This is a submission for the Build Better on Stellar: Smart Contract Challenge : Build a dApp

What I Built

I developed Stellar Donations, a decentralized application (dApp) that connects donors with charities on the Stellar blockchain.

This platform allows donors to make secure, transparent donations while enabling charities to receive funds directly, track progress, and share their missions.

The app has distinct functionalities for donors and charities.

Donors can donate to the charity of their choosing in real-time, while charities can manage their profiles and view donation histories.

The application features a user-friendly interface with separate dashboards for donors and charities, allowing users to manage donations, track fundraising goals, and maintain profiles with ease.

Also, its integration with Stellar, ensures that all transactions are secure, transparent, and immutable.

Demo

Deployed via GitHub pages live at:
https://jm27.github.io/charity-dapp/

My Code

Repo:
https://github.com/jm27/charity-dapp

Journey

The development of this dApp was a deep dive into the Stellar ecosystem. The implementation of real-time transactions leveraging Stellar's blockchain was a key highlight. Donors can contribute directly to their chosen charities, with transactions happening seamlessly through the Stellar network.

Additionally, I picked up and worked with Stellar APIs, understanding their structure and integrating them into the app. The dynamic interaction with Stellar's features, including key pair generation and transaction management, was both challenging and rewarding.

Throughout the project, I learned about Stellar transactions, private keys and seeds, and public keys, and got a high-level understanding of elliptic curve cryptography, which underpins the security and performance of the Stellar network.

I'm particularly proud of the seamless user experience achieved in the app, especially the intuitive process for donors to make transactions and track their contributions.

What's Next

Moving forward, I aim to enhance the app's security features, particularly around key management, encryption, and user authentication.

Enable server-side communication and DB storage.

I plan to implement a feature that releases a portion of the donation to the charity upfront, with the remaining funds being released once the charity begins posting proof of valid resource utilization.

This will add an extra layer of accountability and transparency, ensuring that donations are used effectively and for their intended purposes.

Also to explore ways to expand the platform, possibly integrating more advanced features like multi-currency support or automated reporting tools for charities.

Conclusion

Working with Stellar's ecosystem was a positive experience. The availability of resources and the simplicity of the Stellar SDK made the development process smoother. The ecosystem's focus on financial inclusion aligned well with the goals of this project.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate!