Rootable Grant Report January 2021

Project update

So far we’ve explored various nonprofit funding models to understand how various funding events and processes can be adapted to fit with the affordances of current Web Monetization infrastructure. The following questions are areas that challenge our team as we explore the space and limitations of the nonprofit sector.

Challenges

How can we adapt traditional nonprofit funding models to Web Monetization?

Traditional non-profit funding models focus the relationship between the organization and their funders. We are investigating how different funding models might fit into the Web Monetization structure, and trying to figure out which types of models will benefit most from including Web Monetization as a funding stream. We think that some types of organizations will benefit from incorporating Web Monetization more than others, but are still researching the details of what makes microtransactions a good fit for a non-profit funding model and how organizations might incentivize web traffic that results in micro-transactions.

How can we educate nonprofits in a way that is useful for them to consider Web Monetization funding models without being overly technical?

Web Monetization, while relatively simple to incorporate into a website, requires an understanding of technical concepts like APIs, ledgers, and protocols. In order to help community organizations decide whether to incorporate this model into their funding scheme, we face the challenge of sharing the structure and benefits of Web Monetization without losing our audience in technical details.

How can Web Monetization cater to different audiences/stakeholders associated with nonprofits?

Nonprofit organizations are connected to a wide range of audiences. From members to donors, community members to the government, a part of our challenge consists of exploring how and whether these stakeholders would participate in micro-transactions to fund their favorite community organizations.

Next steps

Next, we are going to continue learning about ILP, Coil, and the alternatives in development. We are prepared for the possibility that non-profit organizations may need to use an alternative model to the one employed by Coil in managing wallets and micro-transactions. We are currently trying to decide the scope of the infrastructure we will build for community organizations to access Web Monetization as a funding stream.

In order to get an idea of how Web Monetization fits into traditional funding models for community non-profit organizations, we are working within FRA and Rootable to understand the limitations of the current infrastructure for Web Monetization and the ways that it can be improved for this demographic. That way, if building a Coil alternative becomes a part of our project, we will have identified the design goals and challenges before undertaking the build.

Report by Casey Hunt and aarjav Chauhan