Cross-border beneficiary payments
Send money to the people you serve in another country with fewer banks and agents in between, so more of each payment reaches them and it arrives sooner.
Use cases
145 uses of blockchain that NGOs have asked about.
Each entry says in one sentence what the use is for. Choose one to check it against your own situation: a few questions, then an answer that is often no. To see who has tried each one, read the case studies.
Financial operations
Staff salary payments across jurisdictions
Pay staff in several countries on time and at lower cost, without delays from banks or compliance holds along the way.
Vendor and supplier payments in remote locations
Pay suppliers in remote places without relying on cash or long chains of banks and agents, so they receive usable money quickly.
Inter-office fund transfers across country programmes
Move money between your country offices faster, and give both offices one agreed record that each transfer is complete.
Emergency rapid-disbursement payments
Get cash to affected people within hours of an emergency decision, even when they are spread out and few banks are working.
Multi-currency treasury management
Hold and move funds in several currencies with less manual reconciling, and keep a clear view of your position in each currency.
Donor fund reconciliation and tracking
Match each donor's contribution to how it was spent, with less manual work, so every donor sees figures that agree with yours.
Real-time financial reporting across programmes
Bring the financial records of every country programme into one report that stays current, so you do not wait for month-end consolidation.
Automated compliance reporting to donors
Check spending against each donor's grant conditions as it happens, and produce the compliance report from that record instead of building it by hand.
Petty cash and field office expense management
Track small cash spending in field offices in one shared record, so receipts and balances match without long reconciliation.
Procurement process transparency and audit trails
Keep a record of each purchasing decision, from choosing the vendor to final approval, that cannot be changed later and that auditors can check themselves.
Smart contract-based vendor payment terms
Pay vendors automatically once the agreed delivery conditions are met, so disputes over whether a milestone was reached happen less often.
Multi-party approval workflows across time zones
Let approvers in different time zones sign off one payment, each seeing the same information, without waiting for everyone to be online together.
Restricted vs unrestricted fund segregation and tracking
Keep each donor's restricted funds apart from general funds, and show at any time that money was spent only for its agreed purpose.
Multi-year grant milestone-based disbursement automation
Release each grant instalment once the agreed milestone is confirmed, so funding does not stall while someone checks the evidence.
Sub-grantee fund disbursement and tracking
See whether money passed to a partner reaches the sub-grantees and people it was meant for, and not only the first recipient.
Proof of funds deployment (donor accountability)
Give donors evidence that funds were spent as stated, in a form they can check without relying only on your own reports.
Real-time expenditure tracking for donors
Let donors see spending as it happens, rather than waiting for a quarterly report, with figures taken directly from field and payment records.
Microfinance and lending to underbanked beneficiaries
Offer small loans to people who cannot use ordinary banks, and keep repayment records that every lender involved can rely on.
Savings group management and record-keeping
Keep the savings and loan records of community savings groups in one shared record, so members and facilitators do not end up with different figures.
Forecast-based financing (anticipatory action)
Release funds automatically when a forecast passes an agreed warning level, so help reaches people before a flood or drought hits.
Parametric insurance for beneficiaries
Pay out insurance to beneficiaries automatically when a measured event, such as low rainfall or a flood level, is reached, with no claims process.
Community currencies and complementary currency systems
Set up a local payment system that keeps spending inside a community, for places where cash is scarce or the local economy is weak.
Currency hedging and stability (stablecoin alternatives)
Protect the value of your funds where the local currency is losing value or hard to exchange, and ordinary protection is not available.
Insurance for field staff and organisational assets
Pay claims for staff and equipment faster, based on agreed evidence, where commercial insurers serve fragile or conflict-affected areas poorly.
Zakat and interest-free loan (qard hasan) distribution transparency
Record zakat (religious giving) and qard hasan (interest-free loan) payments to eligible recipients so donors and religious supervisors can check them, without revealing who received them.
Identity and credentials
Beneficiary registration (refugees, stateless, undocumented)
Register each person once and let every programme and partner recognise the same record, so nobody is counted twice or left without an identity.
Birth registration for children born in displacement
Record the births of children born in displacement and give families a certificate that services and authorities in other places will accept.
Death registration and inheritance documentation
Keep a reliable record of deaths, so widows and orphans can claim benefits and inheritance without waiting for disputed paperwork to be settled.
Marriage and family status documentation
Record marriages and family relationships in a way that other organisations and countries accept, so families can claim household and spousal benefits.
Portable service history across borders and organisations
Let a person carry their record of help received from one country or organisation to the next, so they do not have to prove it again.
Staff credential verification across jurisdictions
Let staff prove their qualifications in each country where they work, and let employers check them quickly instead of writing to the issuing body.
Volunteer identity and background verification
Check a volunteer's identity and background once, and let your other sites and partners accept the result, so checks are not repeated.
Health worker and teacher certification verification
Confirm that a health worker's or teacher's licence is genuine and current, without a slow exchange with the licensing body each time.
Implementing partner staff verification
Check the identity and qualifications of partner staff and subcontractors once, in a form that you and your other partners can rely on.
Educational credentials for displaced students
Give displaced students proof of what they have studied that schools and universities will accept, even when their original papers were lost.
Vocational training certificates
Issue training certificates that employers can confirm are genuine within seconds, so participants' skills are recognised when they apply for work.
Skills attestation and competency verification
Record the skills a participant has shown, and let employers confirm that the record came from a credible assessment.
Community governance participation eligibility
Show who is eligible to take part in a community decision, so results are less likely to be disputed, without exposing members' personal details.
Consent records and data sharing permissions
Keep a record of what each person agreed to share and with whom, so partners can see the permission and the person can change it.
Age verification for child protection programmes
Confirm that a child meets an age requirement without storing or sharing more about the child than needed, and keep the answer consistent across programmes.
Cross-agency credential portability for humanitarian workforce
Let humanitarian staff carry verified qualifications between agencies, so a secondment or surge deployment does not mean every credential is checked again.
Farmer cooperative registry and member digital ID
Give each cooperative member a verified record of membership and contributions that buyers and lenders can check without paper logs.
Data management and privacy
Medical records (private but verifiable)
Let a clinic share a patient's records with another provider who can confirm they are genuine and unchanged, while the patient controls which parts are seen.
Vaccination history and immunisation records
Keep vaccination records that follow a person between clinics and countries, and that health workers can confirm are genuine without seeing the whole medical file.
Mental health and psychosocial support records
Keep counselling and support records private, with the person deciding which providers see which sessions, so fear of exposure does not stop them seeking help.
Gender-based violence and protection case data
Protect survivors' case files so that only the people a survivor approves can see them, with a trustworthy record of who looked and when.
Beneficiary deduplication across programmes and organisations
Find out whether a person is already registered with another programme or agency without sharing their full details, so aid is not given twice.
Impact data integrity and verification
Make reported results, such as people served or outcomes reached, hard to change after the fact and easy for donors and auditors to check.
Consent management and audit trails
Record what each person agreed to, when and in what form, so you can prove it later and apply any change they make across every system.
Inter-agency data sharing without centralisation
Let several agencies share beneficiary data with each other without any one agency holding everything, and without one agency having to trust another.
Referral pathway tracking across service providers
Follow a referral from the first service to the next provider, so you can see whether the person arrived and received the help they needed.
Audit trail maintenance for compliance
Keep logs of who accessed or changed data in a form that nobody inside the organisation can alter or delete, so auditors can rely on them.
Research data with beneficiary privacy protection
Let researchers check that programme data has not been manipulated without seeing who the people are, and let participants withdraw their consent.
Beneficiary feedback data integrity
Keep feedback from the people you serve in a form that staff and management cannot quietly change, so donors and evaluators can trust what was said.
Needs assessment data integrity
Keep needs assessment results in a form that cannot be changed unnoticed, so donors and partners can trust the figures used to target aid.
Whistleblower and reporting channel integrity
Show that reports sent through your whistleblowing channel are not lost, delayed or altered, so people trust it enough to use it.
Livestock traceability for pastoralists
Keep a record of each animal's vaccinations and movements that buyers and border officials accept, so herders can sell across borders.
Seed system integrity
Let farmers check that seed is genuine and certified, so counterfeit or wrongly labelled seed does not reach them.
Supply chain and logistics
Medicine authenticity verification (anti-counterfeiting)
Let clinics and distributors check that a medicine is genuine and came from the stated manufacturer, to keep counterfeit or substandard stock out of the supply chain.
Cold chain monitoring for vaccines and medicines
Record temperatures from the factory to the clinic, so you know quickly whether vaccines or medicines were spoiled and which batches to discard.
Nutrition supplement tracking
Follow nutrition supplements from warehouse to clinic, so you can compare what was sent with what arrived and check that quality was kept.
Food aid tracking from source to beneficiary
Follow food aid from its source to the household that receives it, so you can see where food goes missing along the way.
Donated goods provenance verification
Show where donated goods came from, so donors can see they came from the stated source and you can turn away goods of doubtful origin.
In-kind donation tracking and valuation
Record gifts of goods from donor to beneficiary and agree their value with the donor, so there are fewer disputes over what was given.
Shelter materials and non-food item tracking
Count shelter materials and household items out of the warehouse and into the hands of families, to spot diversion or losses early.
Water, sanitation and hygiene supplies verification
Follow water, sanitation and hygiene supplies from manufacturer to community, so you can catch substandard or contaminated items before they are used.
Equipment and asset lifecycle tracking
Keep one record for each piece of equipment showing where it is and how it has been maintained, even as it moves between sites.
Fleet and vehicle management
Keep one shared record of each vehicle's fuel use and repairs, so the people who drive vehicles and the people who maintain them work from the same figures.
Last-mile delivery verification
Confirm that goods reached the intended person, with proof that is hard to fake, rather than relying only on signed paper receipts.
Local procurement verification
Record what was bought locally and from whom, so each purchase can be followed from vendor selection to the final recipient.
Warehouse inventory management
Keep stock records across several warehouses in step with each other, so counts agree without manual checking.
Expiry tracking and waste reduction
Track expiry dates across storage sites, so items are used or redistributed before they expire and you know what happened to any that did.
Smallholder farmer market access and fair trade verification
Help small farmers show where and how their produce was grown, so they can reach buyers and earn fair prices with fewer middlemen.
Aid diversion detection and prevention
Spot and trace aid that goes missing between the warehouse and the beneficiary, and identify at which point in the chain it was lost.
Beneficiary receipt confirmation (proof of delivery)
Record that a named person received what was meant for them, in a form donors accept as proof before they release the next payment.
Conflict mineral and material tracking
Trace materials back to their source, so donors and regulators can see they did not come from a conflict zone or a banned supplier.
Customs and import documentation
Keep import and customs paperwork in one record that all parties can check has not been altered, to reduce delays and disputes at the border.
Ethical sourcing verification
Check that suppliers meet your ethical sourcing rules, and keep the evidence in a record that donors and auditors can inspect.
Food safety and quality tracking
Track the safety and quality checks on food aid from production to distribution, so contaminated or poor-quality food is found before it reaches people.
Pooled humanitarian commodity claims and replenishment (UN humanitarian response depots, World Food Programme hubs)
Record claims on, and refills of, shared humanitarian stockpiles, so each agency can see what it drew and what it owes.
Food voucher tokenisation
Give families vouchers that can only be spent on eligible food at approved vendors, and settle vendors' claims without manual reconciliation.
Governance and coordination
Voting and decision-making for consortia
Run votes and group decisions across partners and locations with a count that everyone can check, so results are not disputed.
Community-based targeting verification
Keep a record of how communities chose who receives help, so the choices can be checked and cannot be altered under pressure.
Grant allocation across multiple partners
Show how a shared fund was divided among partners and when each received its share, so partners can see the process was fair.
Programme outcome verification
Keep what partners report about results exactly as first submitted, so inflated or later-edited figures can be spotted.
Whistleblower protection mechanisms
Let staff and community members report concerns without revealing who they are, with a record that nobody can quietly alter or delete.
Cross-NGO beneficiary coordination (avoiding gaps and overlaps)
Let organisations see who is already receiving help from whom, so people are not assisted twice or missed, without exposing personal details.
Cluster coordination record-keeping
Keep the decisions and actions from coordination meetings in a record that cannot be edited afterwards, so everyone agrees on what was decided.
Beneficiary feedback and complaints mechanisms
Give people a way to raise complaints and see that they were received and acted on, with a record that cannot be lost or changed.
Local partner capacity verification
Check and record the qualifications and training of local partners, so you can confirm their claims instead of relying on documents alone.
Consortium fund allocation tracking
Record how consortium funds were allocated and passed to implementing partners, so members can compare actual use with the agreed plan.
Inter-agency coordination records
Give agencies one shared record of who is doing what in an operation, so aid is not duplicated and no agency has to hand over its data.
Digital public goods infrastructure
Build shared systems that several independent organisations can use and rely on, without any one organisation controlling them.
Board decision recording and verification
Keep a record of board decisions and who approved them that cannot be changed later, for trustees in different countries and for auditors.
Policy version control and attestation
Keep every version of each policy and record who confirmed they have read the current one, so you can show donors that staff are up to date.
Conflict of interest declaration management
Record conflict of interest declarations from trustees and decision-makers with dates, and keep them private where needed but available to auditors.
Standards compliance and accreditation certification
Keep a record of your standards certifications and their expiry dates that donors can check themselves, so a lapse does not interrupt funding.
Shared implementing-partner due diligence and sanctions screening
Let agencies in a consortium share the results of partner checks and sanctions screening, so each partner is vetted once instead of by every agency.
Anticipatory action trigger proof
Show that the agreed trigger for early funding, such as a rainfall level, was reached, with a record that partners and funders can check.
Fundraising and donor relations
Transparent fund flow tracking
Show donors the path their money took, from the first deposit to the final beneficiary, without staff compiling the figures by hand.
Fractional and micro-donation enabling
Let many small gifts be pooled to cut payment fees, while each donor can still see what their share paid for.
Cryptocurrency and digital asset donations
Accept donations made in cryptocurrency, and record when and at what rate each one was changed into ordinary money.
Impact verification tied to specific donations
Link each donor's gift to the results it helped achieve, and let the donor check those results for themselves.
Automated donor reporting
Produce donor reports on spending and results directly from your records, so staff spend less time compiling them each quarter.
Crowdfunding with built-in accountability
Run crowdfunding campaigns where money is released as milestones are met, and backers can follow how their gift was used.
Corporate giving with verified impact metrics
Track corporate gifts against the company's own giving goals, and report the verified results back to each company.
Recurring donation automation
Collect regular donations automatically and keep a running total for each donor, applying your screening rules to every gift.
Donor-advised fund integration
Receive gifts that come through donor-advised funds, and show the fund sponsor and the donor how the money was used.
Gift matching verification
Confirm that a matching gift promised by a company or individual was actually paid, and let everyone involved see the same record.
Donor identity verification for anti-money laundering compliance
Check donors' identities once and give regulators and partners proof of the result, without passing on the underlying personal details.
Pooled fund disbursement tracking (UN-managed funds)
Track money from UN pooled funds and similar pooled grants down to the final recipients, so you can meet donor audit requirements.
Resilience and risk management
Early warning systems with automated fund release triggers
Release funds automatically when an early warning reaches an agreed level, so money is in place before the crisis arrives.
Disaster response fund pre-positioning
Set funds aside before a disaster so they are released as soon as one is declared, without waiting for fresh approvals.
Anticipatory action fund release mechanisms
Release funds before a crisis occurs, based on forecasts, and let funders and implementers check that the agreed trigger was really met.
Climate adaptation financing
Track climate adaptation funding from donor to project, with results that funders can check for themselves rather than taking your reports on trust.
Conflict-sensitive resource allocation
Record how resources were shared among groups in conflict areas, and show that each decision was made to avoid doing harm.
Evidence preservation for human rights documentation
Keep records of human rights violations in a form that cannot be altered, with a clear account of who handled them, so they can serve as evidence.
Atrocity documentation with chain of custody
Document atrocities with a secure record of who held the evidence at each step, so it can be relied on in court or by truth commissions.
Witness testimony timestamping
Fix the date and time of each witness statement, so that nobody can later change it or claim it was made at another time.
Displacement tracking and verification
Keep checked records of where displaced people came from and where they went, shared safely across the organisations helping them.
Land, property and natural resources
Land registry and title documentation (post-conflict/disaster)
Create or rebuild land registers in areas hit by conflict or disaster, so people can show that they own their land.
Property rights documentation for displaced populations
Record and check property claims made by displaced people, without exposing where they are now to the authorities they fled.
Housing, land, and property (HLP) claims tracking
Follow each housing, land and property claim through checking and decision, so every organisation involved sees the same status and evidence.
Customary land rights documentation
Record customary land rights in a way that respects traditional leaders and that the community, the government and outside bodies can all check.
Natural resource extraction tracking
Track how much is extracted from natural resources, and where, so communities and regulators can compare it with company reports.
Community benefit sharing from resources
Calculate and record the share of resource income owed to affected communities, so members can check that each payment was correct.
Water rights management
Allocate water between farms and towns by agreed rules, so everyone can see who received what during a shortage.
Fishing rights and marine resource access
Manage fishing licences and catch records so that communities with traditional fishing rights and government agencies work from the same figures.
Energy and environment
Renewable energy certificate tracking and trading
Issue and trade renewable energy certificates so buyers can be sure each one is backed by real generation and has not been sold twice.
Carbon credit registry and marketplace
Keep one trusted list of carbon credits and who owns them, so buyers can see that no credit has been sold twice.
Green energy provenance for climate finance
Show that a green energy project needed the funding and has not been paid for twice, without revealing sensitive project details.
Environmental monitoring data integrity
Make sure environmental readings from many sensors cannot be changed after the fact, and spot gaps that suggest a fault or tampering.
Circular economy and waste tracking
Follow waste from collection through recycling to reuse, so each party can check the quantities and types reported at every stage.
Reforestation verification
Check that planted trees exist and are surviving, using satellite images and visits on the ground, so funders can trust the results.
Biodiversity conservation tracking
Record wildlife and plant observations from field surveys and cameras, so conservation managers can trust the data and spot false or duplicate reports.
Clean cookstove distribution and usage verification
Track where clean cookstoves were delivered and whether households really use them, so you can measure the effect of the programme.
Co-financed measurement and verification registry (multi-funder climate and conservation programmes)
Keep one shared record of results from climate and conservation programmes with several funders, so each funder sees its share and no result is counted twice.
Workforce and operations
Volunteer management and hour tracking
Record volunteer hours and activities in a way that volunteers and managers both accept, so credit goes to the right people.
Staff deployment records across locations
Keep reliable records of where staff are deployed across field locations, so headquarters and field offices hold the same information.
Training completion records
Keep training records that staff can carry with them and show to a new employer or partner, without you verifying them each time.
Safeguarding training verification
Confirm that staff completed safeguarding training and passed any assessment, in a form that employers and funders can check.
Security clearance and access management
Manage who is cleared to enter which sites and systems, and keep a record of every access decision that cannot be changed.
Duty of care / staff location tracking in emergencies
Track where staff are during an emergency, and raise an alert automatically when someone has not checked in.
Contractor and consultant verification
Check contractors' and consultants' qualifications and track record, including problems known to other organisations, before you engage them.