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Dear friends and supporters of BEN,
As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all that we have accomplished together this year.
<h3>United Nations SDG Focus</h3>
This past year, we have:
<ul>
<li>Provided educational resources and support to thousands of students, especially in underserved communities.- Trained and supported teachers and community leaders to effectively teach about blockchain technology inside and outside of the classroom by equipping them with endless educational videos and lesson plans.- Hosted, co-hosted, and spoke at numerous events, conferences, hackathons, and workshops around the world to engage and educate our communities about blockchain.- Partnered with several businesses and organizations that help nonprofits and NGOs flourish through blockchain.
We prioritized four key principles from the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">United Nations Sustainable Development Goals</a>:</li>
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SDG 4. Quality Education
BEN provides courses at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels for students of any academic background to get up to speed. BEN also has content translated into Spanish, French, Hindi, and more for non-English speaking students from all over the world to learn and take advantage of the opportunities in blockchain.
SDG 5. Gender Equality
BEN is especially committed to empowering women to take the lead in this new technological frontier. In 2021, BEN launched a program in Turkey where we rented office space to host a learning center where Turkish students from different universities could come together to learn, discuss, and create innovative projects, all under the leadership of a selected women leader that was fully mentored and supported by BEN.
With the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, many BEN students were affected in the region. The organization decided to give a job opportunity to one of their female students as the global marketing manager. This opportunity was a key highlight of 2022 for the charity, as the life of this student was dramatically changed; from leaving her home country at war to a new country with all expenses covered, while at the same time being mentored and given a new career opportunity and working 1:1 directly with the BEN team on their global initiatives.
SDG 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
At BEN, management strives to create an environment that provides equal opportunities to all individuals despite their socioeconomic backgrounds. Over the years, the non-profit has provided financial aid, scholarships, flights, Airbnbs, and free conference tickets to hundreds of students from all over the world to attend blockchain conferences and hackathons where they can find new opportunities for jobs or to create their own startups.
SDG 10. Reduced Inequality
Starting with just a few college students that shared enthusiasm about this new technology, the network grew over the years to many universities across the nation and worldwide. At BEN, students from any background are welcome to join and represent their community. One of the non-profit’s core principles is to have students from different cultures and walks of life come together to learn, discuss and build wealth for their communities.
From university clubs in the United States to universities across Turkey, Europe, Africa, Latin America, India, and more, BEN is proud to have one if not the most diverse network of students in the world.
<h3>New Partnerships</h3>
We are excited to have partnered with organizations committed to helping advance non-profits and NGOs in the space, including <a href="https://www.giveback.social/">Giveback</a>, <a href="https://doingud.com/">DoinGud</a>, <a href="https://thegivingblock.com/">The Giving Block</a>, <a href="https://panvala.com/">Panvala</a>, and <a href="https://dollarzing.com/">DollarZing</a>.
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<h3>New Courses</h3>
Alongside a complete relaunch to a new and improved <a href="https://learn.blockchainedu.org/">BEN Learn</a>, our online e-learning platform, we created several video courses taught university professors and industry experts on various topics in the blockchain space.
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<h3>Student Travel to Conferences</h3>
We sent dozens of students to various blockchain conferences such as Messari Mainnet, The North American Bitcoin Conference, Bitcoin 2022, and DCentral Miami.
Tickets, flights, and airbnbs were sponsored by BEN and its various partners including the conferences themselves, <a href="https://twitter.com/Jihoz_Axie">Jiho</a> from <a href="https://www.skymavis.com/">Sky Mavis</a>, <a href="https://www.harmony.one/">Harmony</a>, and <a href="https://padawandao.com/">PadawanDAO</a>.
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<h3>Physical Events and Conference Speaking</h3>
We spoke at several conferences and events around the world, such as The North American Bitcoin Conference, CryptoWorldCon and Miami NFT Week in Miami, ETHcc in Paris, and CryptoMondays San Juan in Puerto Rico.
We also partnered with <a href="https://bgca.org/">The Boys &#x26; Girls Club of Puerto Rico</a> and hosted a workshop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ782Q4rY2s">teach students how to mint their first NFT</a>.
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<h3>Virtual Events Hosted</h3>
This year we hosted, co-hosted, and partnered with several events online and in the Metaverse, including a virtual career fair with the <a href="https://entethalliance.org/">Enterprise Ethereum Alliance</a>, <a href="https://topblockchainanalyst.com/">The Next Top Blockchain Analyst</a> with <a href="https://gda.capital/">GDA Capital</a>, a <a href="https://decentraland.org/">Decentraland</a> virtual party with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/drasenn/?hl=en">Drasen</a> and <a href="https://www.innkeeper.link/">innkeeper.eth</a>, and bi-monthly Twitter spaces for the community.
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<h3>New Podcast Interviews</h3>
We published over 17 new podcast episodes, interviewing several BEN alum and industry leaders working on interesting blockchain projects in the space.
<h3>Financial Transparency</h3>
We have created a <a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1stVgjgui--ok7uG8t6QFvpGkv9rk2NuCRXIHctkbGN0/edit?usp=sharing">financial report</a> to provide the community with a clear understanding of the financial health and operations of BEN.
The report includes the following information:
<ul>
<li>Information on the organization’s impact, such as the total number of members who have joined and taken courses.- Organization’s income and expenses for the calendar year- Burn rate- Amount received in donations- Budget for 2022- Offers relevant links to the IRS website with past yearly reports
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<h3>Conclusion</h3>
As we look ahead to the new year, we are excited to continue expanding our reach and impact. We have big plans in the works and can’t wait to share them with you.
Your support and generosity have been integral to our success and we are deeply grateful for your belief in our mission. Together, we have made a real difference in the lives of countless students and we are truly grateful for your partnership.
Thank you again for your support. We hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season and we look forward to continuing this journey with you.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”— Peter Drucker
Sincerely,
The BEN Team

BEN 2022 Year in Review

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