As well as helping those in need, this aims to increase onboarding and demand for HIVE. Please read this proposal and add your comments, discussions points and critique.
DISCLAIMER
I am not a developer and my technical knowledge of the blockchain is very limited so if you see mistakes, or major technical obstacles in this proposal, please point them out in the comments section! (plus Im also something of an idealist, so please hit me with any cold hard realities.... they help me to stay grounded!)
INTRO
One of the things that first inspired me about the blockchain was seeing people blogging from impoverished communities and being rewarded with upvotes that sometimes equated to more than a whole months earnings for them. It has never been easier to spread wealth around the world to those who need it and with the revolutionary mechanics utilised by HIVE we don't even have to give our own money away... we simply point towards those who deserve a greater share of the reward pool, and hey presto, the money appears in their wallets! So why isn't the whole world going crazy for this new paradigm shift? And what can we do to push things forwards?
For those that want to jump straight to some worthy causes here on HIVE:
Check out this post by 
THE ISSUE on HIVE
Basically people dont usually hang around too long. Its too complicated for the average layperson and its usefulness-to-effort ratio is still fairly poor so even those who put in lots of effort to overcome the significant hurdles here, (like building a following, or even understanding what the hell is going on!?) might still find themselves drifting away because they dont know how to keep it relevant to their life. Fortunately there are lots of experts about and they're constantly striving to make HIVE more relevant to peoples lives, more adoptable for users and more attractive for investors. I really appreciated this recent post which made some complicated stuff semi-digestible and laid out some good points about what may and may not be good for the future of HIVE @grampo/the-future-of-hive
ANYWAY...
the point is, we have a WONDERFUL technology, capable of supporting and empowering those in need around the globe, but there's not enough people using it to make it worthwhile.
DAPPs
Dapps (decentralised applications) have for some time been creating extra utility on top of the blockchain technology by rewarding people for taking part in activities like running, gaming, or watching videos etc. https://www.stateofthedapps.com/ is a site where you can search many Dapps out there and find one to suit you. Entering the key word 'charity' shows that there are a fair few charitable Dapps out there, although some seem a bit tenuous or gimmicky and others have been abandoned altogether. Crucially, if you search 'platform: HIVE' there is not one single result. This is something we should definitely try to change, especially as our platform has a decent community of active users and is so well suited to discussion and interaction. IN FACT, the system we have here opens up a WHOLE NEW WAY for people to give charity.....
YES! The BIG IDEA! (finally)
Think about it....
These are recent stats about charitable giving in the UK
*(64%) People who have donated to charity in the last year (64%)
*(24%) People report giving to charity from time-to-time (51%) or monthly (24%)
*(£45) The average monthly donation amount in 2018 was £45
source: https://www.nptuk.org/philanthropic-resources/uk-charitable-giving-statistics/
Thats a lot of money going towards charity, and Im sure in the most part, its probably to a good cause BUT you only have to type 'charity' and 'corruption' in to your search engine and there is some pretty horrific reading that Im not going to go in to right here. Charity is a trillion dollar industry of people freely giving, but basically without doing thorough research its tough to know where that money is really going and what its really being used for.
IMAGINE if instead of GIVING your money away, you could INVEST it in one of those newfangled cryptocurrency things (HIVE) and somehow the power of your investment allows you to support to a whole bunch of causes, some of whom are LITERALLY using the money to buy food for the village they live in! And any time you like you can change your mind, manage your supported projects or even retract your investment and decide to sell your cryptocurrency, losing or gaining some depending on the market fluctuation.
That sounds AMAZING to me! And amazingly, thats not far from what we've actually already got here on HIVE! Its just that HIVE is a little too complex, perhaps offering TOO much choice, and of course, presents itself as a blogging platform. People generally don't want to have to work too hard. They want to quickly know:
BEHIND THE SCENES
The way Ive just described this application (Lets call it HIVE-CHARITY for now) is very simplistic because I wanted to imagine what the average person on the street would perceive and how it could be simple enough to be attractive. Of course, looking a little deeper, there is a lot of complication and a lot of hard work that would need to go on behind the scenes.
Here are few requirements, functions and features that would need to be thoroughly discussed and designed prior to making a serious pitch. PLEASE COMMENT with any ideas or discussion on all this. I definitely do not claim to have ANY idea what Im talking about....SO! What might this application need?
@achimmertens has created the CHARY coin for his charitable blockchain activities but I don't know whether or not that could be applicable or whether its even worthwhile in this concept? Presumably if lots of people are investing in HIVE directly in order to delegate to charity then that would increase demand for HIVE and raise the value of it? OR am I thinking too simply...?Im sure theres loads more I should probably cover but my brain is starting to fail and I figure I will either update this post with further edits, or most likely make a follow up post including some of the best suggestions, additions, amendments from anyone who cares to pitch in! Just to be clear, I do not have the know-how to make this happen and I hold NO OWNERSHIP (or delusions of ownership) over any of these ideas. Im hoping that if people see the value in these ideas that they will help to improve them and that maybe if we can collectively build a watertight pitch that this could be used to apply for funding, or even to crowdfund the development and implementation of this application and the necessary team to run it (which would hopefully self fund someday)
Signing Off
I used to tell everyone I knew about the wonders of blockchain social media but it was hard to convince them to get involved and almost none of those who did start an account have stayed. Ive long since stopped trying to convince people, but I can already feel that if there was a simple, presentable way to make a small investment and give to a charitable cause, my whole method of pitching the blockchain would focus on it and I dare say my success rate would improve dramatically.
Thanks for reading! and PLEASE do leave your feedback! No idea too simple or even convoluted, just get it out there so we can continue this discussion : )
Loads of love everybody x x
Basil