Ten DAOs disrupting the social impact space
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are one of the most exciting developments to come out of the crypto world in recent years and have experienced rapid growth towards becoming a vital part of the blockchain and crypto ecosystem.
As these organizations have grown, there has been an emerging theme of social impact that has grown with them. Many leaders in the DAO space have recognized that there is a natural harmony between DAOs and social impact, and have capitalized on this relationship to develop DAOs that are contributing to important social causes in new and innovative ways. Zach Bronstein, COO of Endaoment, states:
“DAOs can accomplish even more…by embracing what corporations have only recently made a priority: social responsibility and impact investing. With the members serving as the key stakeholders and decision makers at each DAO, these communities are already primed not just to give back to causes they care about, but also to subsequently create a positive feedback loop.”
In the corporate world, corporate social responsibility is often no more than a PR stunt, but in the DAO space, social impact is a feature. Don’t believe me? Here are ten examples of amazing DAOs that are disrupting the social impact space through their mission driven focuses.
1. Klima DAO – This DAO has taken an innovative approach to addressing climate change through the creation of a “carbon-backed, algorithmic digital currency,” with each token backed by one tonne of verified, tokenized carbon reduction or removal. In short, “Klima DAO’s goal is to accelerate the price appreciation of carbon assets. A high price for carbon forces companies and economies to adapt more quickly to the realities of climate change, and makes low-carbon technologies and carbon-removal projects more profitable.”
2. Seed Club – Seed Club is a social token incubator, that helps developers launch successful social tokens. “We partner with creators, bringing access and insight from a diverse group of advisors, marketers, token designers and technologists, who all share in the upside of successful projects.” Seed club operates an accelerator to provide support to and bring together exciting new social impact projects, and has a portfolio consisting of SquiggleDAO, SongCamp, PartyDAO, and more.
3. Bankless DAO – BanklessDAO is an exciting new community that has the mission of helping the world go bankless. In short, it is a “decentralized community to coordinate and propagate bankless media, culture, and education. Its goal is to drive adoption and awareness of truly bankless money systems like Ethereum, DeFi, and Bitcoin.”
4.HerStory DAO – HerStory DAO is helping bring equity to the arts space by acting as a collective that helps incubate and bring to light the works of marginalized crypto creators, specifically in the NFT space.
5. ClimateDAO – ClimateDAO, like many social impact DAOs, is focused on combatting climate change. However, they take a much different approach by focusing on activist investing as a means to enact social change. They aim to pool together money from contributors and use the funds to purchase shares in publicly traded companies, and use these positions to enact strategic change in the companies through proxy voting, initiating shareholder proposals, and advocacy.
6. ChangeDAO – ChangeDAO believes that NTFs can be a driving force for social impact. They are a “decentralized application built on the ethereum blockchain and a global grassroots community aimed at leveraging social change art and NFTs as a force for change.” They have created the “Triple P NFT” model, in which every digital asset benefits multiple stakeholders: people, planet, profit. Each ChangeDAO NFT supports a worthy cause, and they are working hard to minimize energy consumption, and purchase carbon offsets to cover the energy used in the minting of their NFTs.
7. MetaCartel – Also known as VentureDAO, MetaCartel is one of many amazing DAOs that take the role of a VC by funding early stage decentralized applications (DApps). MetaCartel “embodies a community-oriented membership structure and offers radical flexibility in participation in a manner that is unparalleled by traditional “venture capital fund” models.” Although they are a for-profit DAO, they have supported many high-impact projects, some with a social impact lens, and offer a more democratic, open, and community-based approach to start-up funding.
8. CityDAO – The tokenization of physical assets has gotten a lot of attention lately, and CityDAO looks to take this to the next level by building an on-chain city. Starting with a piece of land in Wyoming, “each parcel of land is an NFT that can be owned collectively by the DAO or by individuals.” Once a parcel of land is purchased and brought on chain, members of the DAO vote on what happens with it and how it is used. In a world where land ownership is out of reach for many, CityDAO is helping level the playing field through this unique approach to decentralized land ownership.
9. Endaoment – Although not technically a DAO yet, Endaoment does have the goal of transitioning to becoming a DAO in the future. Endaoment, a registered charity, is an innovative new community foundation offering Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) on the Ethereum blockchain. Through these funds, individuals can donate to any qualified 501(c)(3) non-profit.
10. VitaDao – This extraordinary DAO seeks to utilize the DAO framework to support life-changing healthcare research. “Our mission is to extend human lifespan by researching, financing, and commercializing longevity therapeutics in an open and democratic manner.” They are currently working on their first project which will include funding a research project at the University of Copenhagen looking at “discovering and repurposing therapeutics leading to healthy aging and longer lifespan.”
What do you think about the future of DAOs for social impact? What are some other examples of social impact DAOs? Tweet us at @Crypto_Altruism, we’d love to hear from you!
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