The Giving Block is growing its donation options for young, high impact donors.
Stock and card donation processing features will be available this Fall, rolling out first to The Giving Block’s 2,000+ nonprofit clients.
When we founded The Giving Block in 2018, the idea was simple—help nonprofits fundraise crypto. Over the last four years, the company has grown beyond what either of us could have initially imagined. Today, we work with thousands of charitable organizations, universities, and nonprofit institutions helping to build their crypto fundraising programs. We have also facilitated over $100M in crypto donations, the impact of which has been felt globally.
While building The Giving Block, we’ve watched the cryptocurrency industry “quietly” take over the world.
“Quietly” creating 100,000 new millionaires.
“Quietly” buying up all of the most premium Super Bowl ads.
“Quietly” purchasing the naming rights at the most iconic stadiums.
“Quietly” passing the market caps of the world’s largest companies.
“Quietly” growing to 300,000,000 users.
“Quietly” becoming the most valuable donor demographic on the planet.
Quietly, during this time, The Giving Block has earned the business of most of the leading brands in philanthropy, including Save the Children, United Way Worldwide, the American Cancer Society, and St. Jude Children’s Hospital, all while becoming the home for the most influential donors on the planet—crypto users.
Through the process of building the leading Crypto Philanthropy platform, we made two discoveries that got us thinking:
- Crypto users don’t always want to give crypto.
- By becoming the best at fundraising crypto effectively, we’re infinitely better at fundraising from younger donors in general.
As we look towards the future of The Giving Block, we want to continue to do what we do best—connect nonprofits with new donors, especially Millennial and Gen Z philanthropists who give in a wider variety of ways than previous generations. Therefore, we are expanding our offerings to accept stock and card donations, including credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Later, we’ll also offer ACH, PayPal, and Venmo options.
We are creating a donation platform that will stand the test of time, allowing the next generation of philanthropists to give both cash and non-cash options while making it easy for nonprofits to accept donations. Never before has a donation platform been created to cater to the giving habits of young, digital-native Millennials and Gen Z donors, and we’re excited to be the first.
Regardless of what the future holds, we know one thing is for certain: younger generations are going to keep investing, keep giving, and keep surprising us with their generosity and support no matter which donation method they choose.
Why Crypto Always Comes First
The crypto community is the most impactful in philanthropy today. They have continued to prove this by being more generous than any other donor community, with gifts 82x higher than the average online cash donation.
With 83% of Millennial millionaires investing in crypto, and the Great Wealth Transfer expected to pass trillions of dollars from Boomers to Millennials in the coming years, it’s clear that crypto is going to continue to grow. As a result, the vast majority of our focus will remain on building a platform that empowers the crypto community to change the world, while encouraging other young people to donate through whatever means work best for them.
Crypto is our focus. Stocks and cards are new features on a crypto donation platform. Which is what will make us the leading platform for young, high-impact donors.
Why We’re Adding Stock Donations
Crypto users are some of the most financially literate people on the planet. As a result, people who own crypto often own stocks. The IRS incentivizes donors to give their most appreciated assets, and we want to make sure that the crypto community can donate appreciated stocks as well.
The Giving Block aims to do for stock what we did for Crypto Philanthropy, and create an efficient solution that makes it easy for nonprofits to securely accept publicly traded stock and exchange-traded fund donations without the operational burden of processing these types of gifts.
We aim to make stock donations as simple as we’ve made crypto fundraising, and we know that the team we’ve assembled will do just that. We’ve appointed Mike McLean, the Head of The Giving Block Institutional, to lead the charge. Prior to joining The Giving Block, Mike spent 7 years as Director of Investment Operations and Program Management at Fidelity Charitable where he oversaw private asset contributions, cryptocurrency, alternative investments, and trading operations. Mike’s expertise in this space is unmatched, having previously processed over $25B in stock donations before joining The Giving Block. We know he and his team at The Giving Block Institutional are the best people to lead our stock donation solution.
Stock donation processing will be available in October to The Giving Block’s 2,000+ nonprofit customers and will be included for all charitable organizations subscribed to The Giving Block’s flagship crypto fundraising solution.
Why We’re Adding Cards & Digital Wallets
As we build a donations platform specifically to meet the needs of Millennials and Gen Z donors, we would be remiss not to add card and digital wallet options. Although our campaigns are built around Crypto Philanthropy, many young philanthropists who see our campaigns aren’t crypto users at all, and we see no reason for preventing them from supporting an amazing cause.
A lot of young investors, in both crypto and stocks alike, aren’t aware of the tax incentive to donate appreciated assets. For all of the young investors who see our campaigns, but lack the tax education to give crypto or stocks, we want to give them an option to donate now with a credit card and learn about more efficient donation methods at their own pace. This approach will make us the platform that stewards young donors into giving larger non-cash assets for the first time, helping nonprofits earn their donations for a lifetime.
With the help of our parent company, Shift4, The Giving Block will be offering credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay donation options to all of our current nonprofit subscribers beginning in September. Later this year, we’ll also be adding ACH, PayPal, and Venmo options.
Conclusion
At The Giving Block, we are working to end an era in which nonprofits have treated young philanthropists as “the future.” Millionaires are getting younger, largely driven by the explosive growth of crypto and NFTs. As a result, we are continuing to build a platform that makes Crypto Philanthropy the foundational layer of the giving experience for young, high-impact philanthropists. With the addition of our new donation options, we open our doors to other young philanthropists who will no longer have to endure the frustration of navigating outdated giving experiences designed for their parents.
We are excited to continue building the giving platform that ushers in the next generation of philanthropists, helping young donors change the world today, and ensuring that nonprofits have fundraising solutions that future-proof their impact. “Quietly.”
-Pat Duffy and Alex Wilson
Co-Founders of The Giving Block
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