In the ecosystem of initiatives directed to social impact, the usage of blockchain has escalated as a tool to help nonprofits to extend their reach to new markets and push their impact forward.

Organizations focused on providing help to neglected sectors of society have a long history, with over 1.5 million only in the US. Currently these groups often face several challenges: corruption scandals, supply chain difficulties and under-funded programs.

As for 2018, it was reported an increase between 70% to 80% in the demand of social focused services reported by organizations in North America. At the same time, the implementation of technological solutions such as Artificial Intelligence and blockchain were a common buzzword among nonprofits and social programs.

Tools For Impact

Today, there are currently over 100 organizations focused on blockchain in areas dedicated to social impact including digital identity, agriculture, financial inclusion and governance.

In 47% of the cases, organizations turn to blockchain for record verification, compared to a 13.6% being used for payments and money transfer services. This translates to a clear preference towards Ethereum by platforms for social impact, specially regarding its use for digital identity and applications that require the use of smart contracts, while Bitcoin appears as one of the most used blockchain for mechanisms like crowdfunding.

In Atix we’ve developed solutions to boost the work made by ONGs, working with the bitcoin-based solution of GiveTrack and creating the first crowdfunding blockchain platform of UNICEF.

Here are some of the most recent use cases for blockchain in social impact:

Governance and democracy. The use of blockchain continues to be experimental in this field, where it resonates it’s possible use for voting, but it also works to keep track of a government’s operations in a tamper-proof record.

Health. The use of blockchain has impacted greatly with its capacity of auditing and transferring patients data with their consent between health centers, speeding up bureaucratic processes for information inconsistency between physicians from one healthcare center to the other.

Digital Identity. Moving forward from applications for charity, blockchain also works for the common good of citizens in their professional interests. The storage of education certificates and diplomas in a ledger it’s already in use in Malta, while in France it can be used to share a worker’s credentials from their current place of work to the next one.

Do you have a solution for social impact you’d like to discuss? We’d love to hear it! Contact us here: [email protected].