Off-Ramping Resource to Support Projects

Giveth Proposals
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The beauty of Giveth is that projects of all shapes and sizes, passionate about a plethora of different causes, can raise funds on the platform. Registration is straightforward but when the donations come flooding in, projects can face challenges when converting crypto donations into local fiat.

The Challenge

Off-ramping solutions vary by region and the best solution is not always obvious, even to the crypto-savvy. Many project owners are new to the world of crypto and need support to off-ramp: not knowing how to exchange crypto donations to fiat often creates a bottleneck in the fundraising cycle.

The solution needs to be user-friendly, accessible in terms of language, dynamic, maintain accuracy in response to the pace of development in Web3, the changing regulatory landscape and the gradual adoption of crypto donations in the non-profit sector.

The knowledge to solve these problems is currently as widely distributed as the projects on Giveth! Let’s consolidate and record this off-ramping knowledge in an open, shared and searchable database.

How will this database project fit into Giveth?

The off-ramping database will be part of the “logistical support for on-boarding and off-ramping” workstream in the new proposed Connect Working Group within the Comms Circle (The Giveth Connect Working Group). This resource will improve the project experience, complement and gap-fill two of the key goals of the Comms Circle:

  • Offer a clear and supportive on-boarding process
  • Create a Network of Partners

Project Aims

Through gaining a deeper understanding of the different off-ramping solutions available, and challenges faced by projects sourcing funding in crypto, and creating a network of expert representatives in the different regions, this resource aims to:

  • Create an open, shared-resource of various off-ramping options by country and region that will continue to grow and evolve
  • Identify and bring regional experts on-board to be responsible for entering region-specific, off-ramping solutions and keep information up-to-date
  • Regularly review the database to ensure contact information is current and data accuracy is being maintained (suggest twice per year)
  • Include an FAQ and glossary of terms, if deemed necessary

Key Benefits

The key benefits of creating and growing this resource are to:

  • Improve the project experience by removing barriers to funds
  • Get funds moving and utilised for impact on the ground
  • Improve engagement by facilitating ease of access to funds
  • Attract more projects to the platform as projects begin sharing their positive experience
  • Build community and partnerships
  • Help spread awareness of Giveth
  • Benefit the wider crypto community

Proposed Solution

Google Sheets will be used to capture a summary of off-ramping solutions (inc. tokens, fees withdrawal, exchange, links, fees data etc.) and should provide enough information for crypto-savvy (‘301 level’) users. These sheets will act as an index with links to more detailed resources for less crypto-savvy (‘201 & ‘101’ level) users. Many of these resources will already be in existence or may need to be created. Separate consideration will be given to exchange and non-exchange solutions with a separate data sheet created for each.

Fields for region, country and others will be standardised with drop-down menus to allow for data analysis.

Regional experts will be sought through networking within and outside of the Giveth community.

Link to Google sheets doc for review and feedback is below. Should we be capturing additional data at this high level?:

Priority for completion will be given to regions where Giveth has a concentration of projects or where it is considered difficult to off-ramp. As part of the wider research into project experience within the Connect Group, this project will document any off-ramping challenges experienced by projects…

Google Data Studio will be used for information display.

Budget considerations

Let’s have a discussion around rewarding ‘regional expert’ contributors given the ongoing stewardship of data required.

Further discussion

Many projects are cautious about raising funds in crypto because of concerns around tax, legal and accounting regulations. Included in the Google Sheets file, is a third sheet for indexing and capturing regulatory, tax and accounting resources caveated as ‘information only and should not be considered professional advice’.

Can / does Giveth wish to add value by providing resources/partnerships to support projects in these areas?

Steward: ClaraZi

Giveth liaisons: ahmad, WhyIdWanderer (Ashley)

  • Yes, go for it
  • No, thanks

0 voters

4 Likes
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This is great @clara_gr thank you for getting this started… we have a LOT of projects up in Costa Rica that are struggling with this.

I think that it’s imperative for Giveth to provide resources and solutions for off-ramping the funds. In current state I am beginning to see more and more project owners losing faith in actually receiving funds they can spend on the ground; they watch the value of their crypto donations dwindle while trying to figure out how to get to them.

Plus - the amount of time it takes to figure out how to get the money out has other adverse impacts. Too much time since logging in creates risk of account key loss because Torus wallet account management is error-prone and thus discouraging… Project owners are usually administering a lot of tasks, already find themselves undervalued, and are then easily overwhelmed at learning these new tools that raised hope with the promise of accessing new funding streams.

I have a Telegram group for people in Costa Rica helping each other find ways to convert resources in and out of crypto-assets and will get on populating this spreadsheet with what’s been shared there so far :slight_smile:

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Thanks @Danibelle for your insight - your Telegram group sounds a wealth of information for Costa Rica, which is high priority due to the number of Giveth projects based there.
We should add any additional fields if the current spreadsheet design does not capture all the data required for Costa Rica (or any other region).

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Thanks for putting this together @clara_gr ! I think it’s definitely a useful tool & if we allow different people to add to it for different countries, we could offer it through our docs & as a resource to projects owners.

I think though, that maintaining this on a global level is a huge undertaking and I would be cautious about allocating significant funds to maintain “regional experts”. In the long-term we want to get more nonprofits interested in using web3, not just immediately offboarding crypto. This is one of the things that sets us apart from projects with embedded offboarding solutions which are helping projects use crypto in a more limited context.

Of course, projects are raising funds and need fiat currency to meet their goals, so I support the effort! I just would suggest to use our team’s current resources to start the effort, or to do research on resources that may already exist.

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Totally agree on this for the long-term, and it’s that interest in Web3 that is important to maintain in the short-term.

It was really succinctly stated to me that projects receiving crypto should be spending their donations on their mission right away (donations are for the work, and the people doing the work… not for contributing back to other projects as made clear by the GIVbacks program restrictions), and we currently have very limited ways to distribute crypto to the change-makers to facilitate that.

We’re getting more and more project owners familiar with wallets and how to pay or otherwise exchange with each other using crypto in order to not sell it! But we have a ways to go, and immediate needs for projects to actually fund the work.

I’d love to see more partnerships and collaborations to help expand the current limited context!