# Blockchain-based Giftcoin to provide greater transparency for donations

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/12/05/blockchain-based-giftcoin-to-provide-greater-transparency-for-donations/
- Published: 2017-12-05T23:21:18+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Giftcoin is a blockchain start-up that aims to enhance transparency and trust 
in charities by enabling donors to track where their money goes.**

The cryptocurrency begins its own fundraising efforts this week with registration
for its token sale beginning on 11 December.

The latest entrant to apply the blockchain to charitable giving will, its founders
claim:

## Advertisement

 * enable charities to showcase the value of their donations
 * ensure donors can track where their money goes
 * provide a new way of accepting frictionless cryptocurrency donations
 * collect micro-donations for charity e.g. through rounding-up payments
 * lower transaction fees for donations to charity

London-based [Giftcoin](https://www.gift-coin.io/)’s platform has been designed 
specifically to enhance the way people donate. Donations made on the platform are
converted into the Giftcoin cryptocurrency, allowing the subsequent path of the 
contribution to be tracked from end-to-end using blockchain, while providing reliable
proof of transactions.

It will then send donors a notification when their gift is spent and inform them
about how their money has been used.

Social media sharing options are built in to the process, inviting donors to share
the fact they’ve just given via Giftcoin and thereby likely promoting further adoption
of the cryptocurrency.

You can read [GiftCoin’s whitepaper](https://www.giftcoin.org/GiftCoin_Whitepaper_v1_1.pdf)
which sets out its business plan, roadmap and technical specification.

> I just published “Giftcoin: The world’s first cryptocurrency for charitable giving
> and good causes” [https://t.co/7pW9TxVwbZ](https://t.co/7pW9TxVwbZ)
> — Giftcoin (@GiftcoinCrypto) [November 30, 2017](https://twitter.com/GiftcoinCrypto/status/936150229409288192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 

## The GiftCoin team

GiftCoin’s founders include Alex Howard, who created UK charity The Optimum Health
Clinic, and Tim Bichara, co-founder of fintech start-up Q App, which last year was
acquired by Yoyo Wallet.

**Alex Howard**, co-founder of Giftcoin said: “As the founder of a charity myself,
I am all too familiar with the difficulty that charities face in connecting with
the public and building trust. I firmly believe that transparency is key to solving
this problem, and blockchain is the tool that will deliver it.”

**Tim Bichara**, co-founder, added: “It is imperative that charities acknowledge
the need to redefine their relationship with the public, particularly younger groups.
Giftcoin gives donors a level of transparency that is not currently offered in the
sector. It also encourages repeat donations and helps charities build better relationships
with supporters.”
 

![Charity sector advisers to GiftCoin](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2017/
12/giftcoin-charity-sector-advisers.jpg)

_Charity sector advisers to GiftCoin_

 The GiftCoin team is being advised by three charity sector specialists:

 * social innovator **Jon Duschinsky**. He said that “I believe Giftcoin, by completing
   the circle between giving and the spending of donations, has the potential to
   trigger a new and much more effective wave of social giving.”
 * **Lady Astor of Hever**, who has raised funds for 20 years for The National Austistic
   Society and others, says: “Giftcoin is a revolutionary concept for charitable
   giving that shows the route from pound to project. This is exactly the kind of
   transparency revolution the charitable sector needs in the 21st century.”
 * former Daily Mail women’s editor **Shirley Conran OBE**

## ⏎ Charity partners

Charities that already signed up to the platform include Ourmala, Enhance the UK,
and The Optimum Health Clinic Foundation, a charity set up Alex Howard.

## Timescale

The funds raised from Giftcoin’s token sale via its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) 
will be used to develop a prototype product, which is scheduled to be released in
May 2018. From there, the team will work with a select number of charities to develop
the platform further, before releasing the full product in September of next year.

Registration for Giftcoin’s token sale opens on 11th December and the ICO itself
starts at 09:30 EST (2.30pm GMt) on 12 January 2018.

## WATCH: The Giftcoin story unfold

 

## More charity blockchain initiatives

 * **[Charitable cryptocurrency Wishcoin to generate funding for charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/09/22/charitable-cryptocurrency-wishcoin-generate-funding-charities/)(
   22 September 2017)**
 * **[Blockchain startup offers transparency tool to track donations to charity](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/05/04/blockchain-startup-offers-transparency-tool-to-track-donations-to-charity/)(
   4 May 2017)**
 * **[Blockchain-based Gigagiving to fundraise through an ICO](https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/10/06/blockchain-based-giga-giving-to-fundraise-through-an-ico/)(
   6 October 2017)**