The global non-profit sector today is a multi-trillion dollar market, however the dona- tion process has several inefficiencies due to which the donors lack confidence in the systems and processes involved. Due to several players acting as middlemen, the chances of misappropriation of funds and corruption happening at various levels of the money transfer process are extremely high. Also, the systems adopted by existing chari- ties and non-profits to be audited by third party auditors, are also operationally ineffi- cient, inaccurate and contain significant chances of corruption. Due to these reasons, donors often refuse to donate to social causes even though they are passionate about making a difference in society, but find it difficult to trust the system.

Karuna seeks to be a decentralized, transparent and peer to peer social platform built on the Ethereum blockchain, for social and economic development of communities in need of aid. Karuna is a membership based platform that connects Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with donors who wish to donate to the NGOs to make a social and economic change. All transactions on the Karuna platform happen using the Karuna token, which is an ERC 20 token generated on the Ethereum platform. Karuna seeks to be a blockchain based platform where any NGO can register their organization/project to receive donations and any persons from across the globe can register to donate to a cause of that they are passionate about.

The benefits of Karuna platform over legacy systems are manifold. Since the platform is powered by the Ethereum blockchain, all transactions are transparent, all records are tamper-proof and reliable and there are few to no middlemen involved, thereby making the system cost-effective and extremely fast at the same time. The Karuna platform offers user-friendly tools that provide detailed insights into the utilization of donated funds, based on which conditional donations can be initiated in multiple stages. The system allows both the donors as well as the recipient organizations to gauge their performance and the success of their cause by following a multi-level impact model that provides all the critical needed by the community to shape the direction of various dona- tion campaigns. The platform also uses a second token called Karuna Community Token, to be used as a tool for voting on various issues related to execution of social causes and the performance of the organizations listed on the Karuna platform. It also acts as a medium of self-regulation that the community can use for an effective governing mecha- nism.

Karuna platform will follow the best practice, policies and procedures intended to ensure legal and regulatory compliance. Every member shall comply with the AML and KYC form with respect to the global standards.

The platform will generate revenue from two primary sources – by charging a minimal fee from membership and user registration and by charging a monthly fee from all donors and organizations registered on the platform, to stay subscribed to the platform.