The entire process is deemed to be fully transparent, from raising funds, expenses, reimbursements to other spending….  It looks like a neat open source crowdfunding platform for associations. 

We will try and do a quick overview of open collective for you.

With open collective, the developers put forth an open source platform to help open source projects that have created open collectives to raise money and share their expenses in a transparent way.

open collective further describes itself in these words:

“OpenCollective enables groups to quickly set up a collective, raise funds and manage them transparently.

We want all those seeds to have a chance to grow, to bring their ideas to life. We believe everyone should have the tools to create the organizations of tomorrow. And we are dedicating ourselves to making that happen!”

Sounds great, and it is open source and transparent.

And, it appears to help solve the problem of raising resources to fund new ideas whether the group is small or large.  This type of project may blend in well with other open source projects e.g. blockstack.(or dApps on top of blockstack e.g. Souq)

A rundown – on how open collective works – from one of the developers can be found at this link here and here.

Below, we provide some screenshots and links for learning more about open collective. We hope you find this useful.

open collective

• A new form of association, transparent by design

open collective

• crowdfund and then make sure the finances (funding,expenses,reimbursements,spending…) are open for all to see (transparency)
  

open collective

• Own your data
  • export all your backers with their e-mail address at any time

open collective

• Show your backers

open collective

• an example of an association using open collective is Women Who Code
  • “We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. 137,000 members strong in 60 cities spanning 20 countries & counting”
  • Women Who code
  • @WomenWhoCode

We have not tried out open collective but will give it a go at some point (when we do we will try and provide a brief overview). But, it looks like a great tool to help with the transparent crowdfunding space. In the meantime, go give it a try and give us and/or open collective some feedback.

In addition, open collective is open source.  We like that and try to promote open source. See our post on open source here.

And, perhaps it may be a tool that can be used on the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g. a decentralized voluntary association crowdfunding – or perhaps it may be a good chance for collaboration with another dApp that does the same type of thing for voluntary associations and crowdfunding – cryptocracy/souq).

If you have not tried out Blockstack, you can find some links below to help you get started in the decentralized internet platform for identity, security and storage. Gotta have the Blockstack browser –

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., decentralized, building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet) you need to use the Blockstack browser).

Remember, per Blockstack – all information or data you create or store using a dApp via your Blockstack Browser is encrypted and securely stored in a decentralized manner. And, it is only accessible by you and only those you give access to your data and information.

Other helpful links for more information on Blockstack include:

Blockstack – the new decentralized application platform and ecosystem for the decentralized/re-decentralized internet (dApp, dApps, blockchain, bitcoin, distributed and Web 3.0)

Blockstack’s Forum

@Blockstack

For more on All things Developer^TM, see this link here. For more on the engineering meeting at Blockstack, please visit the forum. Blockstack makes the internet you use better!^TM

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar).

Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM.

A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

The post Open Collective: Transparent Crowdfunding for Associations… appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

Souq describes itself as “decentralized voluntary associations.” Souq further describes itself as the mobile dApp that gives its user an “unprecedented level of insight and participation in crowd funding initiatives, locally or abroad.” Basically, Souq is a platform for decentralized project tagging and funding (crowdfunding).

Souq – crowd funding (e.g., road repair and many other crowd funding initiatives) with decentralization (e.g., identity, storage, security along with blockstack) and transparency baked in from the beginning.  To sign-up for the beta version of the decentralized mobile application – Souq, please visit this link here.

Well, Cryptocracy has officially launched Souq – in beta (mobile applications only on Apple store and Google play) – for use with the Blockstack ecosystem.  As Souq explains it:

Souq is a mobile app, & currently does not require the Blockstack Browser.  Instead of using the Blockstack browser, Souq pairs up with a Blockstack Core node running the Cryptocracy APIs over top. (Full Mode)

In other words it pairs with a users own  “Preferred node”, this “Preferred node” is basically a Blockstack core node with customized API end points rigged into it to achieve specific search functionality.”

In essence, Souq’s mobile application (apple store or google play) has every thing you will need to start a project (crowdfunding) and take full advantage of Blockstack’s decentralized ecosystem (identity, security and storage).  To sign-up for the beta version of the decentralized mobile application – Souq, please visit this link here.

Some basic contact information for Souq, its developer and the main website:

SOUQ (mobile dApp in Beta version)

Crytptocracy – Website for Souq

Souq (beta)  application signup page

Developer: Ty George

• Powered by Blockstack and Blockchain technology, Souq gives its user an unprecedented level of insight and participation in crowd funding initiatives, locally or abroad.

twitter: @CryptocracyIO

website: Cryptocracy

Github

More about Souq from Souq (screenshots):

Use Souq to crowdfund whatever initiative (e.g. road repair) you would like – using:

• decentralized identity
• wallet to hold tokens (e.g. cryptocurrency)
  
• decentralized storage
  • enhanced search features
  • detailed information about projects

Souq Works this way and it is pretty easy/straightforward:

• Install mobile application
  
• Sync with a preferred node
• Create project(s)
• Find and Fund Projects…

Media about Souq

Mobile interface coming soon

Additional Contact Information for Souq

And, we have provided the developers overview pamphlet below (screenshots and link).  The pamphlet – Souq: Decentralized Project Tagging & Funding – gives a great overview of Souq.  For more information on Souq’s pamphlet, please visit these links Souq Pamphlet. 

To help you get started with Souq (or for answers to possible questions), check out the site and the pamphlet.

The Souq pamphlet: Overview

Souq pamphlet: Setup Overview

Souq pamphlet: Full Mode (node with blockstack) Overview

Souq pamphlet: Potential Use Cases

We have not given Souq a test run at this point.  When we do, or when Souq pushes out updates to its platform, we will try and provide some information on the same.  Crowd funding initiatives decentralized via Souq and Blockstack. 

Mr. George has injected a system of transparency into the public space that will hopefully improve the overall community – locally or abroad.  Go sign up with the beta version and give it a try.

Beta version of Souq

Sign-up page (straightforward process and if you need a Blockstack id, visit this link here)

Sample screenshot of a Souq project e.g. crowd funding some road repair)

Other helpful links for more information on Blockstack include:

Blockstack – the new decentralized application platform and ecosystem for the decentralized/re-decentralized internet (dApp, dApps, blockchain, bitcoin, distributed and Web 3.0)

Blockstack’s Forum

@Blockstack

Blockstack Meetups

Souq and Cryptocracy

• Beta version sign-up

For more on All things Developer^TM, see this link here. For more on the engineering meeting at Blockstack, please visit the forum. Blockstack makes the internet you use better!^TM

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^{3.0 TM} by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar).  Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM.  A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

The post Blockstack: Souq – a new mobile dApp for voluntary associations launches appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.