It's nearly 2022 and just about anyone who is dipping their toe in the investment world is aware of Crypto currencies, blockchains, NFTs, data mining, and decentralized ledgers. Most of us have vague ideas about the concepts, but nearly none of us can fully explain all the moving parts to someone who has never heard of them before. So where does that leave ASK and the other 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States?
According to Forbes, there's over 100 million users of Crypto currencies, with a total net worth into the trillions. In addition, some of the currencies have increased so significantly in value that the capital gains taxes would be astronomical, should the owner decide to cash out. That's where nonprofit organizations come into handy. We provide much needed relief to the communities we serve and as operations and program cost continue to increase it would simply not make sense if we didn't open the doors to Crypto donations.
There are many ways to receive Crypto donations as a nonprofit organization. Think of the currency like stock trades. we can either receive the Crypto currency to our own wallet and then decide when and how much to trade for cash, which then gets transferred to our bank account in the "real world", but the more simple solution is to let a third party do all the heavy lifting, since we're not experts. The donor simply chooses to donate Crypto through an organization like Every.org (see "Donate Crypto" button below), who then converts the full amount to cash and transfers to the nonprofit. This lifts the burden from the nonprofit because we would have to have a separate set of Crypto policies in place, somewhat like investment policies.
This might have been a little more than you came here for, but as you can tell, it's critical that ASK embraces these types of donations and learn what we can, so that we can exercise fiduciary responsibility and not leave any money on the table. It's also critical that we approach millennial donors where they are - as almost half of that generation is comfortable owning some form of Crypto currency according to Bankrate.
If you want to experience what donating Crytpo currency looks like, click the button below. You can also use the same button to donate to ASK using Donor Advised Fund (DAF), Stock trade, Venmo and other financial vehicles.
Sources:
Jaarda, K. (2021, December 10). Council post: How your nonprofit can accept gifts of cryptocurrency. Forbes. Retrieved December 29, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesnonprofitcouncil/2021/11/08/how-your-nonprofit-can-accept-gifts-of-cryptocurrency/?sh=7c4ee6fa2952
Royal, J. (n.d.). Survey: Nearly half of millennials comfortable with owning cryptocurrencies. Bankrate. Retrieved December 29, 2021, from https://www.bankrate.com/investing/survey-millennials-cryptocurrency-investing-2021/