Contributors can be compared to paying users, they are the ones who promote the good maintenance of the platform and finance the distribution of free tickets to the entire Ribon community.
Frequently asked questions
About Ribon
Ribon’s decentralized platform allows people to get involved in philanthropy without spending anything by donating tickets to their favorite social projects.
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This is only possible because ordinary donors become contributors, donating financially, thereby increasing their impact and encouraging others to donate as well.
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It is a unique and innovative formula, created by the Ribon team over the last 4 years and awarded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and IDEO as one of the 10 most innovative platforms in the world in the giving market.
The answer is simple and very cute πΌ
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The idea for the app came from the concept of unconditional love, that persists regardless of circumstances, that expects nothing in return.
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This concept is represented by the Greek goddess Agape who, according to mythology, carried with her a ribbon to wrap two or more people, sealing relationships of love and affection through a bow, literally.
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This symbolic ribbon was very inspiring to us, and that’s why we named the project ribbon, just taking a “b” off to make it easier π
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Did you like the story? I hope it inspired you to donate more and create beautiful bonds between you and people very grateful for your help π§‘
The Ribon App basically works on three essential processes:
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1. We increase the contributor’s donation (Donation Process);
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2. We distribute tickets by integrations, moment they reach the integrations user and the users who use our app daily, also called non-paying users (Integration Process);
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3. We select the listed charities (Charity Curation Process).
Being a user coming from our integration partners, or being a user that uses our App daily, you receive a donation ticket, made available for free and funded by contributors.
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Ribon integrated with other digital platforms allows our community to expand and more people, beyond our daily visitors, to have access to the act of donating.
Tickets are funded by contributors, donors who want to be part of a greater good and foster a culture of giving along with Ribon, through the distribution of tickets.
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By encouraging others to donate, they watch their initial donation grow and impact more people in need.
These are contributor-funded tickets, they are worth according to the USDC, a stable digital currency that is tied to the US dollar.
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Think of it as a gift certificate from a contributor to other Ribon users, our contributors send donation tickets and you can donate directly to a project of your choice without spending anything.
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Only selected charities can redeem the funds.
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The funds collected are always locked in our smart contracts, so there is no way for users or integrators to use or sell them on the open market or any other protocol.
The ticket has a variable value, it will follow according to the season and the integrator. In addition, the entire impact generated by a ticket will be transparently disclosed, to its contributors and to the user of free donations.
Ribon is 100% open source (open source) on Blockchain, a technology that aims at the decentralization of records as a security measure. Also called βtrust protocolβ.
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All of our actions are carried out in a transparent and immutable manner, which further ensures our accountability. The icing on the cake is the guarantee of data security that only Blockchain technology can offer.
Our giving culture is funded by our contributors, people who see their initial donation grow and impact more people in need. Contributors are our paying users.
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Contributors are able to connect with more than 40,000 monthly users, that is, non-paying users who receive tickets to make donations.
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As a result, there is a distribution of tickets between integration users and users who enter the platform daily (free users), these users donate tickets with varying amounts to the list of selected Social Projects.
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In general, when a ticket is donated, it “stamps” that value to the Social Project chosen by the user. Ribon then collects a report with the sum of all tickets donated with values separated by project and from that we make the payment to the institutions according to this distribution.
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All ticket donations are securely recorded on the Blockchain and can be compared with our financial reports later.
Ribon’s Protocol is built on Matic/Polygon, a layer 2 on Ethereum.
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This way, we can have the combination we want in terms of security, a pungent tool ecosystem, and transaction fees consistent with micro-donations made on the platform.
App Usability
Incredible to know that you want to expand your impact, donating for the Community means that it will increase the reach of your donation and in return, you will participate in the distribution of new free tickets so that non-paying users will also have access to the act of doing good.
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To become a Ribon Promoter you need to go to the “Contribute” section, where you will find the “Community” option, click on it and you will be directed to the “Donate with the Community” page.
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There you can choose to donate to the cause of your choice and in which currency you want to donate (BRL, USDC, or USD), the initial values are 5 USD.
Making a direct donation means that it will go directly to an NGO of your choice rather than to a general cause.
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To make a direct donation, you must go to the βContributeβ section, in which you will have the βDirect Donationβ option, click on it and you will go to the contribution page.
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In it, you can choose which of the available institutions you want to donate to, and the currency in which you want to donate (BRL or USD). The initial amounts is 5 USD.
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In this modality, you will not generate new free tickets for the paying community to have the donation experience, unlike the Donation paid with the community.
When you make a paid donation with the Community, they receive a boost from the initial donation, thanks to the network effect that generates more impact.
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This happens because our community of contributors generates more tickets that are distributed to more people to donate for free, at that moment these users connect with a cause, and become paying donors, starting a new cycle of distributing tickets, and generating more free donations.
You can pay contributions in two ways:
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Credit card: You can choose the contribution amount and in which currency you want to pay, in this payment method the available currencies are: Real or Dollar.
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Also, in the functionality of direct donation, it is possible to simulate what its impact will be according to the chosen amount.
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Cryptocurrency (available for community donations): You can also choose to donate via cryptocurrency, for this you need to connect your wallet to MetaMask, the currency available to receive contributions is USDC a currency paired with the dollar.
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If you need to create a MetaMask wallet, check out this complete walkthrough.
The calculation is based on the minimum amount necessary for the project to achieve good results.
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Ribon’s causes are part of the social movement βEffective Altruismβ, and aim to generate great impact with low operating costs.
It’s very simple, click on the photos of each project, then 3 stories will appear about each one of them, telling a little about the history and service provided by the NGOs present in the App.
In the payments tab, you will need to make a record with your data, including your TAX ID, in case you are not able to put all the numbers, it is necessary that you first select the country of your document, for example, USA, each country has its amount of numbers.
Today the amount of tickets you receive is 1 ticket every 24 hours, that is, you can make a free donation every day.
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Now, if you want to further increase your impact, you can make paid donations that can be made by your credit card or in crypto.
So far, it is not possible to edit your profile, as all the information used is the same as your e-mail account.
Partners
Companies that have a digital platform, such as a website, apps, among others, and believe in our mission of spreading the culture of donation to more people. During our process, we take into consideration various aspects, including the integrity of the partnering brand.
Great news! There is no cost to integrate Ribon with your platform, neither for you nor for your users!
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Our partnerships with companies and organizations aim to reach as many people as possible through our app, expanding the user base and visibility, so that people can contribute to social causes through Ribon’s App.
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Everyone wins, as the impact generated by donations brings visibility and relevance to your brand.
The process consists of three basic steps:
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1st Step: We will tell you more about Ribon and get to know more about your brand. (Partnership Qualification Step)
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2nd Step: Our closing team will plan, together with your team, the integration flow structure and the launch of our partnership. (Technical Structuring Step)
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3rd Step: We will monitor the success of this partnership, tracking metrics, impacts, actions, and results throughout our integration.
It’s great to know that you want to become a partner of Ribon! Contact us, it’s very simple. Visit our partners page, where you will have access to an explanation of the entire integration process and be able to directly contact our team.
Philanthropists
Ribon uses the donation money to generate new donors, promoting greater impact for important social causes.
1. It all starts with our donation funds, financed by contributors who want to encourage donations for the cause that their fund represents.
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2. Daily, part of the money from each fund is transformed into donation tickets.
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3. Our partners distribute these tickets to their user base as rewards for specific actions they perform on their platforms.
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4. The people who receive the tickets choose which of the available institutions in the fund they want to donate it to at no cost.
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5. Some of these people enjoy the experience so much that they decide to get more involved with the cause by adding money from their own pockets to their free donation.
We are in 2023, and even with billions and billions of dollars being donated every year, we still face basic problems such as lack of access to healthcare, food, and water.
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This happens because most people do not see themselves as part of the solution, so they feel powerless for not being able to help and end up living as if these problems did not exist. And one thing we know: complex social problems can only be solved when a large number of people connect to their causes collectively.
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Donating is not only powerful, it is empowering. And we believe that this power experienced on a large scale is capable of mobilizing all the necessary resources to overcome social problems that should no longer be part of the world in 2023.
If Ribon does not fulfill its function of bringing in more donations for the fund, no fee is charged and your donation is 100% allocated to the institutions according to the ticket distribution. But if Ribon can use your donation to inspire new donors to add money to the fund, a 10% fee is charged on the added value.
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So let’s say you donated US$ 10,000, and the tickets from that donation inspired more people to add another US$ 1,000 to the fund. In this case, a 10% fee will be charged on the additional US$ 1,000, which means US$ 100.00 will be deducted from your initial donation.
Your risk is zero. This is because Ribon does not charge fees for donations added to the fund, only for increased donations.
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That is, there are only 2 possibilities for a donation made to a Ribon fund: 1. The donation is increased, a 10% fee of the increase value is charged, the increase is added to the initial donation, and more money is sent to the fund’s institutions; 2. The donation is not increased and 100% of its value is directly allocated to the institutions in your fund.
If you want to donate up to US$ 500, you can donate directly through our platform. If you want to donate larger amounts, just contact our team and we will guide you.
Your money will stay in the chosen fund, where it will be converted into donation tickets, which will be distributed through our partner platforms and donated by our thousands of users.
The time depends on how many users are donating tickets to the institutions in the fund that you support. Currently, a donation of US$ 10,000 takes an average of 8 months to go through our conversion flow into tickets, distribution to users, and donation to institutions.
Currently, the open funds are: Health, Women’s Empowerment, Education, Nutrition, Climate Change, and Animal Rights.
To manage them in the best possible way and deliver the best experience for those involved, we will initially only work with the funds mentioned above. By the end of this year, we plan to open new funds based on research that indicates which causes are most interesting to our users.
We do this in 3 ways:
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1. Users β Institutions: after using the free donation tickets, some users become more connected to a specific charity and donate directly to support its work.
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2. Users β Causes: after using the free donation tickets, some users enjoy the experience so much that they decide to add money back to the fund, allowing more people to donate tickets and connect with the cause of the fund they helped.
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3. Philanthropists: new philanthropists learn about Ribon, discover the power of people donating together, and decide to donate to the fund as well.
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All of these donation methods are triggered by the fund’s own feature. That is, each donation added to the fund has the potential to generate new donations within these 3 formats presented. On average, these new donations represent a 30% increase in any amount added to the funds.
As long as they are fulfilling the function of: 1) Sparking the interest of those who donate tickets; 2) Raising new resources from these free donation experiences.
You can check the active institutions in each of the funds through our platform dapp.ribon.io
We want donations made through Ribon to be used in the best possible way. Therefore, we only work with 501c3 institutions (a certification that guarantees the reliability of institutions audited at various levels of their work).
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In addition, all institutions approved by Ribon undergo an analysis of the 5 impact dimensions proposed by the Impact Management Network.
It depends on their performance. Every 6 months, our team analyzes the impact that the institution generated with our donations and the engagement it had among our users. Depending on the result, the institution may remain in the fund or be replaced.
Of course, we love to hear about new projects. But it is important to remember that new institutions are only incorporated into the funds if they meet all of Ribon’s evaluation criteria.
When a user donates a ticket (sponsored by their donation) to one of the institutions available in the fund that you support.
The value of the ticket is calculated based on the monetary value needed to generate a palpable impact within a charity institution. For example, a ticket provides 1 day of water for 1 person.
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Because we work with extremely efficient charity institutions, we can generate impact with cents. Through studies, we understand that communicating in this way brings more engagement and happiness than citing the actual monetary value of a ticket to the user.
Ribon is integrated with several partner platforms that distribute tickets to their users as a way of rewarding them for actions taken within each of them. These actions can be: opening an email, completing a purchase, evaluating a product/service, etc.
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Today, Ribon has more than 30 partners, companies such as: Zee Dog, Tastemade, Qulture Rocks, and many others that connect Ribon to more than 100,000 people monthly.
You can track your impact through the Ribon platform, but if you have donated more than US$ 500, you will be able to track it through the specific platform for Philanthropists, which will contain various information about your impact as a donor.
Historically, our technology increases donations by 30% over a period of 6 months. But this is not a promise, since the central function of our product is to connect people with donations, making them interested in the causes of each fund. The increase generated by this connection is a consequence.
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However, it is worth remembering that Ribon’s service fee is only charged if this increase is actually generated.
Blockchain is a secure, transparent, and decentralized way of storing data. Within the donation market, having confidence about what is done with the money is a fundamental element. Therefore, we chose to structure our technology in this model, since it allows anyone to verify the path taken by each transaction.
Social Projects
Ribon currently has the presence of international NGOs that are part of the Effective Altruism Movement, with a focus on transforming the lives of millions of people.
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This is only possible because our donations focus on generating impact in a simple, intelligent, and accessible way so that more people can make donations.
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These NGOs are accessible to receive your donation thanks to the support of major donors who support social causes such as health and nutrition. They want more people to have access to the act of donating, and with Ribon, you can make your donation at no cost.
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To stay updated on which social projects are partnering with Ribon, it’s easy, just access our App.
Simply go to our website and fill out this form. Then just wait for our evaluation process. If the project meets our criteria, we will contact you. The registration and entry of new NGOs in the App is completely free.
Thank you for reaching out and trusting us to share your cause! Ribon focuses on strengthening ongoing projects and institutions, so that we can generate collective impact.
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But don’t be discouraged, we suggest you check out the app Go Fund Me, where they may be able to assist you with your personal cause.
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Wishing you all the best on your journey!