The holidays are coming, and as bitcoin has increased in value, many crypto-proponents are donating their funds during this year’s “season of giving.” There’s a whole lot of charitable efforts and causes accepting bitcoin this year, and we’ve hunted down a wide variety of nonprofits for your convenience.
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Every year people donate to charities across the globe but during the month of December, well over a quarter of the world’s annual donations are given to nonprofits. Further, the last three days of the year see the most giving, as those three days represent 10 percent of the funds donated every year. This year, now that bitcoin has reached new all-time highs and is currently valued at roughly $18,900, bitcoiners are giving more satoshis than ever before. For instance, Fidelity Charity who accepts bitcoin raised over $22 million worth of BTC this year, eclipsing all the other years prior. Since it’s the season of giving we decided to aggregate a list for our readers of well known charitable causes that accept bitcoin.
Charitable Causes That Accept Cryptocurrency Donations
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a well known charitable organization that focuses on protecting the civil liberties within the digital world and online. The nonprofit was founded in 1990 and has accepted bitcoin for donations since the spring of 2013. BTC donations go towards, policy research, internet litigation, software development, and more. Many bitcoiners believe the EFF is a great organization that fights for open source development and the freedoms tethered to the digital information age.
The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
Another charity that accepts bitcoin donations is the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research center created in 1986. The organization researches, and educates the public on the societal benefits of psychedelics and cannabis. The sciences involved with psychedelic and medical marijuana has evolved further than basic therapy and spirituality. MAPS believes studies with marijuana and psychedelics can lead to better cures and a greater understanding of these types of drugs.
Wikileaks
Wikileaks is an organization that started in 2006 that was initiated by the cypherpunk, Julian Assange. The website is operated by an international journalistic group that provides classified information, and leaks stemming from governments, and corporations. Wikileaks has been accepting bitcoin since 2010 when the nonprofit was blocked by credit card organizations during a financial blockade.
Antiwar
The website Antiwar.com was created in 1995 and encourages the end of war and ending the military-industrial complex. Antiwar’s website has been accepting bitcoin core (BTC) since 2013 and has just recently announced the acceptance of bitcoin cash (BCH), as well as zcash, and dash. The nonprofit is devoted to “non-interventionism” and has staunch libertarian leanings. Currently, the group is focused on the many wars taking place in the middle east and issues involving North Korea.
Watsi
Watsi is a small nonprofit that has been gaining attention this year by attempting to create universal health coverage. The charitable cause uses two programs to help people get access to healthcare resources which includes Watsi Crowdfunding and Watsi Coverage. These services are used to provide people in unfortunate situations with a doctor’s checkup or life-changing surgery.
The Water Project
The 501(c)(3) nonprofit the Water Project is a well-known organization among bitcoin proponents. The charitable cause invests funds to build local clean water solutions to help citizens suffering from the water crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year over 5,500 individuals donated $2Mn, which provided fresh water to 200 communities and schools giving clean water to more than 300,000 sub-Saharan African residents.
Code to Inspire
The registered nonprofit, Code to Inspire (CTI), was created by Fereshteh Forough back in 2015. The organization produces classrooms for women in Afghanistan who are interested in getting an education in software and online businesses. CTI opened the first school in Herat, Afghanistan, and taught roughly 50 female students daily. The charitable cause has grown much larger since its inception providing hundreds of Afghani women with a technical education and computers as well.
Common Collection
A peer-to-peer platform called Common Collection uses donated bitcoins to help global refugees and people in poverty. Many of the individuals listed on Common Collection’s website have suffered from natural disasters. The nonprofit’s founder Elisabeth Grothe-Møller believes bitcoin can impact those in need almost instantly and provides a more efficient way to crowdfund charitable efforts.
The Internet Archive (Archive.org)
The Internet Archive and ‘Wayback Machine’ is a San Francisco–based non-profit that wants everyone in the world to have universal access to the information provided on the internet. The web portal was created in 1996 by Brewster Kahle, and the collection of data housed by the archive exceeds over 15 petabytes of data. The 501(c)(3) non-profit has accepted bitcoin core (BTC) since 2012 and just recently started taking bitcoin cash (BCH) for donations this year. Additionally, the creators of the Internet Archive have kept a good portion of donated bitcoins rather than exchanging them for fiat right away.
Last Door
An addiction recovery center located in Vancouver called, ‘The Last Door,’ has been accepting bitcoin for drug rehabilitation support for quite some time. The Last Door specializes in helping drug and alcohol addicts find a better way. The nonprofit has two programs, one that helps children with addiction problems and the other specializes in adult therapy. All bitcoin donations go towards an “abstinence-based, nicotine free long-term residential treatment for addiction.”
Bitgive
Bitgive was one of the first bitcoin-centric 501(c)(3) nonprofits, and was created in 2013 by Connie Gallippi. The charitable organization believes cryptocurrency solutions and blockchain transparency will become the future of giving over the next few years. Bitgive has raised funds for a variety of other nonprofits including Medic Mobile, TECHO, Save the Children, and The Water Project. In 2015 the charity created a 2.0 initiative which aims to increase charitable donation transparency.
The Wikimedia Foundation
Another recognized 501(c)(3) charitable organization called the Wikimedia Foundation uses donated funds for the growth of freely distributed multilingual educational content. It also helps collaborate with the online encyclopedia nonprofit Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation has been accepting bitcoin since the summer of 2014. The nonprofit works with the San Francisco–based firm Coinbase to help process donations.
Epic Change
The charitable cause Epic Change is a social innovation project which has a wide variety of projects. The nonprofit has built classrooms in Tanzania, while also crowdfunding project in Afghanistan, Nepal, the US, and Kenya. The projects Epic Change has created in the past include the Twitter Kids of Tanzania, Love Apocalypse, Wonder Study, Epic Thanks, To Mama With Love, and LaLa Love. The Epic Change team says, “We create movements designed to amplify the voices and the impact of changemakers.”
The SENS Research Foundation
The SENS Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity devoted to researching and treating age-related disease. The nonprofit funds universities studying science and medicine while also utilizing its own research center for regenerative medicine to repair R&D. The charity accepts bitcoin and hopes donations help find cures and ways to make these diseases easier to live with for people suffering from age-related issues.
The OpenBSD Foundation
The Canadian based nonprofit, the OpenBSD Foundation, exists to fund OpenBSD projects and research. OpenBSD is a free and open source Unix-like operating system which has spawned projects like OpenSSH, OpenBGPD, OpenNTPD, OpenSMTPD, LibreSSL, and mandoc. Open source fans have always appreciated the OpenBSD Foundation and the organization has accepted bitcoin for a few years now. Donations are used to fund infrastructure costs for the projects, and software developer events and initiatives.
Nonprofits Are Attracted to the Benefits of Cryptocurrency Donations
Using digital assets to donate funds to charitable causes continues to grow, and there are many more nonprofits that accept cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has fueled the fire of a different kind of giving, and charities all around the world are beginning to see the benefits of cryptocurrency donations.
What do you think about people donating bitcoin to charity this holiday season? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Images via Shutterstock, OpenBSD, EFF, Antiwar, Archive.org, and The Water Project.
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