How Kimball Musk reimagined charity through Web 3 and decentralization

Kimbal Musk is an entrepreneur whose career began at the dawn of the internet and now reaches the frontier of blockchain technology. His journey from creating Zip2 in the 1990s to launching Big Green DAO in 2021 reflects a deep understanding of how innovative technologies can reshape traditional power structures—especially in philanthropy. While in the internet age he helped digitize information, he is now rethinking the very logic of distributing charitable funds.

From Digital Revolution to Decentralized Grant Management

At age 22, Kimbal and his brother Elon created Zip2—a kind of digital embodiment of a traditional directory. The idea was simple but radical: transfer information from paper to the internet. The project was met with skepticism: a skeptic threw a copy of the paper Yellow Pages at Musk with the words: “Do you really think this will ever be replaced?” Musk was stunned but silent. He knew: the $10-billion directory industry would disappear.

28 years later, Musk heard similar skepticism, but now about blockchain. This analogy became a key for him: “Blockchain is where the internet was in the early 1990s.” The phrase became a cliché in crypto circles, but few dared to rely on it. Musk decided to. He wanted to “be the best old person in the revolution,” considering his age—he was the same age as the skeptic with the paper directory.

Trauma That Changed the Mission

2010 was a turning point. During a pipe accident, Musk landed on his head at 35 miles per hour. Blood entered his spine, paralyzing him for several days. During recovery, he heard a voice—as he told ETHDenver journalists, it was a message: “work with children and introduce them to real food.”

Musk listened. He founded Big Green, a nonprofit that built school gardens in 650 schools nationwide, engaging 350,000 children daily in growing food. “Growing food changes lives,” Musk explained. “It improves food security, mental health, connects people with nature, and opens their eyes to climate change.”

His connection to food was deep: a restaurant chain in Colorado, co-founding a city farming group in Brooklyn, culinary education. In his free time, he also serves on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX, his brother’s companies.

COVID-19 as a Catalyst for Reimagining

The pandemic interrupted Learning Gardens. But instead of despair, Musk saw an opportunity. He became interested in decentralized autonomous organizations—DAOs. His intuition suggested an idea: if frontline workers of nonprofits know the ecosystem best, they should be the ones making decisions about fund allocation.

In fall 2021, Big Green DAO was born. The structure was revolutionary: Musk invested $1 million of his own funds as a “bet on the game.” Donors selected six reputable nonprofits, each receiving $50,000. Then these organizations voted on the next round of funding. The cycle was repeated quarterly with increasing volumes.

Within a few quarters, the project raised $6.5 million. Over 1,700 people became participants. From the original 6 organizations, DAO grew to 16 members, with potential to expand to 50. Most were organizations focused on food justice. Together with donors, they voted on fund distribution.

Voting Mechanics: How the Revolutionary System Works

Expectations did not match reality—in a positive way. Musk anticipated a few major donors. Instead, thousands of small contributions arrived. The average donation was $900. The minimum to vote was 1 ETH, but joining Discord and participating was possible even with $0.01.

Nonprofits showed unprecedented activity. For the first time, they gained real power. But importantly: they do not vote on their own funding, only on others’. Each quarter, organizations are required to allocate at least 20% and up to 30% of the treasury among other nonprofit partners.

In the first quarter, they donated $300,000 to ten organizations. Then they expanded DAO to 16 members. When available donor funds reached $2.9 million, the treasury grew to $900,000 for distribution.

Effectiveness Versus Traditional Charity

The traditional grant system consumes resources. Usually:

• Funds spend up to 15% of resources on staff processing grants
• Nonprofits spend 25% of their time on fundraising

Result: if a fund distributes $100 million annually, no more than 65% of that amount is actually spent on the ground.

Big Green DAO operates differently. Overhead costs are only 5%. That means 95% of the money goes directly to work. Efficiency increases by nearly one and a half times from the start.

But the main advantage is psychological. Fundraising causes emotional exhaustion in nonprofits. A traditional grant requires a full application. In Big Green DAO, a couple of proposals on Snapshot and links to a website or Instagram suffice. One can join the DAO simply by knowing a member. Relationships become a priority, not administrative burden. Funding becomes a community act.

Where DAOs Truly Work

Musk carefully analyzes the application of decentralized systems. DAOs are not universal. For example, managing Tesla as a DAO would be inappropriate—the supply chain requires a centralized hierarchy. But where are DAOs truly effective?

Food Justice. The story of Vandy from Atlanta is illustrative. She fought for years with the city to place farms on parking lots in Black neighborhoods of South Atlanta—while White areas allowed it. DAO gave her voice and resources.

Forestry. Another DAO works on reducing deforestation worldwide. The traditional approach: pay someone not to destroy land, but you don’t know if they follow through. Decentralized accountability solves this problem.

Police Reform. When police reform occurs in cities like Atlanta, the northern and southern parts need different approaches. DAO allows considering local perspectives of each community.

Power Management: How Musk Designed the Counterbalance

Musk’s most critical lesson—understanding governance. Many DAO projects are not truly DAOs. There’s one person with seven million votes and 5,000 votes for others. That’s not decentralization—it’s an illusion.

Musk studied the American Constitution. Its genius is in the separation of powers. He applied this principle to Big Green DAO. The simple rule: no matter how much you donate, you get ONE vote. $1 million = one vote. $1 million = one vote, just like a nonprofit.

Musk doesn’t even vote himself, despite having invested everything. “I wanted nonprofits to govern,” he explained. He dedicated 10,000 hours of his time to governance to ensure no player accumulates disproportionate power.

Recently, the DAO ratified its own constitution—a document enshrining these principles.

Challenges of Implementing Web 3 for Non-Experts

Not everything is smooth. Adoption proved much more difficult than Musk expected. He is technical, but for grassroots activists, gardeners, and those fighting for food justice, crypto tools were an alien environment. Many don’t even have Twitter accounts.

“They live in the real world,” Musk explained. “Getting them to understand how a wallet works, why this technology is needed at all—it’s hard.” But as they overcame this learning curve, the results were impressive: people began to value the decentralized power system granted to them. The adaptation process requires a rethink, but the core message resonates.

Decentralized Solutions for Centralized Problems

Musk rejects the universality of DAOs. “It’s in the name—decentralized. But in a bear market, some start denying the very concept,” he says. His position is clear: the strength of DAO lies in community voting, but it requires enormous management effort.

DAOs are suitable when the problem demands decentralized decision-making AND decentralized accountability. This rarely coincides. For example, tackling global climate change is hard for a DAO because it’s a worldwide issue requiring coordinated action. But food justice in local communities? Policing in different districts? That’s where DAOs become indispensable.

“You have tools: capitalism, communism, philanthropy, traditional hierarchical funds, and DAOs,” Musk explains. “Consider all tools and choose what fits the specific problem.”

Summary: The Future of Decentralized Philanthropy

Big Green DAO demonstrates that decentralization works not only in theory. There’s no bureaucracy, minimal overhead, maximum community participation. Those who know the problem best—the frontline workers of charity—are now making decisions.

It was unprecedented. And it happens quietly, without grand statements, but with the real distribution of $6.5 million in the hands of 1,700 donors and 16 organizations with a voice.

Kimbal Musk, who was once stunned by skepticism about the internet, now stands at the forefront of another revolution. This time, he is not just a participant—he is the architect of a system that transfers power to those who deserve it most.