Frequently asked questions
Where does my donation go? Why do you check my wallet first? Can I help without money? Straight answers to the questions we hear most. If yours is missing, ask us.
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Donating
Can I choose which initiative my donation supports?
No. All donations go to the Treasury. We cannot accept donations for a specific initiative or sub-initiative at this stage.
How is my donation used?
The Treasury pays for everything the project needs, now and as it grows: the people who build and run it, suppliers and service providers, servers and hosting, software and licences, equipment, research, testing and prototypes, screening services, translation, content production, and legal, compliance, banking and administrative costs. Treasury funds may be allocated to any activity or expansion of the project, including any of its initiatives, under its governance rules and without further notice.
Can I deduct my donation from my taxes?
It depends on where you live. Donations may not be tax-deductible in your jurisdiction, and the tax treatment of crypto-assets differs from one jurisdiction to another. Unless we say otherwise in writing, we do not issue tax receipts. Please ask a local tax adviser before you rely on any deduction. See clause 2 of the donation terms.
How can I donate?
Only in crypto-assets, through our donation gateway. At launch we accept USDT (on Ethereum or Tron), USDC (on Ethereum), BTC, ETH and BCH. We do not accept cards, online payment services, cheques, bank transfers or air miles.
Why do you ask for my wallet address before showing where to send?
To protect the project and our donors, we screen the address your donation will come from against sanctions lists before we show you our deposit address. If the check passes, the gateway gives you a deposit address, a reference and a time limit. This is part of our anti-money-laundering procedure.
Can I send from an exchange account?
It is better not to. Exchanges send funds from their own wallets, not from your address, so the donation will not match the address you entered and will go to manual review, which takes longer. Send from a wallet you control if you can.
Can I donate anonymously?
Yes. We never ask your name up front: the gateway only screens the wallet you send from. If a donation you send is large (see the review thresholds in the donation terms), the Council reviews it after it arrives and may ask you for information before accepting it.
What happens if a donation is not accepted?
It is kept separate from the Treasury and handled according to the law and professional advice. It is not returned automatically, because returning funds to a sanctioned or criminal address can itself be illegal. See the donation terms.
Can I get a refund?
Blockchain transactions cannot be reversed, and donations are non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Please check the asset, the network and the address before you send.
Do I receive anything in return?
No. A donation is a gift. It does not give you tokens, membership, voting rights, equity or any other return. Local Solar System does not sell any token.
Where can I see the donations?
Every public address and every incoming donation is listed on our transparency page, with amount, asset, date, transaction link and status, and without any personal data.
I set up a recurring donation through a payment service years ago. How do I stop it?
We no longer accept donations through payment services. Log in to the service you used, find its automatic or pre-approved payments, select Local Solar System and cancel. If you need help, contact us.
Staying safe
We never send donation addresses by email or message. If someone does, it is not us.
Someone sent me a new donation address. Is it real?
No. Local Solar System only issues donation addresses through the gateway on this website. We never announce address changes by email, direct message, phone or social media, we never offer returns, and we never ask for seed phrases or private keys. Report the message to us.
Taking part
Do I have to donate to attend events?
No. Taking part in events is often more valuable than a donation, and the events are fun. See the contribution board for what is happening.
I want to help but I don’t have money.
Volunteers are what really drive the project. You can translate, review, write, code, design or organise a local event. Start on the contribution board.
What kind of organisation is the Local Solar System Foundation?
It is a humanity-run project on planet Earth, organised as a DAO, and we are working to register a non-profit legal entity for it. “Foundation” is the name the project has always used; a Swiss foundation in the legal sense is a long-term goal. See governance.