Impact Certificate Exchange is a platform designed to facilitate the funding and trading of impact certificates, which represent shares in charitable projects. The process begins with founders proposing charitable projects with a minimum funding goal. Accredited investors participate in an auction, offering to fund the project. If the total amount bid meets the minimum funding goal, the project is funded, and top bidders receive shares in the project in exchange for their investment. Investors can subsequently trade these shares based on the project's performance. After the project is completed, altruistic individuals or organizations can offer to buy the outstanding shares, recognizing the successful impact generated by the project.

For example, consider a research team proposing a project to develop a forecasting model to prevent pandemics, requesting $5,000 in funding. Investors participate in an auction, and if the funding goal is met, they receive shares in the project. Suppose the model proves effective in predicting an upcoming pandemic. An organization values the project's impact at $18,000 and offers to buy up all outstanding impact certificates. Investors who hold these shares can sell them, benefiting from their increased value, or choose to burn them, claiming charitable impact.

Another concept within the Impact Certificate Exchange is Fractionalized Impact Shares with Assurance Contracts. In this approach, charities divide their offerings into tokens or shares and sell them to investors. Investors can commit to buying a certain amount of tokens if the desired funding threshold is met. Once the threshold is reached, all participants fulfill their commitments and purchase the tokens. This method combines fractionalization with the assurance of achieving the funding goal.