanDAO has found that the DAO model is best suited to achieve its mission of providing financial opportunity to those in need. Chris talked about how DAOs have a degree of financial and decision-making transparency that traditional organizations typically don’t have. “DAOs offer a unique and different business model that offers different incentives than traditional charities or non-profit organizations, and they are more open and transparent when it comes to governance and spending,” he said. “In addition, we feel they also provide greater autonomy and flexibility in terms of decision-making and allow for a more efficient and effective allocation of resources.”
Roadmap to Launching Your Impact DAO
Now that you know why Impact DAOs are a revolutionary step for charity and social impact, you might want to start your own! We’ll take a look at three DAOs to see what their process of getting started was like and what advice they would give.
Step 1: Define Your Mission
Like any DAO, you must first define your mission. Identify something that excites people and makes them want to work towards it.
ImpactDAOs often bridge from Web3 to the “real” world. They want to solve a real world problem using web3 technologies. Therefore, establishing a mission that resonates with people on both sides of the spectrum is incredibly important.
For example, UkraineDAO’s mission to support Ukraine in time of war resonated with people inside and outside of Web3. They only use Crypto Rail to further this mission.
Step 2: Set Up Incentives and Decide Whether You’re Launching Tokens
Once your mission is set, you can use it to determine how you will use incentives to motivate people to act.
Incentives are an important way to get people interested in your project. While you may find some participants who are intrinsically motivated, you can get even more people to support your project by taking advantage of a token structure that allows them to hold your tokens and benefit your cause. encourage for.
For example, in HumanDAO, you can stake $HDAO tokens to earn rewards, but 80% of staking rewards are distributed back to DAO members to use in charity efforts.
But, a token may not always be the best fit for your specific context! UkraineDAO does not use a governance token and finds this strategy works for them. They need to stay lean and move fast, so they let work groups make decisions on their own.
Step 3: Define Your Rule
Before you start adding members, it’s best to decide how the DAO will be governed. Think carefully about how many people will reasonably want to participate in the governance of your DAO.
Members who are there only to donate to your cause will not want to be burdened with maintaining the governance of your organization.
HumanDAO uses a forum to discuss new proposals, which are then voted on. $HDAO token holders have governance rights and a vote in signaling off-chain proposals.
UkraineDAO does not have token-based governance. Instead, they use pod-based governance, which means that working groups make decisions autonomously. As long as each pod is working in service of the DAO’s mission, they are free to make decisions within themselves. This method of governance is effective for its need to be agile and adapt to the constantly changing situation on the ground in Ukraine.
Some of our DAO experts specifically help Impact DAO. Contact an expert like General Magic, who helps you influence The DAO!
Assembling your community is the next important step in building your ImpactDAO. Your community can include token holders, DAO contributors, and people who support your initiative, whether financial or not.
HumanDAO used gaming to bring people to its cause.
“To build a community around our cause, we leveraged the power of gaming,” Chris said. “This has enabled us to grow quickly and reach a large number of people. We believe gaming can be a powerful tool to introduce young people to the world of crypto and web3 and provide them with education and opportunities.
When starting your Impact DAO, it may be wise to identify where your community spends time and focus your outreach efforts there. To learn more about building a DAO community, read our guide.
Step 5: Promote Through Media and Marketing
ImpactDAOs need to focus exclusively on spreading the word about their cause, so that people can donate to their cause and further the mission of the DAO.
One way to do this is through the media. For example, UkraineDAO has been covered by a wide range of media, including Forbes, Fortune, Decrypt, and The Defiant.
Another way to spread the word about your DAO influence is through various forms of social media marketing, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Lens, and Reddit. These can be effective for mobilizing your community and getting people excited about your project.
Step 6: Use Clear Documentation and Effective Processes to Scale
Coordinating the whole community can be difficult, but using clear documentation and effective processes can help.
“It is critical to ensure that the organization is transparent, accountable, secure and effective. Establish clear governance structures and processes that define decision-making and governance protocols,” Chris said.
Creating a tooling stack that works for your organization is an important part of this. If members of your organization don’t want to spend time sifting through notion pages to find something, they probably won’t! Therefore, keeping the documentation simple and easy to find for new members can help differentiate your DAO from the others.
Future of Impact DAO
Impact DAOs are a very exciting use case for DAOs going forward. The future of Impact DAO is in your hands! You can launch your DAO on the Aragon App today. To learn how to launch your DAO, check out this guide and this video.
