Many nonprofits continue to face fundraising challenges as the pandemic creates seismic shifts in the landscape. Public interest in in-person fundraising activities and volunteerism remains depressed. Nearly all nonprofit organizations in CAF America’s study said the pandemic negatively impacted them, and ~74% are pivoting efforts to digital fundraising. Furthermore, smaller nonprofits seem to have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic given their limited resources.

Consequently, some charities have been looking at new fundraising opportunities in light of the changing environment. One of the markets that have shown tremendous promise is the crypto community. Crypto investors have not only done incredibly well but there’s evidence to suggest the demographic is quite philanthropic as well.

Cryptocurrency philanthropy is still relatively new, but the growth has been massive. A recent CNBC survey revealed that a large portion (83%) of Millennial millionaires own crypto investments. The results are consistent with Fidelity’s survey, which suggests nearly half of Millennials believe Crypto is a wise investment compared to only 6% of baby boomers. Better yet, Fidelity’s “Cryptocurrency and Philanthropy” report indicates Millenials are also a socially conscious generation with a propensity to give. Of those surveyed, 88% of Millennials indicated that “Charitable giving is a significant or important part of their life.” compared to Gen X (77%) and Baby Boomer (69%). Source: “Cryptocurrency and Philanthropy” by Fidelity Charitable.

Additionally, a Give.org report of 2021 recently pointed out that even though the number of charitable donors is decreasing, younger people and minority groups express a higher desire to be approached by charities. Thus nonprofits need to deliberately build meaningful connections with these groups by using a strategy that reaches them easily, by increasing trust, and by strengthening bonds with individual donors.

Our experience at Better Giving reaffirms these beliefs. The success of our recent sustainability campaign, “Restore Earth,” is a testament to the crypto community’s charitable nature. “Restore Earth,” which ran between Nov 30th through Dec 31st, raised over $1.5 Million from 2,000+ individual crypto donors and web3 projects. This funded three areas addressing climate change through Global Brigades’ reforestation campaign, the Solar Electric Light Fund’s initiative to offset carbon with renewable energy, and the 5 Gyres Foundation to reduce ocean plastic.

The charitable nature of the crypto community extends beyond individual crypto investors. We have seen crypto protocols, validators, and NFT projects commit voluntarily to a triple bottom line (TBL) approach.

While fundraising continues to be one of the biggest challenges for nonprofits, we believe crypto investors and projects present a new and largely untapped opportunity for nonprofit fundraising.