Lucky Friday’s new project, Teddy DAO, is utilizing non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to donate cryptocurrency to charities. The project, which is partnering with global fundraising organization JustGiving, will hold daily auctions for one of its teddy bear NFTs, created by digital artist Yumi and minted on cross-chain smart contract platform Moonbeam. Auction winners can then donate the proceeds to one of 400 charities supported by JustGiving, where the crypto is then converted to fiat and donated through the platform.
David Chapman, founder of Teddy DAO, said that the project was inspired by an NFT sale he conducted last year, where he raised $15,000 for humanitarian aid organization UNICEF. He noted that this event not only highlighted the demand for NFT-backed charity donations but also indicated that the method could be used to onboard people new to Web3.
Whereas NFTs have largely been for-profit and the few instances of charitable giving have been a one-time donation, we thought it best to showcase a new use for NFTs by creating digital collectibles that will be minted once per day, thereby guaranteeing a constant stream of revenue for charities within JustGiving’s network of partners, said Chapman.
Teddy DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) registered as a 501(c)(3) organization, aims to build out its community to collectively contribute to social good. Despite an ongoing bear market that has largely chilled NFT sales, crypto-based charity donations have caught on as a way to leverage blockchain-based currencies and NFTs for social impact.