This piece explores the relationship between Web3 and NGOs and reflects upon the synergies between non-profit organizations and DeSci.

According to this article from Blockchain Observatory, the rich will soon be crypto-rich —people who amassed their fortune on the Web3. And the traditionally wealthy allocate a part of their fortune to charitable causes. So it’d be of no surprise to the public if, in the near future, the new crypto-rich held their own crypto-foundations.

Web3 and NGOs are closer than they seem. The Ethereum Foundation, for example, is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the application and adoption of Ethereum and related technologies. Or Gitcoin, the platform, and open-source community, whose main objective is financing rounds for causes of public good via GitcoinGrants. Whatever organization or project meets the requirements to be considered a Public Good can participate in these rounds. Many NGOs do so (in fact, the latest GitcoinGrant included DeSci in the list of projects to be funded).

Can Web3 and non-profits make room for DeSci? These are our reasons for believing so:

1. They work for the same purpose. Many non-profit organizations are designed to fund medical research (such as Wellcome Trust, a charity organization dedicated to biomedical research based in London, founded in 1936). Similarly, in DeSci, the vast majority of DAOs that are builders of the Decentralized Science paradigm today have to do with the financing of research in Biomedicine (VitaDAO, MoleculeDAO, etc.)

2. They rarely pursue economic profitability. They want to find ways to finance research that prioritize the wealth of science as a field of life-saving knowledge instead of the profits of a lab or a private company. Therefore, they do not have funds to be investigated like rare diseases.

3. NGOs and DeSci projects both need crowdfunding mechanisms to finance their projects, and Web3 is an (alternative) answer to this need.

Web3 and NGOs are already pretty close in nature. But how can these two complement each other? Both DeSci and NGOs have weaknesses and strengths in their organizational structures. A joint work agenda can make the weaknesses of one complement the strengths of the other.

For example, NGOs forte is their tradition, the more years of history, the more legitimacy. A weakness of Web3 projects is they’re nascent, which is a cause for concern. If their purposes were to coincide, a given NGO could bring the longing credibility and legitimacy DeSci projects need. An NGO that fights Cancer can partner with a DAO that researches vaccines and treatments for this disease.

ViralCure is an insightful use case to consider the intersection of these two worlds. Considering it’s Established as an impact-first DeSci platform to support healthcare-oriented research and development, its purpose is leading the way for alternative funding to fight diseases, prevent pandemics and combat unequal access to healthcare.

The alternative funding mechanics is precisely what resonates the most with the crowdsourcing efforts of NGOs. ViralCure currently hosts several research projects within Project Hob, looking to fundraise resources to treat several diseases: Covid-19, Dengue and Zika, Yellow Fever Antibodies, and more. You can find more information about each by launching the app and clicking on the “Project Hub.”

Using Web3 tools makes traditional organizations' centralized, hierarchical, and bureaucratic processes become simpler and more transparent. DeSci can contribute to implementing more efficient crowdfunding mechanisms and making decision-making more democratic. This way, DeSci and NGOs can complement each other and benefit by advancing their common causes.