Sad State of Donations
In the summer of 2022 I wrote an e-mail to Patrick Riley, CEO of Reaper Financial. I had been a RPR holder since early 2022, and was blown away by the potential for debt elimination, as well as recurring passive income. I was doing research for a newly-formed charitable foundation, and Patrick was an out-of-the-box thinker who I knew could help.
In short, the traditional nonprofit donation model is broken. Let me explain. If you’re a donor looking to make a contribution to a charitable organization (or group of org’s), you essentially have two options: 1) make a one-time or recurring cash donation, or 2) establish a donor-advised fund (DAF) which will allow you to make a series of donations over time. The problem with both solutions is they afford the donor limited flexibility (ultimately, the dignity to do what they want with their funds). The donor receives a tax benefit, but limited optionality as to how the funds are utilized going forward.
I proposed an idea: a new model called DaaS (donation-as-a-service). We have software-as-a-service (SaaS), payments-as-a-service (PaaS), and robotics-as-a-service (RaaS); so why not do the same for the nonprofit world? Essentially, in lieu of soliciting large, one-time cash donations, we would work with donors to establish a recurring cash flow stream for the charitable org(s) or their choice, while retaining optionality and even ownership for their donated funds. This would provide greater dignity to donors (which would in turn inspire more charitable giving for a multitude of admirable causes), and also provide sustainable and responsible long-term funding to nonprofits.
Little did I know, Patrick already had an even better solution in mind.
Introducing Ark Institute
I get it. You want to help, but you don’t know how. With so many problems in the world, where do you focus your resources to make the most effective impact? What if there was a group of like-minded philanthropists in the crypto space who did all the research for you: they selected charities that meet rigorous standards so you didn’t have to consume hours of your time on websites like Charity Navigator doing the research yourself?
I understand! You want to give to causes that are important to you, but we’re in a recession (and have been for a while, no matter what the Fed says). You need to put your money towards food and rent. There’s only so much to go around! But what if there was a way that you could set up a passive, recurring revenue stream for charities of your choice, without putting a dent in your wallet? In fact, what if there was a way you could not only set up a passive income stream for charities, but also set up a passive income stream for yourself in the process?
Get inside the ARK. Our mission at Ark Institute is to utilize the ARK token and the already established & proven voting mechanisms of the Reaper & Ascension tokens, to provide transparent, traceable and directable funding for charitable organizations that offer support and nurturing to all forms of life.
Here are three main benefits of being an ARK token holder:
1) We do the due diligence on your behalf.
It can be hard to find the right charity. There are a lot of nonprofit organizations that do good work! Last year, Americans donated $358 billion to charity. But the reality is, many of those dollars didn’t go to the causes they claimed to support.
Have you heard of the Cancer Fund of America? This charity claimed to directly aid cancer victims in the United States suffering from “over 240 types of cancer.” But at the end of the day, only three percent of donated dollars went to the people they claimed to support. So what happened to all the money? The other 97% of giving went directly to salaries and administrative expenses, mainly for the founder and his staff.[1]
Why is nonprofit fraud so widespread in the United States? According to Tracy Thorleifson, an attorney for the FTC, “There is no federal law that prohibits a charity from lying to consumers to get money.” Detection and prevention of fraud is left up to each individual state; and many state governments are spread thin. We need trustworthy parties to evaluate charitable investments.
And that is what Ark Institute is here to do. Every charity we support has to satisfy 12 stringent requirements as outlined in our Gates. We do the hard work so that you can be confident that your money is going to the right place.
After meeting our strict guidelines, charitable organizations will be entered into a bi-weekly vote. ARK token holders will be able to vote for their charity of choice every two weeks. Your ARK tokens will equate to votes on a 1:1 basis: the more ARK tokens you hold, the more your vote counts!
2) Passive income generation for the causes you love most.
Every month, the ARK token will inflate its supply by one million tokens (see full tokenomics). Newly minted tokens are sold at market value after every bi-weekly vote.
Fifty percent of the proceeds will be distributed to our hand-picked charities. Funds will be distributed based on votes received. As an example, let’s assume our bi-weekly mint generates $10,000 in proceeds. 30% of ARK holders voted for Charity A, 15% voted for Charity B, and the remaining 55% voted for Charity C. For that vote, $1,500 would go to Charity A, $750 would go to Charity B, and $2,750 would go to Charity C. Can you see the kind of economic relief that generates for the charities we support? They can now count on a renewable, sustainable stream of passive income to support their work.
And what do you lose by voting? Nothing. You don’t have to donate cash. You don’t have to give up any of your crypto. With ARK, you can purchase once, and give forever. We generate proceeds on your behalf and distribute them to charities of your choice.
3) Passive income for YOU!
Now here is the really fun part. The remaining fifty percent of the proceeds will be used as passive income for you, the token holder. After all, you used your money to buy ARK tokens, and there should be a return on your investment! 25% of proceeds will be used to purchase RPR tokens, which will be distributed to ARK token holders by percentage of ARK tokens held. Another 25% of proceeds will be used to purchase ASC tokens, which will be distributed in the same way. Like its sister tokens RPR and ASC, the ARK token will also be a strong generator of passive income.
You get to support your favorite causes by simply voting every two weeks, month after month, while also earning passive income to do with as you please: save it, spend it, buy more ARK, or give it away!
A New Ecosystem
Nonprofits need our help. The cost of doing business for charities is increasing to due unprecedented inflation. At the same time, charitable contributions typically stagnate or decrease during a recession. What is your favorite charity going to do when its’ employees need a raise and the demand for their services increases, yet charitable giving stagnates or even declines?
Get inside the ARK. The ARK Institute provides your favorite charities with recurring donations. It allows them to be part of the Reaper Financial ecosystem. Perhaps most importantly, it exposes them to the extremely generous crypto community: in 2020, the average crypto donation was $10,455, compared to only $177 for the average online donor.[2]
It’s time to sow seed. The seed is the building block from which all life springs. Help us support this potential! We can be the wind that allows the seed to find its place so it can flourish and grow. As hundreds of charitable organizations look for a lifeline in the midst of unprecedented economic turmoil, we can be the ark.
[1] https://www.rd.com/article/how-charities-spend-money/
[2] https://www.definefinancial.com/blog/charitable-giving-statistics/
