Explaining our mission
For good or for bad, the market is unprecedented in its power to generate wealth. What if we could use this power, not to generate wealth, but to generate good?
Since the market understands money really well, why not create representative money
based on donations. If we do this everyone will be able to handle donations as money. We could own it, measure it, trade with it, work to generate more of it... and every cent of it would represent donations for good causes.
This is what Open Causes is doing.
Open Causes is creating the Open Causes Platform. The Open Causes Platform is a non-profit donations platform which will hold Cause Credits. Cause Credits is representative money based on donations. This means that Cause Credits are measurable, tradable and global. When you donate through the Open Causes Platform you will receive Cause Credits that represents your donations.
The Open Causes Platform will have an open and free web-based programming interface (API). This enables anyone to integrate Cause Credits with their products, and create new services and products based on Cause Credits.
Our vision is that philanthropy and generosity will become an integrated part of all parts of society. Today donations relies almost solely on altruism; We want to complement that with market forces.
The Open Causes Platform and Cause Credits
Open Causes will develop the Open Causes Platform. Open Causes is an initiative to make philanthropy easier, more open and more innovative. The Open Causes Platform is a web-based platform that will supply the public with free, web-based services to ease the support of different causes. Anyone who wants to develop services on, or integrate with the OCP are welcome to do so for free.
In the Open Causes Platform a central unit called Cause Credits will be used. Cause Credits will be a world wide, accumulative and measurable unit of donations which anyone that gives through the Open Causes Platform will be awarded. The Cause Credits awarded represent the amount given.
Cause Credits address several possible issues with donating money, for example:
There is no real emotional difference between giving $10 or $100 to a good cause.
When you give you get a good feeling, but often have nothing to show for it.
When corporations support causes they, in most cases, report donations made during one fiscal year in nation-specific financial reports. Cause Credits are world-wide, accumulative and visible over time.
Transferable Cause Credits
Cause Credits will be transferable between users of the Open Causes Platform. Since Cause Credits represent a specific amount of money donated to a cause, a donor can transfer this to someone else, making them the new owner of that donation. This turns Cause Credits into representative money based on donations. But what does this mean?
If you, as a person or an organization, own 100 Cause Credits (CC) you have donated $100 through the Open Causes Platform. If you later donate $10 more, you own 110 CC. Your Cause Credits is something measurable that you can feel good about. Something you can show and compete with. But also something tradable.
Let’s say that I have a cellular phone that I don’t use. It’s just laying around. If you give me your 110CC, I’ll give you my phone. If so, I have made the actual donations for $110 and you have bought my phone. The value of my phone has payed for the $110 donation. You, owning a phone now, have not made any donations.
With the Open Causes Platforms open programming interface Cause Credits can become cross-site money based on donations. All the creativity and innovation that surrounds regular money can be used to generate Cause Credits, increasing the overall amount of money that is donated to good causes. This gives new dimensions and innovative opportunities to philanthropy. It creates a situation where someone actually can become “rich” from supporting causes.
Financing operations and expansions
The Open Causes Platform has a sustainable business model to support both daily operations and expansions. Since the Open Causes Platforms main purpose is to transfer money from people and organizations to different causes we can, just as banks do, hold transactions for a short period of time and collect interest. The money generated from that interest will be used to pay for operating cost and expansion costs. Of course all surplus will be donated to the causes supported by the platform. Our goal is that the financing of the Open Causes Platform will be totally transparent.