DAOs are playgrounds for exploring design challenges in areas like governance, organizational structure, community incentives, personal sovereignty, and professional development. But even with an emphasis on exploration, creating engagement is hard; it requires an opt-in system and self-directed members who are accountable and striving to level up.

I explore participatory fundraising models through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). There have been some stunning examples of rapid fundraising through DAOs, and while t’s still unclear how DAO-based, participatory funding campaigns can be applied to the social sector, they do represent a new era of crowdfunding.