Is your nonprofit suffering from the “little fish in a very big pond” feeling? Smaller nonprofits like yours face unique challenges in almost all areas of your work, from operations to staffing to annual fundraising. But for nonprofits with a small team that’s always taking on additional responsibilities, accepting cryptocurrency donations can be a powerful, efficient way to diversify revenue streams.
Despite all the myths about crypto fundraising, it’s not the overly complicated or time-consuming process it’s hyped up to be—and it can even be a game-changer for your brand. Find out how crypto fundraising helps smaller-sized nonprofits and how your organization can take advantage of the unique opportunities that crypto presents.
Why Might Small Nonprofits Be Hesitant About Crypto Donations?
Hundreds of small-sized nonprofits are already seeing benefits from embracing crypto donations. However, there’s still a perceived stigma facing small nonprofits that are curious about this relatively new but growing revenue stream.
As a recent article in Newsweek suggested, many smaller nonprofits are hesitant to accept crypto donations because they are:
- Unsure how to receive or manage crypto donations.
- Unable to devote more time or staffing to a new revenue source.
- Uncertain they’ll receive support from the crypto community.
In other cases, a fundraising team may already be excited about crypto but their board has specific questions that they don’t know how to answer. However, accepting crypto is an exciting chance for nonprofits to reinvigorate their brand identity, tap into a new donor demographic and so much more.
These are the three biggest ways that crypto fundraising helps small nonprofits.
1. Crypto Helps Small Nonprofits Build Their Brands
It’s no secret that smaller nonprofits have a limited staff capacity. As a result, it can be difficult to build your small organization’s brand and expand its media footprint if you don’t have a robust development team or marketing staff.
Accepting crypto donations can quickly refresh an organization’s brand and instantly connect it with a massive global audience. This is especially beneficial for organizations that are often limited to fundraising locally or have a small existing donor base.
For many, crypto represents new ways of thinking, and nonprofits that accept crypto are by association seen as cutting-edge, open-minded and bold. Organizations looking to come across as innovative or to connect with new, digital-native donors often achieve this through crypto fundraising.
Accepting crypto donations also opens up all kinds of expansion opportunities for nonprofits, including:
- The ability to partner with NFT projects and receive donations from the proceeds of NFT sales. NFT fundraising is a highly effective way for organizations to maximize their crypto fundraising strategies.
- Interacting with digital-native donors on crypto users’ favorite social media platforms, such as Twitter, and other digital spaces, establishing an expanded social media presence.
The chance to collaborate with people in the web3 space and create web3 fundraising initiatives, which connects organizations with a global network of potential supporters.
2. Crypto Donations Are Unrestricted Gifts
One of the main challenges to traditional nonprofit fundraising is that many charitable gifts are restricted—meaning that the donations can only be put toward certain things, typically programming. This leaves organizations short-handed for other areas of their services or covering costs such as staff salaries.
For many small nonprofits, the issue isn’t so much their small budgeting but more the constraints that are put on that budgeting.
The good news is, cryptocurrency donations are typically unrestricted gifts. That means that when nonprofits receive a crypto donation, they can put the money right where it’s needed the most.
Through crypto fundraising, small nonprofits have been able to support their mission in the most impactful areas, whether that’s been making up for traditional fundraising opportunities lost due to the pandemic or supporting their staff members.
Unrestricted giving not only aids smaller nonprofits; it also provides a valuable opportunity to connect with the crypto community. Since nonprofits often have more flexibility about how they use their crypto donations, it’s easy to communicate what exactly your organization intends to do with the donations and keep your crypto donors feeling empowered by their impact.
3. Crypto Helps Small Nonprofits Embrace the Next Generation of Donors
Many organizations, especially smaller ones, currently rely on an aging donor base. With the Great Wealth Transfer on the horizon, nonprofits will have to make a shift toward appealing to younger generations.
Luckily, organizations can do a lot now to prepare for this shift, mainly by finding new revenue sources and appealing to younger donors. Crypto especially helps organizations connect with donors that are younger, because the crypto donor demographic is made up of people who typically are:
- On the younger side, mostly Millennials (76%) and 38 years old on average.
- Generous with their giving—nearly half of crypto users donate $1,000+ every year.
- Eager to achieve widespread crypto adoption and use their crypto to make a difference.
There’s already an active community of millions of crypto users who are searching for ways to help their favorite causes; organizations just have to tap into this opportunity.
Not only does accepting crypto help organizations present themselves as innovative and in tune with changing technology, but many crypto users are highly active on social media platforms such as Discord and Twitter. Accepting crypto donations and using social media to make appeals helps small nonprofits connect with digital-native Millennial and Gen Z donors—future-proofing nonprofits against the changes in donor demographics that are sure to come.
Examples of Successful Crypto Fundraising for Small Nonprofits
Smaller organizations are already entering the Crypto Philanthropy space, expanding their brands, and connecting with global donors. Check out these examples of small nonprofits achieving crypto fundraising success:
- CEDARS is using Crypto Philanthropy to fill gaps that traditional fundraising doesn’t cover. The organization’s current fundraising team also hopes that crypto donations will be their legacy as they establish a new revenue source that will help CEDARS for years to come.
- KABOOM! has long been an adopter of early technological trends. In the 1990s, the organization registered one of the first nonprofit websites on the internet. In 2021, seeking a new fundraising revenue stream, KABOOM! embraced Crypto Philanthropy.
- Being listed on The Giving Block’s website gave further legitimacy to the Built With Bitcoin foundation and helped the organization gain further trust among donors. With this expanded reach, Built With Bitcoin was able to discover new opportunities and raise more funding in 2021 than in the previous four years of its establishment.
- Orangutan Outreach raised more than their entire 2020 revenue budget with crypto donations. Instead of worrying about being unable to reach their goals, the organization was able to support projects and educate new veterinarians with a pool of funds they could rely on.
There Are Plenty of Resources on Crypto Fundraising Strategies for Small Nonprofits
A common challenge for smaller organizations is determining whether they have the resources to take on new opportunities. With a smaller budget and less staff, small-sized organizations often don’t have the capacity to try new things, especially when it comes to new tools and services.
Crypto fundraising can seem especially daunting. Many organizations worry that accepting crypto donations will put further pressure on their already-stretched budgets and team members.
The good news is, as more and more organizations enter the crypto space, more information about the process is becoming available. It’s easier than ever to begin accepting crypto donations—and nonprofits have plenty of help.
All-in-one solution providers like The Giving Block not only provide technical support but also guidance and best practices. With resources such as webinars, a handy crypto glossary, and more, nonprofits don’t need to be crypto experts in order to fully benefit from all that Crypto Philanthropy has to offer. No matter the size of your nonprofit, you won’t be left to your own devices when it comes to crypto fundraising.
A Crypto Philanthropy Roadmap for Your Small Nonprofit
Small nonprofits face many unique challenges. Accepting crypto donations can help small organizations address those challenges and establish fundraising strategies that ensure these organizations will be successful for years to come.
With a solutions provider like The Giving Block, nonprofits receive all the help they need in creating a Crypto Philanthropy roadmap for their organization. Organizations also receive technical support, donor support, automation, and fundraising support so they’re able to successfully fundraise crypto while focusing on furthering their mission. With services such as automatic receipting and guidance on whether to HODL crypto donations, nonprofits don’t need to have a big team or specialized knowledge to find long-term success in crypto fundraising.
Interested in learning more about the impact that crypto fundraising has made for organizations? Check out our case studies and testimonials from nonprofits just like yours and see how The Giving Block has helped organizations big and small achieve their revenue goals.
