Block chain to empower charities

The Heritage open source project developed by A³ by Airbus will allow non-profits and charitable organisations to accept donations in crypto currency.

A block chain technology developed by A³ by Airbus will open a new donor class for charities around the world, creating valuable revenue streams for organisations currently unable to benefit from crypto currency exchanges due to resource or knowledge gaps.

Block chain is still a young market. While innovation and discovery take their course, Airbus drives projects that deliver a working product and share an alignment on the necessity for decentralised, public block chains.

Digital ledger for fundraising

Heritage is an open source project on the ethereum block chain, which functions as a “digital ledger” for charitable organisations to record and validate donations made to them, using crypto currencies such as Bitcoin. It is employed by the Airbus Foundation for the benefit of Humanitarian Challenge fundraising campaigns, including a celebration of its own 10-year anniversary.

By making Heritage an open source project, the Airbus Foundation will help countless charities introduce crypto currency and “smart contract” technologies into their fundraising operations – with hopes to set a standard that non-profits can replicate to continue to grow the ecosystem, while also supporting an underserved market.

Unboxing crypto currency

So how does it work? When donors make a donation through Heritage, their contribution is recorded along with the donor’s unique ethereum address and donation amount. Heritage also can record and issue a donation certificate information (which is required to file taxable deductions). This information is released as a freely exchangeable asset and allows donors to easily build a portfolio of their donations.

The Heritage block chain technology offers many advantages to the charitable market, including an improved workflow and efficiency; increased accountability to donors due to the network’s public nature; and access to the new digital donor class without significant technological investment of their own.

For more information please visit heritage.aero