ZkFundMe - Zero-Knowledge Donation Platform
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Non-profit organisations · Organisation: Blockchain Reallabor · Maturity level: Concept
ZkFundMe is a demo platform by Blockchain Reallabor for transparent and anonymous fundraising campaigns. The platform uses Worldcoin for identity verification (Proof of Personhood) to ensure that donation requests come from real people. Through Zero-Knowledge-Proofs, donations are processed anonymously while remaining verifiable.
Documentation status
- Project status: Concept
- Evidence: Evidence medium
- Editorial review: Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026
Description
ZkFundMe is a demonstration project of the Blockchain Reallabor Huerth (Fraunhofer FIT), combining two technologies: crowdfunding mechanisms and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). ZKPs enable proving a statement without revealing the underlying data.
The problem: traditional crowdfunding platforms collect extensive personal data from donors. For politically or socially sensitive projects (e.g. donations for political parties, whistleblower support, medical emergency aid), this data can be risky for donors. ZkFundMe solves this with zero-knowledge proofs: a donor can prove, for example, that they are of legal age, live in a certain country, or have already been verified — without directly revealing this information. The blockchain ensures that donations actually arrive and are not manipulated. zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge) are the cryptographic basis also used by Ethereum Layer-2 networks (Polygon zkEVM, zkSync). The Blockchain Reallabor demonstrates ZkFundMe as a live demonstrator at the euronova CAMPUS — visitors can donate anonymously and experience the cryptographic verification live.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
NGOs and political organisations can implement data protection-compliant donation systems — donors prove their legitimacy without revealing personal data, GDPR-compliant and secure against data leaks.
B2C — consumers perspective
Donors can be confident that their contributions go to real, verified individuals while remaining anonymous themselves. The technology offers maximum transparency regarding the use of donations while ensuring data protection.
Employees perspective
Employees of donation organisations can focus on project implementation as trust-building is technically automated. Communication with donors is simplified since all transactions are cryptographically verifiable.
Benefits
General
- The combination of identity verification and zero-knowledge proofs creates a new level of trust in digital fundraising.
- Donation fraud is drastically reduced through technical verification.
- The platform enables global fundraising without geographical or institutional barriers.
B2B — organisations
- Non-profit organisations can reduce their administrative costs as fewer resources are needed for manual trust-building.
Employees
- Fundraising teams can focus on creative campaign design instead of technical processing and trust-building.
Challenges
General
- The integration of Worldcoin and zero-knowledge proof technologies requires highly specialised developer skills.
- The acceptance of new technologies may be slow among traditional donors.
B2B — organisations
- Organisations must invest in new technical infrastructure and training to use the platform effectively.
Employees
- Employees need to familiarise themselves with complex blockchain concepts to be able to explain the technology to donors.
Technology foundation
The platform combines Worldcoin technology for identity verification with zero-knowledge proofs for data protection. These technologies enable ensuring the authenticity of fundraising campaigns while protecting donors' privacy.
Implementation examples
ZkFundMe Demo Implementation
The Blockchain Reallabor aimed to demonstrate how modern blockchain technologies can solve the challenges of trust and transparency in digital fundraising. The goal was to create a technical solution that ensures both the authenticity of donation appeals and the privacy of donors.
The Blockchain Reallabor developed ZkFundMe as a demonstration platform for zero-knowledge-based fundraising.
The Blockchain Reallabor developed ZkFundMe as a demo version to demonstrate the practical applications of zero-knowledge proofs in fundraising. The platform combines Worldcoin technology for identity verification with zero-knowledge proofs for anonymous but traceable donations. As a demonstrator, the project shows how blockchain technology could revolutionise trust in digital donation platforms. The implementation serves as a proof of concept for future commercial applications in the non-profit sector.
The platform addresses the problem of fake donation appeals through technical identity verification while simultaneously resolving donors' data protection concerns. Additionally, it solves the problem of lack of transparency in fund usage through traceable yet anonymous transactions.
Tags
Zero-Knowledge, Identity Verification, Transparency, Donations, Data Protection