Support Creative Commons

Proposal

Creative Commons respectfully requests 100 ETH to support the organization’s general operations and license infrastructure.

Overview

You’ve likely heard of Creative Commons Zero or CC0.

CC0 has taken the NFT world, especially the community-owned brand Nouns, by storm. If you’re new to CC0, it’s a “no copyright reserved” option in which all copyright is relinquished and dedicated to the public domain. This enables use of CC0 NFTs with zero legal repercussions, inspiring creative derivatives and remixes of original works.

CC0 may be everywhere, but here’s a lesser-known fact: Creative Commons is also a whole nonprofit organization (see our most recent annual report here).

We’ve been around since 2001 and are a small but mighty team of 22 open access enthusiasts. We not only manage the CC licenses and public domain tools, we run campaigns, programming, and training in Open Education, Culture, Climate, and Journalism; host a CC Global Summit in locations around the world; and tackle major policy issues impacting the Internet and global commons as part of a broad Movement for a Better Internet.

We’re doing a lot, but it is all in service of the CC licenses, a thriving commons, and a healthy public domain, which can be expanded instantly by contemporary creators embracing the use of CC0, a globally interoperable public domain dedication tool. Like Nouns, we’re big promoters of remix culture, and have been watching (largely from the sidelines until now!) as NFT creators bring new energy and enthusiasm to the public domain.

We’re excited to bring our two communities together to demonstrate the staying power of open access tools like CC0 even in a technological landscape that’s rapidly changing. Nouns is a prime example of this. You’re an open-source brand merging CC0 with blockchain. Nouns demonstrates the imaginative possibilities of combining public interest tools like CC Licenses with emergent technologies.

Request

Despite being components of longstanding and emerging technologies, CC licenses are hard to fundraise for–most people are unaware that there’s no underlying revenue stream to maintain their legal and tech infrastructure and continue to advocate for their use. The licenses are not new tech anymore, despite constantly being used in fresh ways, and it’s challenging when most funders are more interested in flashy new projects than supporting the work those ventures build on.

We are dedicated to preserving and improving our licenses, so that they can continue to be the go-to tool for future technology and creative work. That’s why CC is seeking funding for our general operations and license infrastructure, which would allow us to sustain currently underfunded but foundational areas of work: advocating for the use and adoption of open content at all levels and in all arenas, stewarding and innovating the licensing infrastructure we provide, and training future generations of creators and open advocates.

With support from Nouns, Creative Commons can prioritize the stewardship of the tools that have unlocked access to an estimated 2 billion works over the past 20 years. We are hoping your community will support us, as our work has supported your creativity.

Proposed Transactions

Endaoment Address: 0x72f7ab7cd03113bd4bc332d0859e5664c79646ee