Beyond the “Thank You” email
We live in a world where we can track a pizza delivery in real-time, yet when we send money to save a life, it disappears into a black box.
Jelle Bets
Founder
In 2020, my mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. She was just 56.
The years that followed deeply changed me. As I watched her condition progress, a slow, painful erosion of the person I knew, I felt a growing sense of helplessness. By 2024, when she moved into a nursing home, that helplessness had transformed into an overwhelming drive. I needed to do something. I needed to contribute something meaningful to a world that suddenly felt very fragile.
With my background in blockchain and banking, my first thought was practical: I would build a community-driven charity for dementia. I imagined a place where donations were transparently managed, where families like mine could see exactly where funds went, and where impactful ideas from the community could receive support without bureaucracy getting in the way.
But as I explored this concept, I realized something profound. The pain I was feeling wasn't unique to dementia. And the opacity I encountered wasn't unique to one charity.
"We get a 'Thank You' email, and then silence. That silence is where trust goes to die."
I saw a systemic disconnect. Global philanthropy is still a $600+ billion force for good. The problem is that the infrastructure of giving is broken. It was built for a different era, one where blind trust was the only option.
Today, that model is failing. We see it in the data: declining public trust in charities. We see it in a generation of young donors who are turning away from traditional institutions because they demand to see the result, not just the receipt.
When you donate today, you are often buying a feeling of hope. But hope isn't enough. We need proof. We need to know that our empathy is actually translating into impact.
This realization birthed OpenCharities.
It started as a project for my mother, but it has grown into a vision for the world. We aren't just building a platform; we are building the infrastructure for a new kind of giving.
The charitable giving ecosystem is broken
Hundreds of billions flow through charitable giving each year. The infrastructure beneath it hasn't fundamentally changed in decades.
Opacity
Donors have almost no visibility into how donations are spent. The best they get is an annual report with aggregate numbers. No donation-level traceability, no real-time updates.
Fragmentation
Every charity has its own reporting format, its own impact claims, its own standards. There's no common framework for comparing accountability across organizations.
Exclusion
Small and local initiatives can't access institutional funding because they can't meet the reporting overhead. The system rewards scale, not impact.
By 2035, transparent giving is the default — not the exception
Every charitable donation — from a €10 individual gift to a €10M corporate allocation — flows through accountable infrastructure. Donors see where their money goes. Charities that meet the standard get funded.
For donors
Every euro is traceable from the moment you give it to the outcome it creates. Real impact, visible in real time.
For charities
Meeting the accountability standard unlocks access to a growing pool of funding. Transparency becomes a competitive advantage.
For communities
Local groups can organize, request funding, and prove impact — all within the same framework that governs corporate allocations.
Two things nobody else has together
Charity accountability frameworks exist. Blockchain donation infrastructure exists. But nobody has built them as an integrated system.
The accountability framework
What charities must adhere to, how spending is documented, how impact is tracked and made visible. Governed as a public good by an independent foundation.
The on-chain infrastructure
EUR stablecoin flows, full donation traceability, automated reporting. The technology that turns the standard from aspiration into architecture.
Separately, both exist. The innovation is building them as an integrated system where the framework defines what to prove, and the infrastructure makes proving it automatic.
The OpenCharities Foundation
An independent foundation that defines what accountability means — and allocates 100% of donations to initiatives. The only cost is the platform infrastructure fee that makes traceability possible.
Launching soon
Ready to build the future of giving?
Whether you're a company looking to transform your impact programs, or a charity ready to lead on transparency — we'd love to talk.
Ready to take control of your impact?
Let's discuss how OpenCharities can power your giving programs with full transparency and real-time tracking.