Highlights
- Shift4 and The Giving Block are about to launch the biggest crypto philanthropy campaign series in history, with millions of dollars in matching funds, designed to help crypto donors multiply the impact of their giving, and to give nonprofits immersive ways to truly join the crypto community.
- After having invested tens of thousands of hours into crypto philanthropy over nearly half a decade, one of the most influential (and generous) payments companies on the planet took note and we’ve come together around a shared vision to become a force for good in both the crypto and nonprofit sectors.
- If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of the people who’s helped us get this far so thank you for believing in us. And thank you in advance for helping us take Crypto Philanthropy to the next level in 2022 and beyond.
Today, The Giving Block joins the Shift4 family in a move that will generate a quantum leap in Crypto Philanthropy adoption for nonprofits and donors. We will expand upon our position as a leader in crypto philanthropy into a platform for all donations and take crypto mainstream by bringing crypto offerings to Shift4’s 200,000+ merchants.
Why Shift4
This part is easy. Shift4 is a leading payments company that processes more than $200B in annual payments volume for hotels, restaurants, entertainment and other key sectors. Our introduction to Shift4 came through their Shift4Cares program when they launched the Inspiration4 campaign. The campaign raised $240M for St. Jude as Shift4 CEO and Founder Jared Isaacman led the first all-civilian space mission into orbit. As we got to know the Shift4 team, it became clear how serious their commitment to philanthropy was, and we immediately aligned around two shared priorities:
- Becoming the best payments company in the nonprofit sector
- Becoming the leading driver of mainstream crypto adoption
When a company of Shift4’s stature presented us with the opportunity to change the world in the ways that matter most, joining forces went from being a decision to an imperative.
How We Got Here
On December 15, 2017, The Giving Block didn’t exist. We exchanged flurries of messages as we refreshed reddit threads. The Pineapple Fund was busy sending millions of dollars in Bitcoin to nonprofits. This wave of generosity sparked the most mainstream crypto coverage we had ever seen and the nonprofit sector was buzzing with an innovative spirit like we’d never seen. When The Pineapple Fund ended, the magic was gone. But we were hooked, and came together around the following beliefs:
- Crypto Philanthropy can be the most powerful driver of nonprofit innovation.
- Crypto Philanthropy can be the most powerful driver of crypto adoption.
We’ve since committed our lives to the development of a Crypto Philanthropy ecosystem that has driven nearly $100,000,000 into the hands of organizations in every corner of the nonprofit sector, as we assembled the giving platform, campaigns, giving pledge and corporate crypto philanthropy programs piece by piece. None of this would have been possible without the people crazy enough to join our team along the way, leaving comfortable lives in proven industries to join something entirely new and completely unproven.
And, of course, everything we do is fueled by the crypto community who have put their faith in us to lead the nonprofits they support. Over the past four years, we’ve watched as hundreds of bright and shiny web3 projects have come and gone as we continued building the resources, team and opportunities for nonprofits to systematically reduce their risk, and systematically increase their crypto revenue—at their own pace and on their own terms. We didn’t have a token, we didn’t have a DAO. We had resources, webinars, fundraising strategists, a network of advisors and appraisers. In short, in a crypto world where everyday there’s something way more fun to think about than us, you’ve all consistently joined us in putting the nonprofits’ needs first instead of your own—even when it’s been really, really boring. Because you believed in us, we’ve turned cryptocurrency from a donation method to a donor demographic—one of the most valuable on the planet.
What This Means for Crypto Philanthropy
What the nonprofit sector can expect from The Giving Block and Shift4 is rising crypto donations for the Crypto Philanthropy programs on our platform, and a tidal wave of product and service innovation. This explosive growth will be ignited by a crypto philanthropy campaign series that is slated to be the biggest in history, with millions of dollars in donation matching pools and tens of thousands of new donors.
What the crypto sector can expect, first and foremost, is that our platform will level up our ability to empower the nonprofits we support to not just accept crypto, but grow with it. Starting with a crypto fundraising campaign series with match dollars, we will grow the Crypto Philanthropy movement into one of the leading forces of change in the impact sector, turn your act of donating crypto from something transactional into something transformational (we credit Michael Wood on our team with this beautiful way of putting it). Additionally, we will now have the resources to provide a series of breakthrough innovations around modes of giving and platform functionality to our donors. Finally, we will lead on developing comprehensive crypto giving programs across the sector with the companies and projects who want to be a part of our movement to turn cryptocurrency into the most important driver of global impact on the planet.
By joining the Shift4 family and doing all this, we are now able to ensure that:
- Crypto Philanthropy will be the most powerful driver of nonprofit innovation.
- Crypto Philanthropy will be the most powerful driver of crypto adoption.
Shift4’s passion for both innovation and philanthropy have been at the heart of their business from day one. Their status as a leading payments company with over $200B in annual payments volume, plus our shared commitment to taking crypto mainstream and leading on nonprofit sector payments innovation, has given us the opportunity to have the impact on the world we began dreaming up as a few awkward kids hosting crypto philanthropy meetups out of a basement in DC.
The Giving Block’s nonprofits, donors and partners can continue to expect the same over-the-top commitment to service that got us here, but with even more resources to make their crypto giving, and fundraising, even more impactful.
We’re excited for this new chapter and can’t wait for you to see what we have planned in 2022 and beyond, beginning with the largest crypto philanthropy campaign in history. Stay tuned.
—Pat, Alex and our growing team at The Giving Block
(Want to help us change the world? We’re hiring!)
