With the continuing progression of technology, we have reached a fascinating age where the digital world has enabled us to better serve the physical one. The ability to crowdfund online has led to projects obtaining funding that otherwise would have been dead in the water, showing the world that when we care about a dream, we find ways to make it come to fruition.
From a kitten card game to a movie production, the success stories of internet crowdfunding are far too many to count. However, the popularity of crowdfunding does not only apply to commercial fundraisers but even to charitable causes, as noticed with the website GoFundMe.com. On GoFundMe.com users can propose a cause which other users can donate to – be it a personal emergency or a non-profit in need of support.
This growing popularity of crowdfunding has caused even technology giants such as Facebook to jump on the bandwagon, with the site’s fundraising feature allowing users to choose a non-profit which their friends can donate to in lieu of their birthday present.
Seeing the digital transfer of funds that takes place with these online donations, it is about time that cryptocurrencies, the now-famous method of online value transfer, get to make their appearance in this segment.
And a new non-profit aims to do just that.
What is GiveCrypto?
Launched by Brian Armstrong, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase; and Rose Broome, (founder of charitable organization HandUp.org), the cryptocurrency based donation site GiveCrypto.com aims to revolutionize the process of giving for charity by making it an easier procedure for those who want to participate in it.
Since cryptocurrencies are built with the notion of cross-border payments in mind, the site will allow people to utilize this new technology to help people in need worldwide.
The website and organization is the brainchild of Armstrong, who saw the potential of using cryptocurrencies to fund charities after first reading the white paper on Bitcoin written by its legendary creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
The idea of using cryptocurrency as a form of philanthropy is not a new one, with examples like EatBCH, the Pineapple Fund, or Ripple’s donation of $29 million in Bitcoin to public schools demonstrating the ability to use cryptocurrency to change lives.
However, GiveCrypto.org remains the first non-profit to hold and distribute cryptocurrency to those in need in an evergreen manner, meaning that it gives away less than it brings in every year, allowing it to consistently have the capital to grow and continue to aid others in a propitious manner.
Its mission statement reflects this devotion to connecting and aiding the world by stating that it will “financially empower people by distributing cryptocurrency globally”.
The working model of the non-profit are simple to understand, so are the various causes that it focuses on.
How Does GiveCrypto Work?
GiveCrypto accepts online donations through cryptocurrency wallets, where it interested parties can donate to the nonprofit using popular digital assets such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple XRP, and Zcash.
Since the project was started by Armstrong, who also serves as CEO of Coinbase, his experience of helming the famous cryptocurrency exchange has ensured that the infrastructure for GoCrypto remains simple for the beneficiaries.
All that beneficiaries have to do to participate in the charitable efforts by GoCrypto is to transfer any amount of their choice in any of the aforementioned cryptocurrencies. From there, the charity takes care of the rest of the process.
GiveCrypto makes it clear that 100% of donated funds will be directly distributed to those in need. The founding members of the project will go ahead donate the necessary funds needed to cover the overhead and operational costs.
It will also give new donors with donations of $25,000 and above the option to have some of their funds allocated to cover operational costs. In case they do not opt for this, then GiveCrypto will donate all their funds in their entirety to the end recipient of the funds.
Which Causes Does GiveCrypto Focus On?
The nonprofit follows a direct-cash transfer method in which it will directly transfer crypto to people in need in order to “increase people’s income, boost food consumption and dietary diversity, improve school attendance, health care visits, household savings, and investments in productive assets”.
While it focuses on the aforementioned causes, its long-term goals are comprised of three main points.
- To disburse funds directly to those who need them. Instead of asking those in need of help to sign up for cryptocurrency facilitation websites, it aims to share the donations with them directly in person.
- To enhance the usage of cryptocurrencies beyond exchanges and traders. By ensuring that it has built proper channels to transcend cryptocurrencies and their usage to the real world, the charity aims to obtain tangible advantages for cryptocurrencies and for the people whom it will benefit through this program.
- To propagate the usage of a borderless financial system, where people could be helped beyond the restrictions of borders.
How Will GiveCrypto Achieve Its Goals?
The process by which GoCrypto aims to attain these goals is simple. First, it wishes to acquire an initial fund of $10 million (at the time of writing, the nonprofit has already gathered $3.5 million of this goal already); where $1 million is donated by the founder.
Once the organization reaches its $10 million goal, it intends to hire a small group of employees, entitled “ambassadors”, whose jobs will be to oversee distribution of the funds gathered.
The company will experiment with various forms of distribution in order to test efficacy including direct distribution, working with other nonprofits or even building an app dedicated to distributing and tracking funds.
This will allow better insight into how to best distribute funds and how they are utilized, with the ultimate goal being reaching a fund of $1 billion within two years.
How Beneficial is GiveCrypto?
We live in a world where 2 billion people have smartphones but over 1.7 billion do not have access to basic financial services. This issue disproportionately affects women who in many countries are unfairly excluded from the banking system.
Needless to say, there is a dire need to turn this structure around.
Cryptocurrency serves as a perfect resolution for this problem since it can be transmitted worldwide and circumvents the need for a traditional banking system. With 40 million people in the world that currently own cryptocurrency, and that number projected to increase, there is also a substantial basis of potential funding for nonprofits such as GiveCrypto.
The very method of receiving donations in cryptocurrency and transferring them worldwide is why this new medium of charity could be so effective. Funds can reach those who are in need of them in a period far less time consuming than conventional cross-border wire transfers.
At minimal costs as compared to conventional systems, cryptocurrency can be transferred to anybody with access to the internet anywhere in the world.
Once the funds have been received in the recipient territory and ready to be disbursed to them, the project believes there could be three things the recipients will do with the cryptocurrency.
The first option for recipients is to cash out the cryptocurrency to local currency which will provide immediate relief for those in need. The organization will actively work towards providing resources to allow for easy access to currency exchanges dedicated to this purpose.
The second option is for recipients to hold onto the cryptocurrency as a sort of investment which will grow over time. As cryptocurrency gains popularity and usage, its value will also increase, allowing recipients to benefit from this trend in the future.
The third use case is that the cryptocurrency can be used to spark crypto-based economies in other countries, making it an increasingly lucrative and useful form of currency in the future.
The power of these transactions is summarized by the organization with the statement that cryptocurrency has “potential to be a great equalizer by lifting millions of people out of poverty while accelerating the pace of innovation around the world”.
By not only providing those in need with gathered funds in order to alleviate their suffering, the organization is also effectively taking advantage of a new system of banking which can help people worldwide who don’t have the same access to a strong financial system that those of us in the United States do.
This effectively creates a new method of distributing and storing finances which overcome barriers affecting still-developing countries. By creating a method of distributing wealth worldwide, the organization will not only be helping those in need but will also usher in a new era and attitude towards banking.
This is a groundbreaking and exciting new concept which if fully realized will alter the world of currency as we know it while simultaneously helping people in need escape the suffocating claws of poverty.
To donate today, follow the link provided here. GiveCrypto is backed by a fiscal sponsor by the name of the Pledge Group, which is a 501c3 organization. Therefore, if you want your donation to be tax deductible, you can let GiveCrypto know and it can provide you with a form to achieve that requirement easily.