How crypto donations support Outright International’s global advocacy for human rights

In 2021, Outright International turned to The Giving Block for a solution to increase major gifts, reach new donors and forge charitable partnerships within the Web3 community. It has since enjoyed significant support from NFT creators and individual crypto donors alike.

Mission

For more than 30 years, Outright International has worked hard to ensure equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) people around the world. The organization advances its mission for universal human rights through three strategic program areas: advocacy, movement resourcing, and research, providing essential resources and education on the LGBTIQ community at a global level.

Following a suggestion from a board member, Outright researched solutions to accept crypto donations

While the past 10-15 years have seen a lot of progress in equality and human rights, there is still a lot of work to be done and the movement needs all the support it can get, especially because LGBTIQ causes and groups around the world are severely under-resourced.

Outright has understood that further change for global human rights can be greatly accelerated with more allies joining the movement.

A board member originally encouraged Outright to research accepting cryptocurrency as an option for donations. After doing extensive research and meeting with The Giving Block team members, Outright was excited to reach audiences they hadn’t talked to yet—audiences that were age diverse, excited about the Web3 world, committed to social justice causes, and located all over the planet.

“We really believe that this is a pivotal moment to radically accelerate social and legal change for the LGBTIQ community. The only way that is going to happen is if we have more partners and more allies joining us,” says Katie Hultquist, Director of Leadership Giving at Outright International. 

Gaining the support of NFT projects to support human rights for LGBTIQ people

In the short time since Outright entered the Crypto Philanthropy space, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have emerged as a fitting avenue for Outright’s fundraising efforts and community engagement. Many creators of, and investors in, NFT projects that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion have contributed to Outright’s mission.

Thanks to The Giving Block’s technical support, Outright has been able to accept the proceeds of NFT sales as donations.

For example, Not Your Bro dedicated 2.5% of their initial mint sales to Outright, as well as 10% of its secondary royalties in June 2022. Similarly, photographer Lori Grace Bailey auctioned three of her photographs and donated the proceeds, totaling close to 3 ETH, to Outright.

Including crypto in Outright’s long term fundraising roadmap

For Outright, the potential for crypto donations to make an impact is truly unlimited, as is the need for more support for LGBTIQ communities globally. The organization recently approved a new 5-year strategic vision and roadmap, centered around accelerating social and legal change to uplift and protect the most vulnerable and at-risk LGBTIQ people around the world.

A common phrase in the crypto community is “We’re all gonna make it,” also known as WAGMI, and Outright’s goal is to ensure that WAGMI includes the LGBTIQ community.

The organization discovered that not only are there many allies in the crypto space with aligned values, but these allies also view crypto as a way to invest in social justice causes and enact positive social impact. Working together is the best way to truly influence change for everyone.