Peace of Heart is a charitable NFT collection supporting Ukraine and its citizens. It is composed of digitized artwork created by young children directly affected by the Russian invasion. We previously wrote about it in our interview with Polish Humanitarian Action, the charity behind the project. Today, we speak to Maciej Lissowski, a member of the Senior Management Team at indaHash, the tech partner with whom the charity was matched. Maciej tells us about his personal connection to the project, and the idea that led to its inception.
Welcome Maciej. Could you begin by introducing us to indaHash?
Of course. indaHash started out as an influencer marketing company, but has grown to be much more than that. Today, it’s essentially the biggest community of creators, with a presence in more than eighty countries. We provide data driven campaigns and tech as SaaS for clients to deliver the best possible influencer campaigns, advanced marketing tools and market expertise, enabling them to set up fully customized, influencer-led campaigns. We’ve also built extensive reporting tools to allow them to track their influence and see what works.
We collaborate with a majority of Fortune500 brands from all over the world, including Nescafe, Samsung, KFC, Milka, Lipton and Starbucks, to name just a few. We have offices in London, Dusseldorf, Warsaw, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Dubai.
And this expansion isn’t just geographical, right?
Exactly. We’re also broadening our scope in terms of the fields that we cover. Most recently we’ve delved into NFTs. NFTs obviously originate from the worlds of blockchain and crypto, but we feel that there is huge potential for using them as a communication tool. There are many examples of big brands already putting them to use to reach brand new audiences. Many companies use a vast range of promotional channels and NFTs are a great way of bringing these channels together through loyalty programs or promotional campaigns. This is why we developed the indaStars NFT platform for the convenience of clients, influencers and other social media users to ease the steps into this area for commercial, entertainment and pure joy purposes. (Come and try: indastars.com). We also realize that NFTs can be perfect for charitable work, and there are some organizations already using them in this way.
Could you tell us about how you found out about Tech To The Rescue? And what persuaded you to join?
We’ve always been a socially-conscious company, and for some time now we’ve been observing your success. That’s why we decided that it would be great to get involved, as we believed that we could add some value with our experience.
Brilliant. And you were matched with Polish Humanitarian Action to work on a very unique solution. Where did the idea for it come from?
It actually didn’t come from us. The originator of the idea was a seven year-old Ukranian relative of mine called Iwanko, who is a little artist. In peace time he was always drawing, but when the war started, his artwork took on a new meaning. He’s always been telling his sister about how sad he was that as a seven year old, he couldn’t do much to help Ukraine and the people who were suffering. At indaHash, we were discussing various forms of help when the Russian invasion began, and we realized that an NFT project might potentially be a very good choice. We knew that in Ukraine, the government and the army had actually already started fundraising in crypto. It has the benefit of being easy to cash in, and it reaches a whole new demographic of beneficiaries.
Polish Humanitarian Action was a perfect partner for us, because it was a credible, well-established organization which had already been supporting people in the Donbas region for a number of years.
And what happened next? How was Peace of Heart developed?
Peace of Heart is an NFT marketplace, featuring drawings from several child artists based in the war-torn regions of Ukraine. They were scanned in and sent to us so that we could create NFTs from them, with the originals being safely stored. All proceeds go to Polish Humanitarian Action, which works to support Ukrainians in need. We had to explain to their team how this project would work, because they were completely new to NFTs. But they got onboard very quickly.
How many people on your side were involved in Peace of Heart and how long did it take?
The whole project (from inception to the launch of the completed website) took only a week. We had experts on our side working on it, but also partner organizations including Ashoka.
What do you think will happen next with the project? Are there any plans in place?
We know that support of this kind is not a sprint, but a marathon. Regardless of the course that this war takes, we know that its effects will be felt for a long time, not just by the people who remain in Ukraine, but also the refugees. This is why I think a project such as this can provide an effective means of long term support, and can also reach a new, younger and more digitally-savvy group of donors.
We really hope that we will encourage other partner organizations to support Peace of Heart, and that we’ll continue to attract new donors. We also believe that our tokens can offer companies a chance to be charitable in new ways, and that thanks to royalties, we’ll be able to multiply the impact of sales. If this collection is a success, we would also like to create others in the future.
What else do you think can be done to encourage other companies to embrace NFTs as a new form of charitable giving?
I think it’s all about the learning and adaptation process, and this takes time, especially in bigger organizations. The world of NFTs is still very new and filled with possibilities. But it’s important to set your goals and to understand what you want to achieve within it. We’re all pioneers in this field.
Any final thoughts?
I just wanted to add that this project is very important to me personally because the idea originated from Iwanko, and I’m very proud that we managed to bring it to life.
Thank you very much Maciej, and we wish you every success.
Show your support to Ukraine by donating to the Peace of Heart fundraiser, and learn more about Polish Humanitarian Action’s important humanitarian work across the globe
