By Tine Ward, Founder and CEO, Rockflower Partners Inc.
We began our membership with the Giving Block last year in 2020 when they were supporting approximately 40 organizations. Last week they hit an extraordinary milestone of 800 charities. Pat Duffy and Alex Wilson, the Co-Founders of The Giving Block had a vision to fuse their experiences of finance, crypto and the not-for-profit worlds to build a platform that would bring more funding to not-for-profits of all sizes through the growing field of crypto philanthropy.
In 2020 The Giving Block raised over $4 million for their small but growing list of non-profit partners. In 2021 they are on target to see $100 million in donations. That is quite the exponential growth.
For the first few months of this relationship with The Giving Block, I kept wanting to call them The Giving Tree. Somehow their approach and their mindset reminded me of the famous Shel Silverstein book, where the Tree just keeps on giving … but unlike that particular tree that ends up as just a stump, their vision seems infinite. This is what happens when hearts and minds embrace new technologies and opportunities, so that those usually at the bottom of the rung are the worthy recipients.
Rockflower’s philosophy is based on The Currency of Mind™ - that ideas and relationships are valued above all monetary exchanges.
On a slow day in August this past summer I got an email from Michael at The Giving Block who explained that there was a possibility that we could benefit from the auction of an NFT artwork by World of Women NFT, “ a collection of diverse women on Twitter, working to leave their mark on the NFT space by donating the proceeds of their artwork sales to charitable organizations benefiting women around the world”. Most of what I knew about NFT’s at that point could fit on the back of a postage stamp (!) but I was delighted to hear that we could possibly be the beneficiaries of some unexpected funding.
By the end of the day, as the auction concluded, the amount had far exceeded my expectations.
On Thursday 12th August at 7.32am, 15.7717 ETH was deposited to the Rockflower Gemini account from World of Women NFT artist Yam. That translated to over $46,000.
As a venture philanthropy fund connecting catalytic funding to local initiatives in emerging economies seeking to improve and elevate the lives of women and girls, the sale of Queen of Lightning and our subsequent benefit from it, made an otherwise dull Wednesday in August a moment of great hope.
Rockflower exists to get more money into the hands of women and girls living on the global margins. Given that women entrepreneurs, innovators and community leaders are critically underfunded to be able to create their own solutions to the obstacles they face daily, this was a massive boost to our daily work.
Yam inscribed her artwork with the following words, which although she could not have known this when she created this piece, speak precisely to the world and work of Rockflower.
"Queen of Lightning"
You might forget her as she hides behind a grey cloud, waiting for her moment without making a sound.
Her power comes to you as a surprise, you did not expect her presence to be so mighty, but why? Did you never expect her to arise?
Does her existence irritate you? Does her voice upset you? Does her fearlessness frighten you? or is it her power that intimidates you?
She might seem calm and quiet more often than not, but when she rises, oh when she rises, you will hear her voice as she reclaims her spot.
The name “Rockflower” means strength and gentleness which when combined reveals a deep power of possibility and imagination. We have quietly and patiently worked behind the scenes for over a decade knowing that the innate power of women leaders in communities is a force that the world has yet to reckon with.
Yam joined us in The Currency of Mind™ and unleashed a powerful creative stream of consciousness that unlocked possibilities and potential for hundreds of women to be their own Queen of Lightning.
Within ten days we had dispersed all of the funds to 12 partners in 12 different countries. The following is a brief description of those partners and their work.
Center for Civil Society and Democracy, Syria and Turkey - to continue with the work of safe collaboration for women in Syria whose primary aim is to build a stable and just society where peace and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms prevail.
Dare Now Uganda, Uganda - working in the slums of Kampala, Dare Now Uganda confronts misery and abject poverty on a daily basis. However, they are never defeated. Robertson has worked with Rockflower for over four years, first with Rainbow House of Hope and now as Co-Founder of Dare Now Uganda. His determination to see the women who live in the slums be emboldened with opportunities to generate income and have control over the maternal and reproductive lives is what motivates him daily.
CHICOSUDO, Malawi - to empower disadvantaged and unemployed women by providing skills training to improve their economic status. For survivors of child marriages this is particularly helpful in giving them self-reliance and in turn enhances their productivity at home and general participation in community development.
Mategemeo Women’s Association, Tanzania - for the second phase of funding of a Revolving Loan Scheme in order to help local women break the cycle of poverty and maintain financial security in the event of an emergency.
Community Services Program, Pakistan - for ongoing efforts with food and medical assistance in the hardest to reach mountainous villages of Kashmir with COVID relief for female-headed households. In addition, extra funding was provided to purchase devices for the start of the Bridging the Digital Divide project.
AFBF, Burkina Faso - to expand the Weaving and Dyeing Project which provides jobs for women who are victims of child marriage and gender-based violence.
Youth and Women in Sustainable Development, Uganda - a youth-led organization working on expanding access to online training for women to access markets for their tailoring businesses.
Women Advocacy Project, Zimbabwe - ongoing support for long-time partner WAP, to increase capacity for the Soap Making Project and provide additional support for girls who were previously at risk of child marriage but who now have re-enrolled in school.
FOWACE, Liberia - During the pandemic, Liberia has seen one of the worst upticks in gender-based violence and rape of young girls, some as young as three years old. FOWACE works at the community level to ensure access to justice for those who otherwise would not be able to receive it. This can be as basic as paying for gas for victims to get to the police station.
SOFEDI, Democratic Republic of Congo - follow-on support for the Mini Covid project that showed the necessity for community hubs for women to gather and support one another during times of conflict and develop access to income-generating opportunities.
African Youth Alliance, Cameroon - ongoing support for the Five Keys, Five Villages Project which supports women and girls in remote rural communities of northwest Cameroon who make up more than half of the population but yet are faced with enormous obstacles such as ongoing conflict, unemployment, resource scarcity and food insecurity all of which are interconnected.
Society for the Improvement of Rural People, Nigeria - ongoing support for our partner in Northern Nigeria to develop new programming for the community of Enugu State. We have previously worked with them on a year-long project to reduce the prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation and a series of economic skills training projects to provide the youth of the community with practical, actionable skills.
So if you are wondering what all of the fuss is about and whether the sale of NFT’s are having a direct impact on lives lived, take a moment to really absorb and appreciate the value this remarkable contribution by World of Women NFT, artist Yam and the generosity of donors like Gary Vaynerchuk can have. We look forward to being part of this amazing community for years to come as the exponential growth of crypto philanthropy proves how radically the trajectory of these women's lives can be changed.