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Project Verification Process and Guidelines

Giveth is making use of project verification to review a project’s legitimacy and to reward donors to those projects via the GIVbacks program. Project owners can apply directly from their project page after signing in by clicking VERIFY YOUR PROJECT.

Verify My Project

This document serves as a guide to understanding the Project Verification process, what information is needed to apply, as well as what qualifies/disqualifies a project for participation in the GIVbacks program.

Benefits of Becoming a Verified Project​

  • Create greater legitimacy for your Project.
  • Build deeper trust and transparency with Donors.
  • Make your Project stand out.
  • Get listed as a ‘Verified Project’ on our platform and searchable by that category.
  • Become eligible for our GIVbacks program, which rewards Givers for philanthropic donations. Once your project is verified, the supporters who donate to your project will be rewarded with GIV tokens which they can use to participate in the GIVeconomy. Participation in the GIVbacks program will greatly increase the likelihood of your project receiving donations. Note that verified Project addresses will not receive GIV for donations made to their own project or other verified projects.

Qualifying Measures for Project Verification​

Are you interested in getting your project verified on Giveth? The verification process will require some additional information about a project and the intended impact of the organization.

These are the top criteria we look for when verifying any project:

  • Action and Impact: We want to see that your project has a track record of making a difference in the world. An idea cannot be verified, but what we CAN verify is action and impact!

  • Reputation: We need to know that your project has a following and support from the community. This includes having a strong social media presence, non-profit status, or someone who can vouch for your project. You should be able to show us that your project has some skin in the game.

  • Public Good: We're all about creating positive change in the world. If your project is focused on personal gain, it is not eligible for the GIVbacks program. We want to see that your project is oriented towards creating social benefit and improving some corner of the world somehow.

So, if you're ready to make a difference and meet these criteria, let's get started!

Projects must submit their application forms at least one week before the start of a round in order to qualify for that round. Once approved, its status is updated on Giveth, and it is given a Verified badge on the Homepage and on the Projects Page.

Verified badges will automatically expire after 3 months of project inactivity. Be sure to share your progress with the world by adding regular updates!

GIVbacks Rounds Schedule

Here is the information you will need to provide in the application:

  1. Your full name
  2. Your email address
  3. If your project is part of a registered non-profit organization, you will need to upload documentation to prove your registered status. Having obtained non-profit status is not a requirement, but it is helpful for the verification process.
  4. If your project is not a registered non-profit, the team will need to know how your organization is structured.
  5. Links and/or usernames to the social media accounts that are owned by both you and the organization. eg. Twitter, Github, Discord, Facebook, etc.
  6. The name of your project
  7. Information about the history of your project, e.g., when it was founded, which milestones your organization/project has achieved since conception, etc. Please provide links to photos, videos, testimonials or other evidence of your project's impact.
  8. The funds raised are expected to be used for public benefit and not for personal gain - Giveth will need to know how you will use the funds that your project raises. We are looking for detailed funding goals as well as an overall roadmap/action plan of the project.
  9. A list of all wallet addresses used for managing funds within your project.
  10. In order to ensure that you are actually a representative of the project you're applying for, we ask that you post/share a link to your Giveth project from the organization's Twitter or social media account. You will need to provide a link to the Twitter or social media post.
  11. Confirm “Yes”: We pledge that funds raised will be used for public benefit, not for personal gain.
  12. Confirm “Yes”: We understand Giveth will be analyzing all donations looking for fraud or abuse. If Giveth has any reason to suspect abuse, we understand our donors may not receive any GIVbacks and that Giveth may share any evidence of fraud publicly.
  13. Confirm “Yes”: We will only accept new, external donations through Giveth, and we understand that if we are found to be recirculating our own funds through Giveth, this will be considered abuse of the system.
  14. Confirm “Yes”: We understand our donation data will be reviewed, and if it seems like in any way we are abusing the system, our donors will not receive GIVbacks, and we will lose our verified status.
  15. Our goal is to ensure there is no fraudulent use of GIVbacks. We will need to know what reputation is at stake for you and/or your project if you were to be found participating in malicious activity. *Please provide links to proof of reputation if available.

Disqualifying Factors for the GIVbacks Program​

Once a GIVbacks round ends, there is a period of time allocated for our team to review flagged projects and donations for disqualifying factors before GIV is distributed to donors. A project could have their Verified status revoked if any of these factors are found. Donors to projects who are found with any of the following activity may also be denied GIVbacks for that round. Disqualification factors are as follows:

  1. Giving/offering goods or services to donors in exchange for their donation. A project owner cannot offer goods such as a sponsorship for a conference, Girl Scout cookie purchases or tickets for a dinner, even if the proceeds go to charity. Project owners cannot provide services like acting as a crypto exchange for their donors. They can explain how to use an exchange, but they cannot convert the money for their donors.
  2. Circulating donations raised by other means. Only “first touch” donations count for GIVbacks. If a project receives funding from a donor and is found to be circulating these donations within the Giveth platform to receive GIVbacks, they will be disqualified. For example, a project should not be sending fiat donations received elsewhere back to their donors and asking them to donate on Giveth with crypto.
  3. The funds are not being used for what is expressed in the project page or submitted verification application. Verified projects are responsible for keeping their projects up-to-date with information on how the funds are being used. If the project states explicitly that they are, for example, using the funds to develop education programs but are found to be using the funds to employ developers, they may be disqualified from the GIVbacks program.
  4. Unscrupulous or fraudulent activity. This can be the use of violence, breaking laws, or other behaviour that does not uphold the values of the Giveth community. Projects found to be violating our Terms and Conditions will not only lose their verification status, but they also will be canceled.

The Giveth Project Verification team is responsible for monitoring GIVbacks activity and the Project Verification system and will ultimately use their discretion to determine whether a project’s actions are unscrupulous and/or disqualifying.

Graduated Sanctions for flagged projects​

The activity and donation history of Verified Projects will be periodically reviewed. Verified projects that are flagged for any of the disqualifying factors above will be analyzed and discerned according to the graduated sanctions outlined here:

  • A project that has been flagged and deemed to be disqualified for the first time will be notified and their donors will not receive GIVbacks for that round and the next. They will not, however, lose their verified status immediately and will have the opportunity to make any changes necessary to keep it.
  • A project that has been flagged and deemed to be disqualified for the second time will be notified that their project has been flagged and that the donors for that round and all future rounds will not be receiving GIVbacks. Once a project has received a second flag, it will lose its Verified badge.