Charities risk losing a generation of donors if they don’t accept crypto

November 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Alex Wilson

Crypto donations expose charities to a "new demographic of funders" that they can’t afford to miss out on.

Charities accepting crypto donations are setting themselves up for an entirely new demographic of funders — who just so happen to be one of the most giving, according to charity organizations.

Alex Wilson, the co-founder of The Giving Block, a crypto donation platform providing back-end support to charities, told Cointelegraph that the crypto community is still a market many charity organizations have nointeracted with.

The top charity organizations in the world by funds received including United Way Worldwide, Feeding America, and UNICEF. All three of them accept cryptocurrencies as a means of donation.

The Giving Block co-founder said the crypto community has been great with the “philanthropic use” of cryptocurrency, and those crypto donors are also some of the “most generous” — with the average gift being over $10,000.

UNICEF Australia New Product and Innovation Lead Zunilka Whitnall said it was important that charities implement blockchain technology to make their fundraising more transparent to the general public. She also noted that the technology will also give them access to a “new demographic of funders.”

Whitnall however noted that there is a “gap in understanding” of what blockchain is and how they work for many charity organizations.

Bryce Thomas, co-founder of Tokens for Humanity, an organization developing blockchain applications for the charity sector told Cointelegraph that the majority of cryptocurrency holders and users are between the ages of 18 to 35 — a demographic which is difficult for many charities to engage with.

Thomas said blockchain integration “solves the problem” of donor engagement with younger demographics.

He also noted that there has been a “resurgence” of interest in tracking and reporting the impact of nonprofits and that blockchain technology would enable a clearer way for transparency and accountability.

UNICEF’s Whitnall said its current focus with blockchain technology is improving its efficiency in distributing resources globally, as well as making its internal operations more efficient and transparent to the wider community.

Cryptocurrency has been a popular means of giving to charitable causes. Ether (ETH) was the most-donated cryptocurrency in 2021, totaling $30.79 million in donation volume via The Giving Block.

This year, crypto donations has most notably been a major lifeline for Ukraine’s defense against Russia, with the Ukrainian government spending $54M of crypto donations on military equipment, hardware, munitions amongst other defense equipment.

Payment services provider Shift4 acquires The Giving Block for $54 million

March 1, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Payment services provider Shift4 acquires The Giving Block for million

Blockchain

Shift4 has more than 425 software integrations and over 200,000 merchant customers

According to an investor presentation published Tuesday, U.S.-based payment solutions provider Shift4 announced its acquisition of The Giving Block in cash and stock for $54 million, plus a potential earnout of up to $246 million. The Giving Block is an online platform that allows over 1,300 nonprofit organizations and charities to accept crypto donations.

As told by its annual report, the organization processed $69.64 million in crypto donations, an increase of 1,558% from 2020. Out of this amount, approximately $12.3 million came from donations by nonfungible token, or NFT, projects. Ether (ETH) became the most-popular crypto donated for the first time, accounting for nearly half of the total volume. Last month, The Giving Block provided Cointelegraph with a sample list of six charities on the receiving end of crypto donations and how philanthropy has positively impacted such organizations.

Regarding the acquisition, the team at The Giving Block wrote:

"Shift4's status as a leading payments company with over $200 billion in annual payments volume, plus our shared commitment to taking crypto mainstream and leading on nonprofit sector payments innovation, has given us the opportunity to have the impact on the world we began dreaming up."

Meanwhile, Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4, commented:

“Shift4 will invest further in The Giving Block's successful strategy while also pursuing a $45+ billion embedded cross-sell opportunity by bundling crypto donation capabilities with traditional card acceptance. This represents just a small portion of the $470+ billion nonprofit addressable markets that Shift4 will uniquely be able to pursue as a result of this acquisition.”

The Giving Block also launched its Ukraine Emergency Response Fund last week in response to the ongoing Russian invasion . Proceeds, which can be donated via Bitcoin (BTC), ETH and other altcoins, will go to at least 10 humanitarian relief organizations and international nonprofits.

Our Ukraine Emergency Response Fund is now LIVE

The nonprofits within this fund are saving lives and providing critical support on the ground to those impacted by the #Ukraine crisis.

Donate #cryptocurrency to the fund now: https://t.co/4ZXGMGcrlH
— The Giving Block (@TheGivingBlock) February 26, 2022

Where do crypto donations go? Here are six charities that have benefited, as told by The Giving Block

February 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Charities

"As a smaller organization with a smaller team, we saw how crypto could level the playing field and provide massive fundraising success," said giving associate Alexa Castellano at Trees for the Future.

Charities and donations have been a trending topic in the cryptocurrency realm as of late. And its not simply as an act of giving; in countries such as the U.S., the country's revenue authority provides generous tax deductions for those who donate their crypto to registered charities. One company, The Giving Block, provides such crypto-fundraising onboarding solutions to more than 1,000 nonprofits.

But just how does investors' money make a difference? In a series of case studies provided to Cointelegraph, The Giving Block illustrated how six such charities benefited as overall donations volume on its platform surged over 1,000% year over year in 2021. As told by Tammy Tibbetts, co-founder and CEO of She's the First, a charity organization helping gender equality through education:

"In the most challenging fiscal year of my career as a nonprofit CEO, I realized I had to take crypto seriously. If I didn't, the ship was going to sail without us and, with it, take resources that could help girls around the world access education and unlock their dreams. This crypto donation was our second biggest gift this year, completely changing my view on cryptocurrencies.

Thanks to a crypto-fundraising campaign, She's the First delivered more than 1,400 food, water, and menstrual kits, as well as connected over 6,000 girls with mentors around the world. Similarly, CARE, one of the oldest nonprofit organizations fighting global poverty, saw its crypto donations increase from about $7,000 in 2020 to over $330,000 in 2021. One campaign, NFT CARE Package for Afghanistan, raised over $200,000 in a matter of weeks to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghan families.

CARE organization banner | Source: The Giving Block

Then there's the orangutan preservation project Orangutan Outreach, which raised more than their entire budget 2020 revenue budget with crypto donations. "We're going to incorporate crypto into everything we do moving forward, make it bigger so we can do more good work," said Richard Zimmerman, the organization's executive director. Organtuan Outreach's team cares for orphaned and displaced orangutans in specially built sanctuaries with the end goal of releasing them back to the wild.

Orangutan Outreach banner | Source: The Giving Block

And thanks in part to NFT campaigns, regenerative agriculture nonprofit Trees for the Future managed to plant 2.3 million trees that are estimated to sequester more than 80,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over 20 years. "We can change the lives of 5,000 farmers and their families by providing training and allowing them to have a job and food security," said Alexa Castellano, giving associate at Trees for the Future.

Next up is no other than the University of Arizona itself, where the post-secondary institute sees over $20,000 per month in crypto donations volume. The money is used to fund scholarships, student experiences, athletics, research, and various academic programs. Finally, Vive Church, a global community of churches with locations across the U.S. and E.U., managed to raise over $300,000 in crypto towards a down payment to 80,000 square-foot building in Palo Alto that could seat 2,000 people in its auditorium. And there appears to be a lot of "faith" in such donation method too, as Aaron Williams, Vive Church's finance director, explains:

"Crypto is the only asset class that people seem to be super passionate about. I get phone calls and texts about it constantly from donors. I didn't expect as much passion around it. But I believe that their passion drives generosity."

Crypto Philanthropy Explodes in 2021 As Bitcoin Loses Most-Donated Digital Asset Crown to This Coin: Report

February 4, 2022 The Daily Hodl

Crypto Santa: Trader nets $34K shorting AVAX and LUNA, buy toys for kids

December 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Crypto Santa: Trader nets K shorting AVAX and LUNA, buy toys for kids

Avalanche

The trader deposited $100,000 into its FTX account and secured nearly $34,000 in net profits.

A popular cryptocurrency trader under the Twitter pseudonym "Sicarious" donated a portion of its crypto profits to buy Christmas presents and other utilities for underprivileged children.

The donations included $7,250 worth of livestock, clean water, Bibles and emergency food for Compassion International, a child sponsorship nonprofit, and another $1,500 to purchase and donate toys for kids — who would otherwise do without at Christmas — via Toys for Tots Foundation.

Shorting the crypto price declines

Sicarious also shared the screenshot of its profits and loss statements that showed that it had made nearly $6,500 and $27,500 in gains by shorting Terra (LUNA) and Avalanche (AVAX) recent price drops, respectively.

That left the trader with enough leftover profits to continue its donation spree until the end of this year.

Walmart is going to need more LEGOs... pic.twitter.com/k5X19VxOZo
— Sicarious (@Sicarious_) December 13, 2021

In detail, Sicarious announced on Dec. 5 that it would donate any profits made until the end of 2021 for children-related causes as a part of a so-called "Christmas challenge." In announcing so, the anonymous trader put $100,000 into its FTX account, adding that if it nukes the amount, it would still donate whatever it can afford.

*A screenshot taken on Dec. 5 from Sicarious's account. Source: Twitter*

On Dec. 15, Sicarious closed another AVAX short in profits and used about $2,000 worth of proceeds to benefit a local food pantry.

The trader's initiative also inspired others to commit their realized crypto profits to causes. For instance, another Twitter user "Aeroplaine" claims to have deposited $50,000 into a dYdX perpetual exchange account, stating that it would donate all the gains to charitable causes in Malaysia.

A good-hearted crypto tax strategy, meanwhile

While Sicarious's citizenship remains unclear, the copies of the traders' bills and mention of the retail store Walmart in its tweets indicate that it lives in the United States, a country with one of the most stringent crypto tax laws.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Services (IRS) classifies cryptocurrencies as property. Meaning, if one's crypto investments increase in value, s/he would need to pay a capital gain tax when they spend it. That also means keeping a tax record in check on a $2 coffee bill if paid via crypto.

But donating crypto to charity somewhat allows taxpayers to brush off IRS's tax-filing process. And since donations, on the whole, are not taxable events, one can offload their crypto profits as donations and deduct the same amount from their net tax liabilities in the financial year.

But there remains a big takeaway on whether to first secure the crypto profits in cash and then donate or to pledge the money in crypto.

The Giving Block, a crypto donation service, provided an answer back in 2020. The firm noted that cashing out crypto first would leave traders with a higher capital tax liabilities while donating directly via crypto would mean no tax responsibilities for the donor.

*Comparing crypto tax methods. Source: The Giving Block*

The direct-crypto-donation strategy seems to have worked well so far. For instance, Fidelity Charitable, the U.S.'s largest grantmaker, received over $274 million in cryptocurrencies this year, according to a company's spokesperson quoted in the Los Angeles Times.

The amount came out to be almost four times higher than 2017's peak of $69 million.

Engiven, a crypto-enabled donation platform, also reported last month that it processed a $10 million Bitcoin donation to a faith-based organization.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

We are seeing ‘10x growth in terms of the number of nonprofits accepting crypto,’ says Alex Wilson of The Giving Block

December 6, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The amount of crypto donations through The Giving Block surged to $100 million this year from $4 million in 2020.

With the market capitalization of digital currencies surpassing $2 trillion, there is now record interest in crypto philanthropy. From helping to build a school in Uganda to fundraising for frontline healthcare workers and raising awareness for artists with intellectual disabilities, many nonprofit projects are gaining traction with generous assistance from crypto enthusiasts.

But the rewards of giving crypto to charities aren’t limited to the feeling of having accomplished an altruistic task. The Internal Revenue Service currently classifies crypto as capital assets, like stocks. That means an investor can deduct the full market value of the cryptocurrency at the time of donation against their ordinary income (i.e., salary) over the period of a few years, while avoiding the capital gains tax altogether.

For example, suppose a crypto investor, Elsa, makes $85,000 per year on employment income (single tax filing) and bought $10,000 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) four years ago. In December, she donates the full value of her investment, now worth $29,650, to the American Cancer Society.

Not only does the ACS get a lump sum of cash to fund its operations, but Elsa can deduct 30% of the value of her donation per year, with the remaining amount carried forth for a maximum of five years. So her income for tax purposes for year one would only be $76,105, with Elsa saving $7,116 in federal taxes in total due to her donation.

The generous tax treatment of crypto donations may be precisely why the practice is becoming so popular. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Alex Wilson, CEO of nonprofit fundraising platform The Giving Block, discussed how the setup results in a win-win situation for investors and charities alike. During Crypto Giving Tuesday, the organization raised over $2.4 million in a single day for charities.

*Crypto Giving Tuesday recap.* *Source: The Giving Block*

Cointelegraph: How are you making the donations secure to reach their intended charitable organizations?

Alex Wilson: We were intentional in the way we set this up so that all the donations from a donor always go directly to a charity’s wallet. Now, we aren’t a pastor or anything like that, so it’s always going directly to the charity’s wallet. And on the back end, they have institutional accounts with Gemini. That way, they don’t have to worry about, you know, managing their private keys and things like that. They use a custody solution of Gemini through us.

CT: Was there a major theme this year regarding donations?

AW: I mean, it’s normalized to be a little bit of everything in terms of the theme. We see all sorts of different types of charities, also different sizes. We work with a lot of local charities, but also national, international brands. So, a little bit of everything really. I wouldn’t say there’s one group or one type of nonprofit that’s getting more donations than others. But I would say some of the larger charities tend to do pretty well, like some of the name brands that you might recognize, like Save the Children or American Cancer Society — you know, names like that. They tend to do a really good job fundraising. Or groups like St. Jude. They’re good at fundraising donations in general, so they tend to be better at fundraising crypto as well.

CT: What is the volume of donations you saw this year, and how does it compare with previous years?

AW: We’ll do over $100 million in donation volume just this year. And usually, it’s more than people expect. So, it’s significantly more than last year. Last year, we did $4 million for the entire last year. We’re doing more than that every month now. Also, in terms of the number of nonprofits, we’re working with huge growth. We had about 100 nonprofits on the platform last year, and now we just passed 1,000. So, basically 10x growth in terms of the number of nonprofits accepting crypto. It’s really hitting a tipping point now, and it’s becoming more mainstream. So, basically, nonprofits are getting more comfortable with the idea of raising crypto, especially now that they see these excellent outcomes. It’s no longer this like fringe thing. They’re seeing large companies getting into crypto, and they’re getting much more comfortable with this concept of fundraising crypto.

CT: Do you have any features where an NFT could be donated directly to a charity organization or something similar to physical artwork?

AW: Typically, what we recommend is just donating the proceeds of the NFT. The tricky thing about sending the NFT directly to the nonprofit is valuation and tax deductibility. So, it gets complicated with NFTs since there isn’t a lot of guidance from the IRS and other tax agencies on the tax treatment of NFTs. But it is evident when you’re just donating the proceeds because then it’s just like a regular crypto donation. So, in general, we’re saying, “Hey, if you’re an artist, a creator, please sell the NFT, then donate the proceeds directly to charity as Ether,” or whatever chain they sold it on. And that’s been popular. I mean, millions of dollars every month are being raised from this new category that we’re calling NFT philanthropy. And we even have a special day coming up next week called NFT Tuesday. So, next week, we’ll highlight all these philanthropic communities and creators and work with companies like Nifty Gateway.

CT: To follow up on that question, where do you see regulation heading in this sector?

AW: I think it will continue to get more apparent. Luckily, for crypto donations — surprisingly — that was remarkably clear for a long time already, as early as 2014. The IRS already put out guidance on how crypto donations are treated from a tax perspective. What the IRS decided in 2014 was that crypto would be treated as property. And when it comes to donating property, for crypto, it’s very similar to how crypto treats stock and other property donations because the donors don’t have to pay capital gains taxes on those donations. They get a fair market value deduction on their taxes when donating. And then for the charities, if they’re a registered charity, they’re tax-exempt, too. So, the charity isn’t paying taxes either. It’s a great win-win situation for both the donor and the charity.

CT: Do you plan to integrate with DeFi, such as designing a solution that could directly enable a portion of proceeds from borrowing and lending interest rates to go to charities?

AW: We’re working on something similar to that; it hasn’t gone live yet. The way we’ve started working with some of the DeFi platforms and protocols is, for example, we’ve partnered with 1inch, where users on the 1inch platform can donate to all of the causes we work with. So, if you go on the 1inch page, there’s a donate-crypto button on their page. And if you click that, you’re able to donate to all the different causes we work with. We don’t have anything yet for lending, staking and yield-earning kind of stuff yet, but that’s coming in the future.

CT: Would you like to include any mission statement or any additional comments?

AW: I would like just a couple of things I would add briefly. December is, you know, certainly the busiest time for donations. Yesterday, we just kicked off our end-of-year campaign with Crypto Giving Tuesday. So, we started our own sort of crypto equivalent and bought a Crypto Giving Tuesday. And we use that as a kickoff point for a month-long campaign we do in December. And because there is this vast tax benefit we talked about, we see more donations happening in December than the rest of the month combined.

So, there's this hype and attention in December for people who are meeting with their accountants or tax attorneys or whoever their advisers might be on this stuff to make sure they get their donations in before year-end so it’s included in this tax year. So we, you know, will be raising a lot this year. And it’s amazing to see the crypto community come together for this. This month, we’ll be announcing how much our Crypto Giving Pledge members are donating and who they’re donating to. And you know, it’s pretty well-known people in the space, like Ryan Selkis, Meltem Demirors — a lot of really recognizable names that will be making huge charitable donations in December.

From @satoshibles to @coolcatsnft to @mondoir and more, NFT artists are auctioning their art to support a variety of charities and causes this #NFTuesday!

Interested in joining them? Submit an application today: https://t.co/kZOik9sOSp pic.twitter.com/BjKdsQafdG
— The Giving Block (@TheGivingBlock) December 4, 2021

Global Nonprofit Operation Smile Opens Its Doors to Crypto Donations

June 20, 2021 Bitcoin.com

The Giving Block

Shorting the crypto price declines

A good-hearted crypto tax strategy, meanwhile

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