Mutual aid, DAOs and activism — The Agenda podcast chats with PactDAO co-founder Marisa Rando

cointelegraph.com:

The efforts of many charities organizations are often hampered by the red tape of bureaucracy, and the presence of hierarchical structures within these organizations can complicate matters even further. 

To bypass this inefficient rigamarole, PactDAO co-founder Marisa Rando suggests that those aiming to distribute aid focus on being “active” as this is the root word in the term “activism.” Rando hinted that the presence of hierarchical structures within charitable organizations leads to bias in the distribution of aid, whereas adopting a fully decentralized model encourages activism from givers and recipients.

This results in the foundation of stronger communities and more objectivity and fairness in the selection and distribution of aid. This is the true intent of mutual aid and grassroots activism.

On Episode 11 of The Agenda, hosts Jonathan DeYoung and Ray Salmond were joined by PactDAO co-founder Marisa Rando, who discussed the key differences between charity and mutual aid, along with several of the initiatives being spearheaded by PactDAO.

Initially, Rando and others at PactDAO were generally skeptical about cryptocurrency, but after a year of successfully fundraising and connecting NYC residents with various mutual aid organizations, a few members began to explore more efficient ways to democratically run the organization and distribute aid.

Recurring challenges with trying to establish a multisig bank account eventually led to PactDAO exploring the components of Web3.

Rando said:

Fortunately, the group’s views on crypto, Web3 and NFTs changed after Rando connected with “some like minded people in this space, people who I'm close friends with now and have become good mentors and partners and people that I work