Introducing AQUA.

If this is your first time hearing about AQUA, we welcome you. Below, you’ll discover more about our journey, team, and what’s next. More importantly, we hope this finds you and your loved ones well and healthy.

What is AQUA?

Aqua is a revolutionary DAO dedicated to ending the world water crisis. It is currently being built on the Juno network and is aiming to launch in the coming months. While we’re preparing our website, tokenomics, roadmap and more, it’ll soon be clear that we do much more than provide clean drinking water solutions worldwide. At AQUA, we’re focused on building the future of charity by creating tools for other nonprofits, NGO’s, and individuals to maximize the impact of their work. For $AQUA token holders, we want to be clear that we are far more than a “charity token.” We look forward to sharing more with you all in the coming weeks about our value accrual mechanisms, tokenomics, on/off chain rewards, and all that is in store.

What problem does AQUA solve?

AQUA was created to solve several pain points that currently hold the entire nonprofit sector back from effectively reaching their potential and solving some of the world’s most dire social issues. A few pain points AQUA solves are listed below:

• Funding: While being able to issue tax receipts and not pay income tax are undoubtedly two great tools for nonprofits, they simply don’t suffice in helping nonprofits rapidly scale their impact and lure more capital. Nonprofits have very limited opportunities to participate in the capital markets. It’s substantially harder for nonprofits to qualify for bank/business loans, credit cards, and more. They can’t raise money by offering equity. It’s difficult to issue bonds. The list goes on. The current toolbelt that is available to them often leaves them in a position where they can’t afford top talent, lack dependable cash flow, and ultimately fail in scaling their operations and impact.
• Incentivization: Nonprofits can’t share their “profit”, reward employees with equity, incentivize fundraising and much more. Without robust incentives, nonprofits are oftentimes left scrambling trying to find and maintain qualified staff. Ex: How many people are going to turn down a salary of $200,000+ at a tech firm for an executive director position at a nonprofit for $40,000? We all know the answer is VERY FEW (our founder is one fo them).
• Capital Efficiency: While nonprofits are allowed to invest their treasuries in stocks/bonds, etc. fully integrating Crypto/DeFi is a bit trickier because of regulations, tax implications, accounting, etc. Again, these investments legally can’t be distributed or utilized as incentives.

Where does AQUA come in?

We view AQUA as the blueprint for nonprofits/NGO’s/individuals to establish a parallel organization (DAO) that addresses the above pain points of existing nonprofits. Soon after launch, we’ll begin building our own launchpad for other charities/NGO’s/individuals looking to create their own tokens/DAO’s. By having your own token, you’re able to tap into the capital markets and the broader cryptosphere, create robust incentive programs (profit sharing, LP rewards, governance mining, etc.), and invest in assets their community sees fit… with near zero regulations in the way.

AQUA paves the way for limitless innovation and is focused on building the future of charity by integrating the future of finance.

Let’s introduce the team:

Founder: Todd Sondgroth is the founder of Aqua. He has over 7 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and has been involved in crypto for 3+ years. Coupling his extensive experience in the nonprofit world (primarily tackling food insecurity, drilling water wells, and building small homes for families in need) with his passion for Web3/crypto, he believes unleashing the power of DAO’s will fundamentally change the way we do charity and help us solve some of the world’s most pressing social issues. For anyone who knows him, he is a proud husband and father of four. He’s led over 25 international service trips and has extensive experience building teams and and scaling operations. He’s committed to blazing new trails and providing real value to the AQUA, Juno, and Cosmos communities.

Partnerships and Sustainability Director: Issac R. is in charge or creating new partnerships both on the ground in the countries we serve (Zambia, Uganda, and Haiti) and back home in the United States. In order to scale rapidly, Issac’s experience in building coalitions and maintaining constant communication with existing partners is key. As sustainability director, Issac maintains close contact with leaders in the communities we serve in order to respond quickly to maintenance issues when they arise + helps train community leaders on proper hygiene and sanitation practices.

Photographer/Filmmaker: Mark S. is our in house photographer and filmmaker. He’s effectively combined his three passions (photography, philanthropy and economics (PhD)) in the work he does at AQUA. He and Todd have worked closely for the last 7+ years and are currently filming a documentary that will showcase the work we do at AQUA.

Operations Manager Zambia: Burgess H. has over 20 years of experience in water well drilling operations. He’s in charge of our drilling operations from start to finish. From logistics to maintenance, Burgess plays an integral role in our success. For those who come on our first drilling trip (Late July/August) you’ll get to meet him :)

Operations Manager Uganda: Patrick has the same responsibilities as Burgess, but in Uganda. We count ourselves as lucky to work with Patrick. As an orphan, he faced many challenges but by the time he was 20 years old, he had created several orphanages. We look forward to sharing more of his story in the coming months.

Operations Manager Haiti: Jason K. manages our operations in Haiti much like Patrick and Burgess above. He moved his family to Haiti 15+ years ago and has been drilling water wells for multiple organizations ever since. He has an expansive network that we heavily rely on in Haiti when drilling wells and leading teams on drilling trips.

Dev/Engineers: 0Complex is a Web3 firm consulting, developing, and contributing towards a better future. They have built a great reputation within the Juno ecosystem and we’re excited to work alongside them as we develop the future of charity and tackle the world water crisis, together.

What’s Next:

Tokenomics, roadmap, contests, competitions, interviews, AMA’s and of course launch :)

We thank you for all the love and support and we’re excited to get to know you all!