How to Donate Crypto: A Comprehensive Guide 2024

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Crypto philanthropy has seen notable growth over the past decade, aided by global accessibility and growing acceptance of Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

According to a report by fundraising platform The Giving Block, it was estimated that over $2 billion in cryptocurrencies have been donated as of 2024.

Are you interested in joining the crypto philanthropy movement? In this article, we explain how to donate cryptocurrency to charity.

Key Takeaways

  • BTC, ETH, and stablecoins are the most popular donated cryptocurrencies.
  • Over $2 billion in cryptocurrencies have been donated in the world, as of 2024, according to The Giving Block.
  • Feeding America, Good 360, UNICEF, and Wildlife Conservation Society are top charities and organizations that accept crypto donations.
  • You need to set up a crypto wallet to donate cryptocurrencies.
  • Charities and organizations tend to use third-party fundraising platforms to accept crypto donations.

Why Donate Cryptocurrency?

There are plenty of reasons to donate crypto to charity. You may want to help those in need of food, water, and shelter, or you may want to contribute to a cause special to you, like animal welfare and wildlife protection.

No matter how big or small your contributions are, you should know that giving crypto to charity will go a long way in making a positive impact in the world.

As you help make a difference you can avail tax benefits from your charitable contributions.

If you are a regular cryptocurrency user, making your donations using Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) or stablecoins can have major advantages over fiat currency.

Here are a few reasons why you should donate to charity in crypto.

Global accessibilityInstantaneous transactionsTransparency

Cryptocurrencies are borderless. As a crypto charity donor, you can donate to any crypto-friendly charity or non-profit organization without having to worry about foreign exchange rates, fiat conversion fees, and banking accessibility.

Cryptocurrency networks settle transactions within seconds. In contrast, the traditional banking system may take days to settle a transaction, especially if it involves cross-border transactions.

Transparency is arguably the biggest advantage that crypto donations have over fiat donations. Public crypto blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum allow anyone with Internet access to track transactions and account balances in real time.

As a charity donor, you will feel a whole lot better knowing that your donations are being used for their intended purpose.

Which Non-Profits Accept Crypto?

The main problem with cryptocurrency donations today is that not all non-profits and charitable organizations accept donations in digital currency. You can blame the lack of regional regulatory clarity and technical difficulties as the key reasons for this issue.

Luckily, we have listed the 10 non-profit and charitable organizations that will accept your crypto tokens as donations:

Feeding America: Food access

Good 360: Basic essentials access

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: Medical research and care of children

UNICEF CryptoFund: Innovation fund for improved child welfare

Wildlife Conservation Society: Environment and wildlife conservation

International Fund for Animal Welfare: Animal welfare

charity: water: Funding sustainable clean water projects

India Partners: Basic essentials access

Oceanic Society: Marine life conservation

Brink: Bitcoin development

Preparing for Your Crypto Donation

How to Prepare for Your Crypto Donation

Making crypto donations will seem complicated to non-crypto users due to the use of crypto wallets. Once you learn how to set up a crypto wallet, the process is much smoother.

Here is how to prepare before making your crypto donation:

  1. Set up a crypto wallet

    You can set up a crypto wallet account by downloading wallet applications like MetaMask and Coinbase Wallet on your smartphone. You can also download the crypto wallet extension on your laptop browser. Remember to secure your secret recovery phrases, which you will need to access your crypto wallet in case you lose your password or device.
  2. Funding your wallet

    Once you have set up your crypto wallet, you will have to fund it with cryptocurrencies. The easiest way to fund your wallet is by transferring tokens from your centralized crypto exchange (CEX) account to your wallet. Always double check the wallet address and crypto network before transferring funds.
  3. Verifying the legitimacy of the charity

    Scams and frauds are very common in the crypto world.

    • It is advisable to verify the legitimacy of the charity you wish to donate to.
    • You can start by going through their website and reading news about them.
    • In best-case scenarios, you will be able to find the charity’s publicly disclosed crypto wallet address.
  4. Crypto acceptance

    Once you’ve identified a legitimate charity or non-profit organization that accepts crypto donations, check which tokens they accept. Typically, BTC, ETH, and stablecoins are the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies. If you don’t have the accepted tokens, you can acquire them via token swaps. Ensure that you have enough cryptocurrencies to pay for transaction fees.

How to Donate Crypto?

Once you’ve set up a crypto wallet and funded it with tokens, making a crypto donation is as simple as executing an onchain transaction.

However, what we noticed is that several top charities and non-profit organizations do not accept crypto donations directly on their official websites. Instead, they accept crypto donations made through fundraising platforms like The Giving Block.

The Giving Block is one of the most popular crypto fundraising platforms in the world. Feeding America and Good 360 – the two largest charities in the US in terms of funds raised in 2023 – use The Giving Block’s solutions to accept crypto donations.

Here are the steps to follow to donate cryptocurrencies on The Giving Block platform:

  1. Choose the charity you want to donate to.
  2. Once you open the donation interface, enter the crypto token and the amount you want to donate.
  3. Next, enter your personal details and address. You also have the option to donate anonymously.
  4. The Giving Block platform allows donors to receive a tax receipt via email.
  5. Scan the QR code you are presented with using a compatible crypto wallet.
  6. Approve the transaction on your wallet.
Crypto Donation to Good360 charity using The Giving Block platform
Crypto Donation to Good360 charity using The Giving Block platform

Tax Benefits of Donating Crypto

Charitable donations come with tax benefits in the majority of jurisdictions across the world.

In the US, taxpayers can deduct charitable cash contributions from their taxable income. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), charitable contributions may be deducted up to 50 percent of a taxpayer’s adjusted gross income.

Rules in other parts of the world are similar. They may vary in the percentage of the donated amount that can be deducted from a taxpayer’s taxable income.

These tax benefits may apply to crypto donations, as well. It ultimately depends on whether there are clear crypto regulations in the country of your residence.

In the US, your charitable crypto contributions can be deducted from your annual taxable income, provided that you made those donations to “qualified organizations” as listed by the IRS.

Taxpayers will need a receipt from the charitable organization to claim tax benefits.

According to The Giving Block, donating cryptocurrencies can be advantageous for taxpayers as donations do not attract capital gains tax.

That way, taxpayers can lower their capital gains tax by directly donating appreciated tokens instead of giving away after-tax remainders.

Transparency in Crypto Donations

As we mentioned earlier, transparency provided by public crypto blockchains can help improve trust between donors and charitable organizations.

Earlier, there was no way to verify how charities were using their funds due to the closed traditional banking system. With crypto blockchains, transactions, and account balances are made pseudo-anonymously public for all to see and track.

It should be noted that not all charities and non-profit organizations will disclose their crypto wallet address. Some organizations may choose to use third-party services like The Giving Block to accept and manage their crypto donations.

On the contrary, non-profits like GiveDirectly and UNICEF CryptoFund have disclosed their on-chain wallet addresses and transactions. You can check inflows and outflows of cryptocurrencies on blockchain explorer websites such as Etherscan and BTCscan.

Benefits of Donating Crypto

In this section, we summarize the benefits of donating cryptocurrencies to your favorite charitable organization:

  • Transparency
  • Instantaneous transactions
  • Low transaction costs
  • Tax deductions
  • Capital gains tax exemption
  • Global accessibility
  • Contributing to a philanthropic cause

The Bottom Line

Anyone with a funded crypto wallet will know how easy it is to transact on crypto networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Similarly, making a crypto donation to a charity can be as easy as a click of a button.

Crypto and charity seem like a good fit together. The only thing holding the pair back is unclear crypto regulations in several countries across the world.

FAQs

Can cryptocurrency be donated?

How do you give someone crypto?

Can you give away crypto?

Can you write off crypto donations?

Can I donate crypto anonymously?

How will my crypto donation be used?

How can I give crypto as a gift?

Is donating crypto tax-deductible?

Related How To’s

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Mensholong Lepcha
Crypto Specialist
Mensholong Lepcha
Crypto Specialist

Mensholong is a experienced crypto and blockchain journalist, now a full-time writer at Techopedia. He has contributed with news coverage and in-depth market analysis to Capital.com, StockTwits, XBO, and other publications. He began his writing career at Reuters in 2017, covering global equity markets. In his spare time, Mensholong enjoys watching soccer, finding new music, and buying BTC and ETH for his crypto portfolio.