EnDAOment

URLs:

Github: https://github.com/fruteroclub/endaoment

Slides (Presentation): https://www.canva.com/design/DAG4Ekn2Sx0/GGycFK_OUQFAbJclEI9WpA/edit?utm_content=DAG4Ekn2Sx0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

dApp: https://endaoment-mvp.vercel.app/

Video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1KoQNvp5wfDNnf0Fn_cUSQd0feIXefjiM?usp=sharing

 Description:

ENDAOMENT is a blockchain-based platform that integrates DeFi yield strategies and smart contracts to modernize university endowment management. It enables transparent, automated generation and distribution of returns toward academic priorities such as scholarships, research funding, etc. A student-operated DAO governs part of the proceeds, allowing the university community to collectively decide how to allocate capital.

Sponsors:

Sponsor Name: Buidl Guidl

Products / Services Used: ScaffoldETH2

Sponsor Name: Fhenix

Sponsor Name: Base

Products / Services Used: MiniKit Smarcontracts & Farcaster

Challenges: 

University endowments in Latin America face structural and cultural barriers that constrain their growth and impact: 
- Private donations represent barely 0.2%–0.3% of GDP, compared with 1%–1.5% in developed economies, reflecting a limited philanthropic ecosystem.

- Low public confidence also poses a challenge, as only 27% of Latin Americans trust NGOs, reducing individual willingness to contribute.

- Additionally, institutional donors account for roughly half of total participation, often concentrating decision power and generating potential conflicts of interest.

- At the same time, universities confront a growing shortage of resources to fund research and student support, with national programs such as CNPq and Conacyt cutting their budgets by nearly 70% and 36% over the last decade.

ENDAOMENT aims to address these issues by promoting a culture of donation through transparent and decentralized governance, redistributing voting power across the academic community, and channeling more financial aid toward research, innovation, and student development.

What you learned:

Through this project, we learned that endowments are powerful tools for diversifying and stabilizing university income once a consistent funding base is established. Engaging the academic community in proposal development adds depth and relevance, ensuring that initiatives truly address real institutional needs. Traditional governance models often rely on boards of trustees detached from everyday university life, while participatory structures enhance inclusivity and alignment with stakeholders. We also understood the importance of incentives in fostering an active ecosystem: yield-based rewards can reenergize donor engagement, and voting power linked to tenure and performance can motivate students to improve academically. Ultimately, endowments represent more than a financial mechanism, they serve as long-term instruments to strengthen universities and shape a sustainable future for coming generations.

We create a MCP server any university can run their own endownment fund, so it has the potential to become an  open source tool.

What you are proud of:

We are proud to have developed a platform that connects donors directly with university causes through a transparent, incentive driven system. This model encourages continuous contributions and at the same time creates a self-sustaining cycle where donations generate additional value and greater impact on students’ lives. We are equally proud of enabling students to take part in meaningful decisions that shape their educational environment and contribute to building a stronger foundation for future generations. Finally, we successfully integrated Farcaster (Base Minikit), implementing command verification and import deployed contracts dinamically, which strengthened the project’s technical structure and user experience.

Future plans:

Add that voting rights increase progressively based on academic tenure and individual performance, granting greater decision-making influence within the DAO to members with longer study records and stronger results. Also integrate a privacy framework that ensures both transparency and data protection by disclosing donor identities while keeping contribution amounts confidential and preserving the anonymity of student voting activity.