GivingTuesday is an initiative started in 2012 that encourages people to make donations after they’re done buying gifts5 during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, #BitcoinTuesday (Dec. 3rd) was created by The Giving Block in an attempt to capture some of the attention and generosity of people who might have more crypto to give than cash.
Alex Wilson and Pat Duffy created The Giving Block to provide a solution that allows nonprofits to easily accept crypto donations. Wilson was an emerging tech consultant and Duffy worked at a nonprofit when they both realized the demand for this type of service.
“We noticed hundreds of millions of dollars being donated to nonprofits in the form of cryto, but most nonprofits having no idea how to accept it.” - Wilson told Cryptocult
Since The Giving Block’s start over a year ago, they have connected with over 100 nonprofits such as The Mona Foundation, Tor Project and Save the Children. Recently, The Mona Foundation even had Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight in The Office, vouching for crypto donations through The Giving Block’s Service.
For #BitcoinTuesday specifically, The Giving Block was able to obtain sponsors including Brave and Gemini to help with promotion and fees.
“Brave for example is doing an ad takeover for Bitcoin Tuesday, while Gemini is putting up some of their exchange fees that day as match dollars.”
Gemini is a key part of their ability to accept multiple crypto assets. The Giving Block uses the Gemini exchange along with their own platform to nonprofits access to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Zcash, and the Gemini Dollar. This is also how nonprofits are able to convert to USD right when a donation is made.
Wilson says that because the donations always go to a 501c3 nonprofit, the donor and nonprofit do not need taxes. Still, some services/products The Giving Block provides can take away from the donations.
“Because the donations always go directly to a 501c3 nonprofit (we are not a middle man), the donor and nonprofit both do not need to pay tax.”
There are other options that allow people to donate and not get taxed, but The Giving Block has filled the niche of allowing various types of cryptocurrencies. Even though people may be hearing about them for the first time because of #BitcoinTuesday, they’re ensuring donors that the platform will be open year round.