How do we keep track of the non-profits?

[madCode]

Deepak asked me to put on my critical thinking hat and ask as many questions about the project as I can. He also asked that I make each question/concern/suggestion a separate issue on github. So here goes.

How do we keep track of and verify a non-profit? One option is to store non-profit addresses on-chain for users to see. That has two downsides: we need an update mechanism when a non-profit changes their address, and it doesn't allow for users to donate to non-profits off the blockchain. Another option is to store non-profit addresses off-chain. This requires users to trust us, which is a touch out of line with the whole "trustless" idea of blockchain.

[deepakraous]

Hmm good question @madCode , I think these are all fair points, I don't have all the answers, but let me see if we can break this down collectively:

How do we keep track of and verify a non-profit?
One option is to store non-profit addresses on-chain for users to see. That has two downsides: we need an update mechanism when a non-profit changes their address, and it doesn't allow for users to donate to non-profits off the blockchain. Another option is to store non-profit addresses off-chain. This requires users to trust us, which is a touch out of line with the whole "trustless" idea of blockchain.
A: I don't think we should, it increases the scope, How about we pick 2 charities and ensure the ones we picked have solid reputation backed in. For e.g Redcross, have a look at these articles. I also tried sending a very small amount to a charity. We simplify the whole thing, our first set of users are existing blockchainers who can donate and see their peronal message light up.

[deepakraous]

@yshuman1 would like to know your comments too and we should close this out after a Maximum discussion of say #10 for now. The idea is to come to a conclusion quickly but through a quantified consensus and let's not be that serious.

[yshuman1]

In regards to storing non profits addresses, why cant we do that in state on the contract? if an address were updated, we would take the old struct of address/nonprofit name, etc... and push it onto an array so we always have a record of it. we woudl then update the new address on whatever mapping we were using to store it. wouldnt that work?

I agree that we should use established nonprofits, preferably with wallet addresses available for us to send donations to. this would keep it simple.

If this would be expanded to handle nonprofits that dont take crypto currently, one solution would be to convert the crypto to a cashiers check take a photo and save the photos ipfs link to the blockchain along with mail tracking number. I dont think this is the proper approach and unnecessarily complicates things.

[deepakraous]

Agreed with all the points, @yshuman1 to start with can we stick with established Non-Profits for say Phase-1.