There are a plethora of companies cropping up touting the future of efficient aid or charitable giving, via blockchain. Promising:

Complete transparency on your charitable donations

 

We …drive[s] the transparent, efficient & effective flow & delivery of development & humanitarian aid.

 

We…bring[s] transparency to social funding through blockchain technology

The reason behind the rise, apart from the availability of technology, is that public trust in charities has declined. The logic is, if everyone can see where their money is being spent, trust will rise and the more honest charities will get more money. Great! But it misses the point about the purpose of charities or non-profits or NGOs completely.

The purpose of these non-profits, civil society actors, call them what you will, is to affect a positive social change for the communities they work for and the world in general. That is what we should be measuring.

What is all your money and all their activity actually achieving? What are the small social changes that have occurred? How can we know it is happening consistently and not just a blip?

Read the full article on blockchain at FieldWorks