Nonprofits Move Fast or Miss Out On Crypto Dollars
Crypto converts to real money, is convenient and borderless and some nonprofits are already using it
Crypto is borderless so where you are in the world doesn’t matter. If you are holding bitcoin you have the same store of value as the person holding it in the US, Venezuela, Lebanon or India. That’s the beauty of cryptocurrencies.
However when it comes to nonprofits the crypto’s borderless magic hasn’t spread equally. The nonprofits in the US are far more sophisticated when it comes to leveraging crypto for good.
Even in the US the number of nonprofits accepting crypto donations is small but the presence of crypto as a form of donation exists while in other countries it’s just not there. I looked up some of the top charities in Australia, Canada and India and there is absolutely no mention of crypto. Just like how nonprofits were slow to adopt technology and online donations, Nonprofits once again aren’t catching up fast enough with the rise and spread of these new currencies that are native to the internet and have many benefits.
Why Nonprofits Should Take Donations in Crypto?
Crypto is a viable currency, you can instantly convert crypto donations into your local currency and use it to buy goods and services for your projects. The total market cap of cryptocurrency exceeded over 2 trillion dollars in 2021. More and more people are holding their assets in crypto. Platforms such as Venmo, Cashapp, Robinhood, Coinbase have made it super easy for people to buy crypto. Almost everybody these days wants to have a share of it. If nonprofits would like to leverage cryptocurrency to fund their programs they need to move fast or they would lose out on willing donors looking to donate in crypto only. Also as crypto is now considered a taxable asset in many countries people would prefer to donate in crypto to get tax benefits.
Low transaction fees. The very crux of cryptocurrency is peer to peer transactions. Which means cutting out third parties and their high transaction fees. Crypto makes transactions between two parties easy and highly economical. For credit card and Paypal donations nonprofits have to pay anywhere between 2 to 3% transaction fees. With crypto the transaction fees are very low for instance BitPay charges a flat fee of 1% for settlement (including the fee paid to miners as reward for entering the the transaction on the public ledger)
Convenient Borderless Transactions. Crypto makes donations of any amount from anywhere in the world seamless and convenient. There are no limits to how much money can be donated at a given point as in the case of wire transfers. Also large crypto donations can be made at any time of day even on the weekends and the donor does not have to work around the bank hours and limits. Recently one of India’s covid relief fund received $1 billion worth of crypto tokens as donations.
Food for thought, GiveDirectly started accepting ETH donations since 2018. You can see how since 2020 the volume of donations have dramatically grown.
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