3 Reasons to Give to Greenstand this Giving Season

Giving Tuesday was originally launched in 2012 as a movement with the intention to inspire people to donate to and support causes they believe in. In just seven years, Giving Tuesday has become the flag post to usher in the giving season as individuals rally together to support their communities, empower each other, and raise as much money for social good as possible. With over 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States alone, there are countless ways to give back and make a difference. Fortunately, with the help of online fundraising, giving is easier than ever before, but it is important to note that giving goes beyond just financial generosity. It can also mean volunteering and word of mouth support.

At Greenstand, Giving Tuesday and the giving season in general is symbolic of our core mission, vision and values. Through our Treetracker tech stack, we provide economic opportunities to historically disadvantaged populations, foster an open-source technology community and support environmental restoration efforts across the globe. This year, our fundraising campaign kicks off on November 30th and lasts for the next six weeks, during which we plan to share the story of Greenstand today and beyond.

The central theme for this year’s fundraising is “inclusion” – which is further broken down into three messaging pillars that speak to the reasons why Greenstand should be at the top of your list for year-end donations this giving season:

• Socioeconomic inclusion
• Open-source community & technology 
• Open data & transparency in the restoration ecosystem

In a sea of thousands of social impact organizations vying for your attention this season, Greenstand stands out because our activities provide opportunities for disadvantaged populations to attain financial liberty working in the green economy. Metaphorically speaking, this is akin to washing several birds in one bath. 

Our Treetracker tech stack allows for reforestation projects to track their planters’ work and pay them fairly for their stewardship via the “pay-to-grow” structure. Tree growers plant and care for trees, uploading new “tree capture” photos to the mobile app periodically. The Greenstand team verifies that each tree photo is valid (i.e. actually a photo of a living tree) so that the project manager can view planters’ work in our Admin Panel. Managers then pay planters accordingly and upload proof of payment to the Treetracker platform.

Because we believe that everyone should have sustainable employment options that don’t harm the planet, the full weight of our operational structure and technological applications enables everyone interested, from technical volunteers to members of some of the world’s most impoverished communities to find purpose and make a positive mark beyond their immediate environment. By pursuing lofty goals, we are meeting essential needs.

As Greenstand grows, we are able to offer more and more paid contracts to our volunteer contributors. When such opportunities become available, we seek to elevate our volunteers or hire from under-served human resource pools whenever possible, such as software developers living in low-income regions where our reforestation partners are located. We provide the necessary training and support to each contributor that helps us reforest the world.

This is why we need your support to establish a self-sustaining restoration platform that connects local communities in low- and middle-income countries with environmentally-concerned global citizens.

Another reason why our efforts deserve your attention is that Greenstand is blazing the trail in the reforestation niche by addressing the issue of technological imbalance through the deployment of open-source technology. To date, over 675 individuals around the globe have added to the Treetracker tech stack using our openly available GitHub code. Check it out if you haven’t already! 

Our digital portfolio includes the signature Treetracker application, which we have developed for any individual or organization to improvise on. We see no reason why tree tracking and verification software should be reinvented every time there is a new nonprofit or start-up in the environmental conservation space, and therefore our prime motive is common good, not selfish gain. In this case, we rise by lifting others.

By fostering community and collaboration on every step of our journey, we are setting an exemplary image of what can be achieved outside of narrow-minded interests and we hope this inspires you too.

At Greenstand, we believe data-driven decisions are central to combating environmental degradation, and so we maintain a transparent information framework that emphasizes accuracy and simplicity.

Our Treetracker platform allows for tree growers to show the periodic growth of their trees via monitoring photo updates, which helps us collect valuable data on tree survival rates and share that information in an open and transparent manner, free from error or fraudulence.

The dedication to transparency and openness has helped us maintain the highest reforestation standards in the restoration movement and when you support Greenstand you can do so in good faith, knowing that your contributions will be applied directly to the continued development of our Treetracker and to support the operations required to run the full tech stack.

In the end, the goal of developing the Treetracker platform is to connect socially- and environmentally-concerned global citizens with some of the most remote, lowest-income communities on the planet. We have built up a community of hundreds of Greenstanders like you that understand the importance of including everyone in the fight against climate change, regardless of where they come from or the resources available to them. We feel better knowing that people like you are standing shoulder to shoulder with us to make the world a greener place with technology. 

With this fundraising campaign, we seek to extend the technical capabilities of our reforestation technology to bring climate-friendly economic opportunities to rural communities around the world while keeping reforestation technology open and transparent. So, we ask - will you consider a one-time sponsorship that will enable our team to keep building the Treetracker & expand the reach of the pay-to-grow opportunities we believe in so much in 2022?

Loni Olowookere

Communications Contributor

lonisilas@yahoo.com