SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amity Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to criminal justice reform and recidivism reduction, launched an NFT fundraiser on December 7th, 2022 to showcase and benefit staff members and individual artists who have graduated from their programs. The participating Amity staff and alumni artists will receive the majority of the proceeds from their sold art. Amity partnered with The Impact Collective, which helps nonprofits raise money through selling NFTs. The NFT drop is available on The Impact Collective’s user-friendly platform, which accepts credit cards and cryptocurrency.
“Amity’s core mission is to help rebuild lives, and each and every participant in one of our programs has a unique journey towards self sufficiency,” CEO of Amity Foundation Doug Bond said. “We wanted to open the opportunity for our creative alumni to share their talents on a larger scale and to support their efforts to build a career in an emerging sector of the arts.”
In this NFT drop, many of the associated NFTs will include the story of the individual who created the art to provide the buyer with a personal connection and deeper understanding about a specific cause while collecting art. For example, a participating artist, Edward Flores, spent forty years of his life in prison, seventeen of those years in solitary confinement in San Quentin State Prison. During this time, he began to express himself through symbols and images, an artistic practice he discovered as a child. In 2018, Edward was released on parole to Amity Foundation's former lifer transitional housing campus at Amity on Beacon, a long-term, residential, whole-person model of treatment. Today, Edward is a multimedia artist, a faculty member of Amity, and is determined to continue gifting the gift he never received as a child, mentoring and supporting the younger generation in breaking the cycles of criminality, drug use, and trauma.
“I jumped at this opportunity that Amity presented to its alumni. As an artist, I am always looking for new ways to promote my work and am excited to be able to participate in the growing NFT economy,” Edward Flores said. “Art and Amity have been life-changing forces in my life, and I am honored to be able to bring these passions together while also promoting the need for social, emotional, housing, and job training supports for individuals recently released from prison.”
Art will also be provided by photographer Richard Ybarra and NFT artists Melda Hutabarat and Skrrtey, who will be donating a portion of the proceeds to Amity.
“For years, I taught entrepreneurism at Donovan State Prison, so I am keenly aware of the overwhelming talent and resilience of individuals involved with the justice system,” CEO of The Impact Collective Neil Senturia said. “The concept of the Impact Collective was born out of the need to help nonprofits specializing in anti-recidivism, so we are honored to have such a prominent and prodigious nonprofit in this space use our platform as a fundraising tool. We have since expanded our vision to serve all nonprofits; however, we feel deeply connected to this cause and to Amity’s mission.”
Amity, one of the largest nonprofits to reduce recidivism, operates in nineteen prisons in California and provides mental health and addiction counseling and housing for individuals recently released. Amity will be the second nonprofit to use The Impact Collective’s fundraising tool, which is the only one-stop-shop for nonprofits to produce, sell, and mint art. The Impact Collective is also the only NFT marketplace exclusively for nonprofits where art can be bought and sold directly without having to send donors to a larger digital platform.
The Impact Collective's proprietary platform is unique in that it enables art buyers to purchase NFTs with a regular credit card. They will not have to already own crypto currency, which is required on many NFT charity platforms. The NFT market is expected to generate $3 billion in revenue this year and grow over 30% in the next 5 years according to a recent economic forecast.
This fundraiser comes on the heels of The Impact Collective hosting an NFT drop for Second Chance to raise funds to support the program’s mental health, addiction and job-training programs. The online exhibition featured works created by Second Chance graduates.
More about Amity: Founded in 1981 in Tucson, AZ, Amity Foundation is a California 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves individuals, families, and children. Amity began as a therapeutic community and has evolved into a teaching community. Our mission is to foster personal growth, emotional literacy and social responsibility for our students, as well as improve their physical health through nutrition and wellness. These create the fertile ground for students' success in gaining employment, housing, furthering education, and reuniting families.
More about The Impact Collective: An NFT purchased through The Impact Collective, a San Diego software company, has an immediate and direct impact on both nonprofits and artists. By merging the popularity of NFTs with an accessible marketplace where payment can be made with a regular credit card, The Impact Collective helps nonprofits raise funds for projects that help participants, create art, and have an impact on the community.
