Image Created with Canva Pro
For those who have only just recently joined my blog and tuned into my reporting you might be surprised to know that I commenced my career in Health and Community Services. In some aspects this still makes up the brunt of my real world job. Despite what anyone tells you about Blockchain the majority of people still hold a full time or part time job in another field otherwise funding our investments would be significantly harder.
For over a decade I have worked with community organisations to build a better world and tackle disadvantage. Some of my work has been paid and a lot of it has been volunteering to address disadvantage and inequality within my nation. I state nation because I started small with community fund raisers for local sporting clubs, community groups and issues within the community and then moved onto larger more complex challenges. A few of which have become national programs and projects that now continue many years on that support people in their time of need.
Image source
Which is why I am excited about Terra Network's latest project Angel Protocol Decentralised Finance that gives back by producing ongoing payments through an endowment system built on Decentralised Finance.
Decentralised Finance can be a profitable or dangerous investment strategy at times and caution is always advised. But from what I'm reading at current Angel Protocol may pull this off in the long term.
Image source
From a review of how Angel Protocol Decentralised Finance is set up the project isn't completely Decentralised and the actual Protocol acts as the central authority. But when dealing with charitable donations this is probably a good decision because if the project falls over it can be quite costly to those charities and those whom have donated.
Especially for those who seek to do good in the world who donate funds the last thing you want to see is the organisation handling the funds get zeroed out.
To mitigate the collapse of the project Angel Protocol has implemented a endowment which is pretty much a vault in the charities name. When a donation is made the money is added to the vault that earns 20% APY for the charity.
Image source
At the end of each month a charity is paid a percentage of the interest earned in liquid UST which can be cashed out for fiat currency. Or used to restake to the endowment pool which unlike traditional Decentralised Finance vaults which enable investors to withdrawl all their funds which can set off a chain reaction of mass liquidations and sales of a native token. This method may ensure Angel Protocol can survive long term.
Now it is important to note that charities can set how much of the rewards are paid in liquid UST each month Source. The option to change how much an organisation receives can also be changed which means charities can receive greater financial support in times of need and then return to building their endowments when times aren't as hard.
Image Source
Another great feature which is unique in the Decentralised world and crypto in general is the generation of tax receipts. Many charities have special regulations that enable those who donate to claim part of their donation on tax and receive a tax concession.
For example in Australia if you donate to a charity you typically receive 30% of the donation back which is paid for by reducing your taxable income.
As there are many winners and lovers in Decentralised Finance making regular donations to a registered charity can actually provide significant benefits to investors and see a lesser tax bill at the end of the financial year.
Registrations are only open to charities that are registered and meet United Nations goals which I find fantastic because it focuses in core issues that the globe faces.
It's quite easy to register a non-for-profit organisation and then apply for a charity registration so including the United Nations focus points ensures that the charities registering are focusing on issues that global charities are trying to focus and not random topics that someone has spun up overnight.
Image source
There are 17 United Nations goals that Angel Protocol is aligning itself to so there are a broad range of goals that charities can submit their organisation too.
The goals range from social impacts to environmental sustainability as well as world peace which I find absolutely amazing.
Image source
There is also a Leaderboard and I've had a quick scroll through and I've stumbled across a number of charities and organisations I am familiar with such as the Lions club which has registered on Angel Protocol. I'd recommend everyone do their own research prior to committing donations and perhaps call the charity to ensure they are listed and no one has registered in their name. Not saying that that can occur on Angel Protocol but you never know as there have already been some elaborate scams involving hackers being able to falsify documents and email accounts and present as authentic which has costed hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen assets. It's always important to do your own research.
If it all checks out the inclusion of tax deductible receipts is an amazing step forward and will enable donators to claim part of their donations back on their taxable income.
Image source
As Angel Protocol is a Terra Network project the vast majority of backers are on the Terra Network with many projects some current and some to be released committing to providing Liquidity to charities and funding endowments on Angel Protocol from funds raised on their own projects. The projects will also be promoting and asking users if they wish to provide donations to registered charities. So far Angel Protocol has manages to raise $US2 million in donations for charities which as a well worth it amount. Money that would have just disappeared into someone else's pocket [Source](Angel Protocol on Medium https://medium.com/@angelprotocol)
I also caught up with the team and spoke with ChaunceyStJohn from Angel Protocol and discussed community reception, his experiences and good news stories so far. So far Angel Protocol has been widely accepted and supported by the broader community with $US1.5 Million dollars raised for Restore Earth and there is current work underway with a governance proposal on how to send 6 figure sums to hurricane Rai relief.
I asked Chauncey why Angel Protocol came to be, with the skills and abilities it would have been profitable to just start their own Decentralised Finance project that didn't give money away. Chauncey stated that current Crypto donations for charities require an intermediary or middle man which often charge in excess of $2000 just to get set up and than charge ongoing fees. Chauncey and the team decided to provider a cheaper and more effective form of donation drives to charities that will benefit the people and causes they are trying to support.
Angel protocol is up there with one of my favourite Terra projects and I truly do hope it works and provides a new form of income for organisations that are struggling to change the world for better.
If you want to know more you can get in touch with the project at the following links.
What are your thoughts on Angel Protocol? Would you consider donating to them?
Image sources provided supplemented by Canva Pro. This is not financial advice and readers are advised to undertake their own research or seek professional financial services
