April 4th Update
Published on April 4, 2023 by Rudy Fraser
Hello Community,
It's been a while since the last update and I hope you're doing well! There are a few major updates to share.
First up is the new Papertree web app! I've been developing this with Papertree's non-profit partner GatherFor and their neighbors over the last few months and it's now ready to work with the Central Brooklyn Fund.
Some major improvements of the new site:
It's been a while since the last update and I hope you're doing well! There are a few major updates to share.
First up is the new Papertree web app! I've been developing this with Papertree's non-profit partner GatherFor and their neighbors over the last few months and it's now ready to work with the Central Brooklyn Fund.
Some major improvements of the new site:
- Easier to request funds: When requesting funds previously community members needed to go through 3 pages of fields and it was very confusing. Now, all the information needed for requesting funds is all in one page. It also wasn't clear how you could get paid out. Now you're able to easily select from Cash App, Paypal, ACH, or Crypto.
You'll need an account on the new site to submit requests so be sure to sign up if you haven't already.
- Anyone can approve requests: Previously I was the only person who could approve requests to the Central Brooklyn fund. This created lots of administrative work on the backend, sometimes delays, and I believe created a power dynamic in managing the Central Brooklyn Fund (i.e. I chose what got approved or rejected). Now, any member of the Papertree community can approve or deny requests. At least 3 votes of approval are needed before a request can be processed (the person who submitted the request automatically counts as 1 vote).
This could also open the community up to approving non-grocery requests as long as funds are available and are in the spirit of support neighbors.
- Add Funds in Papertree: Previously you needed to go to Open Collective (a partner tool used to store data and send these community updates among other things) to add funds to Papertree. Now you can do so directly in the new Papertree site
- Updates to the homepage: You may have noticed some updates to the main Papertree homepage (https://papertree.earth/). Papertree is now available for any community to use to collaborate around a shared pool of funds, whether that's in crypto or fiat -- whether you're a non-profit or a mutual aid group. While most of the homepage describes how Papertree can be used by those groups, you can always click the "Use Funds" button or the "Central Brooklyn Fund" link to get direct access to add or request funds.
Finally, as mentioned above, Papertree is hoping to grow by working with groups that want to use the Papertree software for themselves. Going forward, there will no longer be a 10% fee on contributions made to the Central Brooklyn Fund. All of Papertree's revenue will come from partners, fundraising, and direct donations to the project itself. All of your contributions will go directly to neighbors (minus payment processor fees).
More updates are on the way so stay tuned, but until then take care.
Best,
More updates are on the way so stay tuned, but until then take care.
Best,