Commit Good is located in Charleston, S.C. but is helping to make changes all over the world with its blockchain-based charitable platform. The United States based organization is revolutionizing social entrepreneurship and charitable giving by creating a system of using $GOOD currency to fund charitable projects across Africa, in South America, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Now, for most people, there is an initial question of what exactly is cryptocurrency? Right along with that uncertainty about cryptocurrency, most would naturally associate such a thing with the height of capitalism given its massive returns and great profits over the last several years. Whatever cryptocurrency may be, there does not seem to be a natural linking to charitable project support. That is where Commit Good and its network of partnerships comes in. The partnerships are verified non-profit organizations truly committed to their individual causes. Currently, there are 300 charities enrolled worldwide.
Commit Good has established a network of charitable projects and uses transparent giving to help ensure that donors know where and how their funds are being used throughout all stages of the donation process. Today, a very special project in Botswana breaks ground on a first of its kind concept project with the Rentse Foundation Trust. The project will provide homes for the elderly and the impoverished in Otse, Botswana using $GOOD currency.
The Rentse Foundation Trust was recently awarded a grant payable in $GOOD ($58,824) cryptocurrency (the grant is currently equivalent to $10,000 USD). The grant was provided by the Currency of Good campaign and funded by the Financial Trading Group (FTG). With the rewarding of the grant, the Rentse Foundation was able to launch their project and build one proof of concept home utilizing the blockchain funds. Thus, to highlight the point, instead of the cryptocurrency going to fund someone’s extravagant lifestyle, those funds are instead being used to do ‘good’ and provide much needed housing in Otse. If successful, the same program will be used throughout Botswana.
Rentse Ugokwe, founder and CEO of the Rentse Foundation Trust said, “The collaboration with Commit Good and FTG are opening new doors for our project.” She also noted, “By using $GOOD as a new source of funding, we are developing low cost homes to shelter the most poverty stricken families in Botswana.” The Foundation will use $21,764.71 $GOOD (approximately $3,700 USD) to build one of 50 planned homes in a remote village of Botswana. Further enabling the project to work, the IMATU Enterprises construction company has agreed to accept $GOOD as payment. Doing so makes this one of the first housing projects in the world to utilize the cryptocurrency and blockchain for funding.
Brett Pittsenbargar, small business investor at BrettPittsenbargar.com comments, “I think this is a really brilliant take on use cases for blockchain and cryptocurrency. Charitable giving is oftentimes murky whereby the majority of donation money never reaches its cause. Over the past year, the wealthy are the large majority driving charitable giving because many middle-class people who previously itemized their donations to increase their tax break are no longer incentivized to do so. Blockchain provides donors with incredible transparency and hopefully re-encourages more people to give to the causes they truly want to see succeed.”
How exactly does all of this work? Since 2018, the Currency of Good campaign has been bringing together charitable organizations in developing countries and allowing them to post their desired projects on the Commit Good platform. From there, organizations can request items needed to complete their respective projects. By utilizing the blockchain, Commit Good’s platform provides increased transparency and donors can see how their donations are being used throughout the entire donation process.
Clay Braswell, founder and CEO of Commit Good, said that he was “honored” to support the Rentse Foundation project. He also reflected on the benefits of the “step-by-step” transparency built into the process, and even, the use of “charity coordinators on the ground” with the non-profits to further verify charities are legitimately utilizing the funding. Braswell also noted that by using the $GOOD currency, the non-profits gain access to more stable currencies through cryptocurrency exchanges.
For sure, Commit Good is changing how things are done and ushering in a new era of philanthropy based on blockchain.