Charity

1. **Economic Empowerment**: NFTs open the door for artists and creators from underserved communities to bring their works directly to market without needing to go through a gatekeeper.
2. **Story Telling and Preservation**: NFTs can be used to tell powerful stories, to raise awareness for causes, and to preserve important cultural history on an immutable blockchain, forever.
3. **Perpetual Charity**: NFTs enable non-profits to receive ongoing donations in perpetuity. Through secondary sales. nonprofits can develop new passive revenue streams to support their missions.
4. **Community Building**: NFTs provide new ways to build and engage communities by enabling community ownership, rewards for community contributions, and providing members with a symbol to recognize their role in movements of change.
5. **Identity**: 1 billion people around the world lack access to identification. NFTs will provide those in underserved communities such as rural and remote regions, and refugees, with a verifiable on-chain ID.

Quoting a DGRS co-founder, Maxi:

You have to start by taking care of the world's population. Why care about whether a 14-year-old in New York will have fair odds at earning off gaming when you know a 14-year-old in Kenya can't get food to survive, let alone have a computer, and get to the opportunities?

We all know the world is unfair, and many $BTC maxis think crypto solves this problem from the ground up by solving money i.e. wealth distribution. But the biggest $BTC holders will be those that already had advantages in life! People that have large amounts of Bitcoin were either already rich or benefited from having the access to education about disrupting technology and investing, while the poor can only think about what they'll eat this week. Its adoption can bring further wealth inequality.

The best we can do to build towards a better world is to educate crypto holders about charity. If every single one of us were to do just the very minimum the world could be a much better place. But, lots of people refuse to donate to charity because they're funding salaries. I completely understand them as I would also only donate directly to individuals I'm sure in. But, the Governor of @lionsclubs (and my partner) Panopticus showed me that the largest service organization in the world is unique as it donates 100% of funds directly to people. They pay for logistical costs with membership fees (>1.4M members), and they have proof of where every cent went, besides letting you plan out your own service trip with numerous volunteers in any place in the world if you're a lead donator. I went to one that Pano funded.

But, crypto still has a bad rep as the community is famous for their lack of charitable contributions. You'd think it'd be the opposite as crypto money is nothing but numbers on the screen to us - much easier to give away than when you have money in the bank. I mean it still hurts me to see bills at fine restaurants even though it's nothing compared to what I give to random people on telegram for writing messages, sending videos, being hacked... It's a weird world we degens are in.

So, how come the crypto community donates less. One reason is most things in Web3 are a scam. Many donations in crypto for good causes have already been exploited. It's hard to find something with credibility. I'd say Lions Club International working with DeGenerous solves this. Another reason is human greed. Almost everyone in crypto believes the tokens they hold will be worth 50x more if they hold it a couple of years more. Why donate $100 when you can donate $4800 in a couple of years and still have 2x more? Fundraising utility NFTs solve this.

**NFTs give extra incentives to donate as they:**

* may actually be profitable
* let you be a part of a community
* give you perks
* let you flex your donations forever on-chain as well as to communities in metaverses, games, pfp's...

People live for the flex and they could have more lit-up badges, cooler weapons, etc the more they donate. Let's gamify charity for social good. Everything else is being gamified.

With service organizations NFTs can even be used as **proof of attendance** - people can collect them for participating in service trips like the one we are organizing. Each DeGenerous holder will be able to vote on where they want the raised funds to go, and then attend the trip.

They can see with their own eyes where their money went, do IRL work, feel better about themselves, and feel like a part of something. This is how you start. Make charity bigger, and then eliminate technical & financial barriers to opportunities.

We have to focus on first solving hunger, shelter, eyesight, etc, then we can onboard as many people as possible to education, computers, etc. Next, we think about financial and technical barriers to accessing fair Web3 products allowing earning from anywhere in the world. At DeGenerous, we aim to make charity more attractive to crypto users. We already solved the credibility problem by working with the largest service organization in the world and being able to show where every cent is going.

## **The First Mission: Kenya**

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What was the Global Service Week? It was an example of what is possible when the world’s largest service organization is inspired by the message of “Together We Can” and works to bring the world closer together through service.  It began with a grant to Lions Clubs International Foundarion that was funded by a **$100,000** donation from one of the co-founders of the DeGenerous Dao - Governor Pano.

**Using the global network of Lions volunteers, Governor Pano worked with the Lions of Kenya to plan a global service trip to Nairobi.**

Governor Pano connected with the Lions District Governor from Kenya and the two district governors answered the call issued by their International President Lion Brian Sheehan and came up with a plan to show the power of collective impact through a combined service initiative.  It took place over 6 days in the areas surrounding Nairobi, Kenya.  There were **27 service projects** done in that time covering every aspect of the global service initiatives of Lions Clubs International.  There were Lions from 10 States, 4 continents, and 7 countries who joined the first ever truly global Lionistic International Service trip. Over 20,000 lives were directly positively affected by the service done during the course of the week. The true measure of the impact from what was done is, perhaps, incalculable as the ripple effects of service done will carry on and encompass the joy shared by the families and friends of all those who were served.

It was an experience that no one who participated in it will ever forget.

The entire week of activity and hospitality was expertly coordinated by with the help of the Kenyan Lions District Governor Shehzan Luhar, Past International Director Manoj Shah, Cabinet Secretary Soyum Shah, and their incredible team of Kenyan Lions.  It was truly awe-inspiring to have the chance to work in partnership with such a dynamic and talented team.

**What was accomplished?**

* An entire school of visually impaired children received footballs designed for the blind and the seeds of an African Football league for the visually impaired were planted.
* Thousands of children received vision screening provided by an expert team of Doctors led by Past International Director Gary Anderson and Past International Director Ed Cordes and supported by the Nairobi Lions Sight First Hospital.
* A school for over 1000 physically disabled children received medical care, donated wheelchairs, and a diabetes clinic, as well as being gifted with an incinerator and industrial washing machine to help maintain the necessary sanitary standards to keep the residents healthy and free of infection.
* There was a Special Olympics event coordinated by the head of Special Olympics Europe David Evangelista that featured inclusive games and a complete medical clinic for youth with intellectual disabilities. It featured vision screening, diabetes screening, a foot and wound clinic, hearing screening, and even a surgical bay.
* Multiple schools of young women were given hygiene kits to address the period poverty that forces young women to miss a week of school whenever their menstrual cycle occurs. The Keep Girls in School movement was started by a young woman in Nairobi who made it the founding service project for the Keep Girls in School Leo club.   It was absolutely amazing to be able to help empower those young women to give them the freedom to stay in school.
* There were multiple feeding events where children of all ages were provided with food.  Several weeks of food supplies were also delivered to Maasai villages to help combat the lack of food that has been caused by a devastating drought.
* 100 patients were given the gift of sight, receiving free cataract surgery at the Lions Sight First Hospital as a part of the week’s service initiative.
* Digital orbit readers for the blind were donated to the visually impaired along with white canes to help with mobility.
* The first fruit trees were planted with the help of Kenyan Leos in what will become the Lions Forest which will cover a 10-acre plot of land holding hundreds of thousands of trees.
* A women’s empowerment expo was held that highlighted ways that micro-financing can positively impact the economic wellbeing of a community.
* There was a demonstration about the work Lions are doing in the area of stoma cancer.
* A bore hole well was drilled in the southern part of Kenya that is now providing 10,000 to 15,000 liters of water in an area that has been ravaged by drought for the last 3 years.  300 villagers now have a source of life-giving water that will help their community survive.

*The Lions Day at the United Nations in Nairobi occurred during the week. It was an incredible event arranged by the dynamic LCI staff that helped highlight Lions global service surrounding Hunger, Wellness, and Nutrition. All of the Lions in attendance for the Global Week of Service attended as delegates and participated in the ever-call is it evolving conversation about how we can help support the United Nations sustainable development goals.*

Inspired by a challenge from LCIF Chairperson Douglas Alexander,  **$150,000** was raised by the Lions in attendance for earthquake disaster relief to support the rebuilding efforts in Turkey and Syria.

18 new members were inducted into the world’s largest service organization.  Inspired by the work that was being done, all who witnessed what was occurring wanted to join the Lions family.

*It was a week filled with service.*

*It was a week filled with fellowship.*

*It was a week filled with fun.*

*It was a week where Lions who had never met each other became family for life.*

The experience was overwhelming, humbling, inspiring, motivating, and quite literally encompassed so many different emotions and thought provoking moments that it will take a lifetime to fully process.