Watch: The ins and outs of cryptocurrency fundraising

As nonprofit leaders navigate the opportunities and challenges of cryptocurrency fundraising, they can learn from the early adopters that are accepting these digital assets. On Tuesday, leaders working at the forefront of this new frontier in fundraising joined in a Devex Pro Live event to discuss the ins and outs of cryptocurrency donations. The conversation covered everything from setting up a wallet — software connected to the blockchain that allows nonprofits to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — to developing a promotional campaign around cryptocurrency fundraising. GiveWell, an organization that supports charities with proven evidence of impact, started accepting crypto in December 2017, after seeing that many of its donors wanted to make crypto donations. “See if you have existing donor interest,” said Ben Bateman, head of growth at GiveWell. “That was the clearest signal for us.” Once GiveWell receives a donation, like a recent high-profile donation of $50 million worth of ether, the organization immediately sells it, converting the crypto into dollars. Nonprofits have to decide whether they want to be passive or active when it comes to cryptocurrency fundraising, said Pat Duffy, co-founder of the Giving Block, a crypto donations platform for charities. “If you’re going big, figure out how you want to approach that,” he said. Just as nonprofits communicate how much impact comes from every dollar raised, they might want to tailor that message for cryptocurrencies, Duffy said. UNICEF started to explore cryptocurrency as part of a larger recognition that digital finance would influence not only the operations of the agency but also the ways it might deliver services to children around the world, said Sunita Grote, lead at UNICEF Ventures, which is part of the organization’s larger innovation work. A major challenge is remaining “agile and responsive to a space that moves so incredibly quickly,” she said. Grote described how the UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund, which launched in October 2019, allows the organization to receive, hold, and disburse cryptocurrency donations, and it is now supporting open source technology benefiting children. “Be very clear about the why,” Grote said. “That will help you on the best path to take.”