If Bitcoin Tuesday proved anything, it’s that every nonprofit should accept cryptocurrency donations
We spent months pulling together plans for the first ever #BitcoinTuesday. We wanted to activate cryptotwitter and raise cryptocurrency donations for nonprofits. It worked. Before we get into it, we ask that:
- If you donated, post on twitter!
- You have until the end of 2019 to give, so if you haven’t, please do (bitcointuesday.org).
- Reach out with your ideas for future campaigns/partnerships for crypto fundraising!
The first ever Bitcoin Tuesday was a success for cryptophilanthrophy. The goal of Bitcoin Tuesday was to create a global day of cryptocurrency giving, in parallel with Giving Tuesday – the international day of charitable giving. Essentially, Giving Tuesday but for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This all couldn’t have been possible without our great sponsors: Brave, Gemini, Bottle Pay, Inca Digital Securities, CoinTracker, Node40, Hype.Partners and Splunk.
So, what happened and what did we learn? Let’s jump into some data.
Bitcoin’s Price Dropped. Cryptocurrency Donations Happened Anyway.
Despite price depreciation in the month leading into the campaign, a total of $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency was donated to the 23 featured nonprofits on BitcoinTuesday.org. We saw donors donate in 7 different cryptocurrencies and the largest donation came in at 1 BTC (~$7,200 at the time).
Why do people donate cryptocurrency?
Donating cryptocurrency directly to a nonprofit is tax efficient (the donor does not have to pay capital gains tax and can write it off)
Cryptocurrency users like to support nonprofits who support cryptocurrency
We believe the tax incentive accounts for almost all cryptocurrency giving. For this reason, we were surprised to find that so many cryptocurrency users were willing to donate cryptocurrency to nonprofits in a bear market (cryptocurrency prices for BTC have dropped from around $11,000 a month ago, to around $7,000 on December 3).
Brave Ads and Social Media Extended Reach, Driving Traffic and Donations.
The BitcoinTuesday.org platform saw over 40,000 unique site visitors in the 24 hour period and is still receiving visitors from around the world. Most traffic was United States-based, followed by France, Italy and Germany.
Brave Browser is the number one provider of cryptocurrency fundraising advertisements. Much of this traffic is attributable to our partner and Bitcoin Tuesday sponsor Brave Browser. As a presenting sponsor, they provided #BitcoinTuesday and nonprofit partner ads with a complete ad takeover on December 3rd. This meant that all ad space on their platform for that day was donated to advertising nonprofits. These ads received a whopping 1,200,000+ impressions and 160,000+ clicks, increasing awareness and driving a new potential donor base towards crypto-friendly nonprofits.
On social media, @TheGivingBlock posts had over 200,000 impressions and hundreds of thousands more from our nonprofit partners and sponsors, driving awareness of cryptocurrency donations even further.
Cryptocurrency Donations Get Influencers and Donors Excited.
The #BitcoinTuesday campaign was covered by some amazing outlets in financial, nonprofit and cryptocurrency media, including industry leaders such as:
We also had some great support from well known figures in the community. Actor and comedian Rainn Wilson, who plays “Dwight” in the show The Office, played on Mark Cuban’s infamous “bitcoin vs bananas” comments and encouraged donors to donate their “worthless cryptocurrency” to the Mona Foundation on Bitcoin Tuesday. See his tweet and video here.
We also had famous Bitcoiner and cypherpunk, Jameson Lopp, support Code to Inspire, one of the featured causes. See his tweet here.
Fundraising Cryptocurrency is Not Just for Giving Tuesday and Year End Giving.
We look forward to making Bitcoin Tuesday an annual day of cryptophilanthropy and growing the number of participating nonprofits, donors and sponsors. We believe that expanding the prevalence of cryptocurrency for social good is a great driver for adoption and mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrency. By increasing the amount of organizations participating in the cryptocurrency donations ecosystem, we will be able to examine and analyze far more data around cryptocurrency giving trends and the role of cryptocurrency as an emerging method of giving to nonprofits as it becomes more mainstream.
We’ve learned a lot from our first Bitcoin Tuesday and have plenty of plans for the future when it comes to increasing cryptocurrency donations to nonprofits. On the technical side of things, we plan to refine and improve upon our Donation Form and platform as we prepare for 2020. For the remainder of the year, we will be working with our existing and new nonprofit partners on their end of year cryptocurrency fundraising initiatives during tax season.
If you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late! For most nonprofits, Giving Tuesday marks the first day of their annual giving seasons. Because cryptocurrency donations are a hyper tax incentivized way of giving, most cryptocurrency is donated in the final quarter of the year as people plan their taxes and look for ways to offset some of their capital gains. For more information on how cryptocurrency donations are treated for tax purposes, you can read more here.
The Bitcoin Tuesday platform will continue to operate year round so keep an eye on BitcoinTuesday.org as we build out the platform and add more featured causes to donate cryptocurrency to:
- Visit the bitcointuesday.org platform
- Select your favorite crypto-friendly nonprofit
- Donate BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, ZEC or GUSD!
- Share on social media
What if you are a nonprofit that missed out on Bitcoin Tuesday?
If you are from a nonprofit that wishes to accept cryptocurrency in a quick, easy and compliant manner – let’s talk. We help 501(c)3 nonprofits navigate the world of cryptocurrency donations, and have a drag and drop Donation Form making it simple for cryptocurrency donors to give to you – whether its Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, Litecoin, or others.
Thanks to all of our participating nonprofits, sponsors, partners and donors – we couldn’t have done it without you.
-The Giving Block Team
