Last year at SteemFest, @ned and @sneak announced an exciting new Feature that is coming soon to Steemit.

COMMUNITIES!

At a technical level, a community will start out as a 'regular user' account and will be converted into a community. The reason for this is so that communities can eventually share in the revenue from the posts that are created within them.
When a user creates a post within a community, it will still be posted under their own account on the blockchain, but it will have JSON that designates it as part of a community.
Communities will eventually support payment splitting, where a portion of the posts reward is shared with the community account. Community admins will be able to set this amount as a percentage (from 0-100). When enforced, a post will only be allowed within the community if the author shares the required percentage of the rewards with the community account.
source: https://steemit.com/steemfest/@timcliff/dinner-with-timcliff-and-sneak-at-steemfest-discussion-about-communities

When we first heard of this up and coming communities project, we knew that @familyprotection was on the right path and it gave us an extra incentive to make something of our little community.

We are proof that this proposed model for communities works in reality. Not only are we rewarding our members who write good content, but we are helping to raise awareness on a very sensitive issue and by doing so we are creating solidarity and unity which is the foundation of any healthy community.

This community is very lucky, we've had a huge head start, in more ways than one.

We have a whale on-board who goes by the name of @canadian-coconut. When @markwhittam first approached Ca-Co with the idea of building an awareness group it was a little rusty to say the least, but with the help, belief and guidance from Ca-Co we finally came up with a working model. Thanks to Ca-Co we are NOT called ONE VOICE! (sounds more like a boy band) instead we settled on @familyprotection because of the current governMENTAL "child protection" rackets were not focused on protecting families.

We have a lot to thank @canadian-coconut for but we are also very lucky that we have the support and encouragement from so many loyal steemians. People who really take this issue serious and want to see change.

On the flip side we also have a lot of takers who claim to be loyal members but in reality are just here for the payout, you know who you are!

Here is a visual of how this community works.

"Child Protection" Agencies are Taking Children Away from Loving Families.
These Familes Need Protecting
JOIN THE FAMILY PROTECTION COMMUNITY

So @familyprotection is paving the way for future communities, our community model works and has proven to be a solid foundation for others to start building communities on the Steem Blockchain!
When one of the volunteers @familyprotection upvotes and resteems a post, they always include a comment that explains that the post was chosen by our community, and that if they wish to support our community with our goal of saving funds to Help Families in Need, than please donate a portion of the SBD rewards they receive from this post.

Once the Communities Feature is complete, these comments will no longer be needed, as we will decide a set minimum % and any posts accepted in our Community, will automatically deduct this donation.

We started @familyprotection in September 2017, and it has grown organically and quickly, beyond our expectations! THANK-YOU TO ALL OUR AMAZING COMMUNITY MEMBERS!
In this short time alone we have already raised a $USD value of $29,000 in crypto funds.

Some of those funds are in our Bitshares DEX wallet, which we chose because it offers accessibility to a basket of crypto-currencies and most importantly is TRANSPARENT. Our Bitshares wallet name is family-protection, and it now includes investments in Bitshares, EOS, Litecoin, OMG, and others.
As we expect 2018 to be "The Year of the Crypto," by the end of 2018 we should have a very nice nest-egg to start really helping families that are in dire straights and to spread awareness of the issues at hand.

THANK-YOU to the Steemit Visionaries and Developers for offering the opportunity through Steemit to make a HUGE difference in the world and in real people's lives.

THANK-YOU to all the Community Members at @familyprotection who have gladly and freely donated of your earnings because you care about the future of our children and the state of this world.

EXCITING TIMES ARE AHEAD!