Partnership formed to help track how water project donations to Western Kenya are utilised

Factom and BitPesa have partnered with nonprofits, the BitGive Foundation and The Water Project. As a pilot project, they are using Factom tech and the blockchain to create radical transparency in how donor funds are being used to maintain water projects built in western Kenya through The Water Project.

The pilot software will work by integrating Factom’s blockchain backend into the multiple parties’ existing systems. Starting from the beginning, when BitGive and The Water Project collect donor funds, they will record and track them through Factom. Factom will build a Factom data chain that links those particular funds to their designated project.

“On behalf of Plug and Play, we are very excited to see how technology will impact the elements of transparency that can apply beyond the domains of NGOs and nonprofits.  BitGive, Factom, BitPesa and The Water Project aim to ensure integrity in the donation process, and we are incredibly humbled to have the opportunity to help,” said Scott Robinson, Founder & Director of Plug and Play Fintech.

When BitGive and The Water Project transfer funds via BitPesa to help maintain the water projects, Factom will log those transactions and link them to their appropriate Factom chain.

Each step is linked, and Factom creates an unbreakable record of it. Their system allows anyone to unequivocally track the flow of transactions from the beginning to the end. In the case of the water projects in Kenya, they will be tracking several currency conversions across several continents.

“The blockchain and Bitcoin present an incredible opportunity to dramatically lower our costs to transmit money to countries like Kenya,” says The Water Project’s President Peter Chasse. “At the same time, it can also enable a shift to real-time, end-to-end transparency into how nonprofits like ours put donations to good use.”

BitPesa is covering the “last mile” in the donation flow. They handle the transfer of funds from the US to Africa. BitPesa converts bitcoin to local currency that is then disbursed via mobile money or direct to a local bank account.

Mobile Money is widely used in Kenya and works even on feature phones. BitPesa settles customer transactions in real-time for one-third the cost of other payment methods.

“BitPesa is always happy to work with companies, nonprofits and individuals dedicated to efficient and transparent operations. The cost of fraud and inefficient spending of funds is real, so direct payment and transfer methods that track spending and use from end-to-end are a great solution. We are excited to work with the nonprofits in this project and continue to show the ease and efficiency of digital currency transfers to emerging markets,” Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and Co-Founder of BitPesa.

Connecting donors to the direct outcome of their generosity while providing transparency is a giant leap ahead in the nonprofit world and offers tremendous opportunity for disaster relief efforts as well as programs delivering support on a regular basis.

“We are tackling a difficult problem with a lot of moving parts. It was possible in the past to sort out the flow of money, but the reality was that you could not trust the data. It is only now possible through the blockchain to record and timestamp that data without the possibility of going back later and changing it without anyone knowing. We can’t stop individuals from misusing funds, but now we can easily tell who did and when. We are bringing some clarity and honesty to where funds go. We hope to apply this new technology to more complex cash management and identity problems that we face,” Peter Kirby, President of the Factom Foundation.