Po-Ku People: NFTs, Charity sponsorships and revenue sharing

If you have entered in the Singular rabbit-hole you may have found a NFT collection composed of round pink faces...thing is Po-Ku's go far beyond than that. Revenue sharing, charity sponsorships... way more than just a NFT!

In "today's" post I talk with Chekov, the mind behind Po-Ku and someone who I personally want to express my gratitude for his time, work and humbleness

Could you provide a brief explanation of what’s the aim of Po-Ku people?

Po-Ku started out as a love letter to Polkadot and Kusama, but morphed into the idea of exploring a process of creating a system of shared wealth within a community of equals, and also seeing if it was possible to translate the activity that occurs within an NFT collection into tangible positive real world benefits.

If I buy a Po-Ku NFT, what am I entitled to?

The primary collection of Po-Ku are the “Po-Ku People”, and each NFT entitles the holder to make proposals, vote on project decisions (e.g., charity, price changes, staking/validating), receive a weekly wage of KSM, and influence future Po-Ku stories/designs. I regard those that hold Po-Ku People as shared owners of the project.

However, things have morphed a little from that initial collection as it faced growing pains. The pre-sale collection was created as a solution to four challenges we were facing: 1) pro-level snipping, 2) being swapped with DMs from disappointed collectors that missed out, 3) the risk of me suffocating the oxygen out of the project by being so slow at drawing the art, 4) and fatigue of on the initial 7 council members having to do all the heavy lifting. Unfortunately the 50 pre-sale certificates sold out in an hour, which didn't help me solve challenge 2, so I created an additional pre-sale collection for those in other timezones/etc that missed the initial sale. Holders of pre-sales receive immediate full rights as a council member and a later air-drop of a Po-Ku People art (at which point the certificate is burnt).

Po-Ku people NFTs are one of the most detailed NFTs on Singular, what’s your creative process?

Most tend to start out with the idea of a character that could exist within a not-so-distant future DotSama world. The goal was to make them somewhat grounded, but interesting. Each Po-Ku person contains a little excerpt from their life in their NFT. The story then informs design choices.

An important aspect of my creative process is setting deadlines and making them public, if I didn’t do that then I would probably still be tinkering with 001.

Drawing round pink faces from various angles and lighting was probably a strategic misstep from a time perspective, but it seems their differences are appreciated, so I’m glad the extra time is translating to value for those that own them.

Generally, drawing is akin to being an archeologist, slowly dusting away the surface with a flurry of lines and then erasing those lines until something sticks. My process is quite time-consuming.

What were the technical difficulties that the Po-Ku validator node faced?

None so far. Po-Ku is really blessed to have some experienced validators in our community. Paradox from paranodes has taken the lead and having him as the primary mentor was a no-brainer, if you’ve ever seen his work as a senior ambassador for Polkadot/Kusama, or his youtube video series, he has a wealth of knowledge and is so generous with his knowledge. On top of that, he is just a really decent human being.

What’s the current APY that Po-Ku is giving to its council members?

It is a little too early to calculate that accurately, but anyone is welcome to inspect our account payouts. We initially started with staking and and just recently shifted to validating. Staking was around 20%, our first week of validating was 71%, but the validating won’t stay that high in future weeks. We are aiming for something between 20% to 40%, which also includes us removing some returns for our charity fund. The goal is to ensure that even if the NFT market falls over, one Po-Ku People NFT will always have the value of 1 KSM or higher staked. I have some strategies to shift that quite a bit higher, but I’m keeping it a secret for now.

How Po-Ku manages its treasury and how are the funds distributed?

Funds are distributed using a script that Martin Jensen kindly created. We grab a list of all the those that own the eligible NFTs and then divide up the staking/validating rewards for the week by the members, subtract a little for charity, and sometimes subtract a little towards people that have helped Po-Ku achieve a strategic goal (e.g., Martin and Paradox).

Tell us about the Charity side of Po-Ku People

Well I really liked the idea of having something that generates perpetual returns for charity via staking/validating and we have some ideas on how we might expand upon this for the future. I honestly think the charity aspect of Po-Ku was probably the best design choice with the project, as it has brought together the most amazing group of caring, supportive and giving individuals. So much positivity and generosity within our little Po-Ku People community and it is a bit overwhelming at times. It has been so lovely and I always look forward to logging into our discord to catch-up.

Charity Funds allocation towards the work of PEF in Nigeria. How was it made?

All our donations are currently made p2p. Fortunately PEF is an organisation that shadyblack is a major part of and she suggested it as an option for a Po-Ku donation and our members voted to approve it.

How do you feel about the outcome of the donation?

I think I dissociated a little from reality when Shadyblack sent me through the photos. Seeing all those children’s faces smiling and drawing was amazing. The basic plan was to just make a donation towards PEF’s existing work, however it was Shadyblack’s own initiative to place Po-Ku branding on colouring books and signs, and have a canary bird for children to colour in. She and her team did an amazing job. The children’s smiles are now etched into my mind and our small community is energised to do more charity work now.

What to expect in the future for Po-Ku people?

I would love to share what is happening behind the scenes, but I have to keep it quiet for now. I can say we are making good progress on stage 2 of Po-Ku with an anticipated launch Q1 2022. It is something that will enable us to provide extra value for council members and charities.

Any goal about Charity acts/donations to be reached in 2022?

No specific goals. I want to side-step the pressured fund-raiser approach, and for us to gather donations as opportunities arise, and to explore the best charitable options at those times. This approach will just make it easier for us to sustain longer-term and not burn out. But I do suspect it won’t be the last donation towards PEF.

Useful links:

Twitter Profile NFT collection PEF Sponsorship Xmas Party for the Kids