Cryptocurrency donations
Hello,
I am interested to find out if any Foundation accepts Cryptocurrency donations. What are some of the things we should consider when we start thinking about taking Crypto donations (pros and cons of Cryptocurrency donations). What is the best practice and how to process the donations?
Thank you in advance for your input and time.
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Hi @MinalPatel,
Very interesting question. We do not currently accept Crypto, but it has come up in conversations about what the future may look like. I'd be interested to hear if others are getting this request today, or just planning for the future? Have you, or others you've talked to, put any thought into how you would want to manage this?
Grant
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We got few questions and that's why we started researching about it. We want to be ready if we start getting more questions in near future. I am hoping to talk to other foundations who already accepts Cryptocurrency donations on how they accept and manage this type of donations.
Minal
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We actually just signed up for an account at the Giving Block to help us facilitate crypto donations. It was pretty easy and we are in the process of giving a donation page set up on our website now.
Nick
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We recently revised our gift acceptance policies to include cryptocurrency and signed up with Engiven. We checked with other cryptocurrency management sites and found Engiven to be the best fit for our foundation. Engiven does not charge anything unless and until the Foundation receives a donation (no annual fee); it is then a 5% fee off the top, they convert it to cash and deposit the money directly into your bank account no matter the time of day. We did not want the hassle of owning and managing our own wallet as we wanted any crypto donations to be immediately converted to cash. Engiven also helps you set up a widget for your website for no additional charge. You can add and close funds on the site to accept donations and it is very user friendly. They have been very helpful to us, and I would absolutely recommend them.
Michelle
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Thank you @NickWilliams and @MichelleHuddle I have looked at the Giving Block website and I will check out the Engiven website. We do not want the hassle of owning and managing our own wallet so this is helpful information.
Once you are set up and start receiving the crypto donations, can you share your experience and process with us?
Thanks,
Minal
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@MichelleHuddle , great information.
Our gift acceptance polies allow donations of crypto with the approval of our gift acceptance committee. Like others, we don't want to own it, we want to turn it in to cash. It's important for us to inform donors of how the IRS views crypto. The IRS treats it as tangible personal property. Therefore, if the donation is more than $5,000 they will need a qualified appraisal to substantiate a charitable deduction.
Kent
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I’m late to the conversation but we recently signed up with The Giving Block to accept gifts of cryptocurrency and are in the process of getting ready to put it on our website.
It was added to our gift acceptance policy last fall and we sent information to donors on the tax benefits in April.
We also reached out to Bryan Clontz and his company has the resources to accept these types of assets but would not be as cost effective for smaller crypto donations.
If we have a large donation that we know about ahead of time we would consider reaching out to his company to see what would be the best route for the donor in terms of fees.
Thanks!
Jessica
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Our finance committee is also going to discuss adding cryptocurrency as part of our investment policy- nothing large of course, but possibly a small percentage to add diversification.
Have others done the same?
Thanks!
Jessica
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@JessicaMartin do you know if Giving block have qualified appraisal who can apprise the donations over $5k?
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We amended our gift acceptance policies about two years ago. Have as yet to receive a digital gift, but wanted to be prepared for them knowing they would be forthcoming at some point. Am attaching our policy if it might help.
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I'm curious if anyone knows the answer to the question posed above by @MinalPatel. I know that Charitable Solutions, LLC can appraise crypto, in fact they were the first qualified appraisers out there. Knowing if there are others would be useful.
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Although our CF has not received donations of digital currency, I have a personal wallet with Coinbase. When I am ready to sell some currency, for a small fee, it is quickly converted to USD and in my bank account within 24 to 48 hours. Very simple process.
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@MichelleHuddle Have you received any crypto donations yet via Engiven?
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@CarolynSiegfried Not yet, though I'm hoping since Bitcoin reached an all-time high today that there is a gift coming! :) That's why our Foundation chose Engiven...we can have our account open and ready without any annual fees...just in case we don't get a gift.
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HI All,
We've just accepted our first gift of Crypto via The Giving Block. The are charging 3.0% per transaction, though, the transaction details report 2.85So, I've got to get to the bottom of that. In first year, they are waiving the annual $2,500 standing fee.
I understand from their support staff that they do have a short list of "qualified appraisers." MinalPatel and KentWeimer
I'm in the process of filing out the 8282 and sort of stumbling through Section III 3, Was the use related to the organization's exempt purposes or function? I can reason this out with a gift of art or a car, but as this IS a form of currency and we all deal with endowment/investments, it does seem that question should be answered Yes. Thoughts?
Under amount received upon disposition, should that be Gross of the fee or net of the fees? Any Financial folks out there who have figured this out.
We also updated our GAP (language update, attached) but don't require review of our GAP Committee as selling is within a week of gifting, reducing risk substantively.
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We received our first crypto donation in year-end giving. We use Engiven who charges a small fee to convert to USD. Happens within minutes but then takes a couple of days for the banking system to get their act together and is deposited directly into our account. Pretty seamless process.
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Thank you @RandMorgan for the update.
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@RandMorgan So cool! Are there any differences with tracking cryptocurrency from "traditional" donations?
Kara Adams, M.Ed., CAE (she/her/hers)|Community Manager|kara.adams@foundant.com
Headquartered: Bozeman, MT| Remote Location: Chicago, IL | Direct: 312-802-1374 |www.foundant.com|
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Because Engiven converts it to USD, it comes to us as a cash donation. I'm not the expert, but it is my understanding that for the donor, depending on the amount, it could be a little more complicated since the IRS does not consider it a cash donation, rather similar to donating stock. The donor may be required to complete Form 8283 and potentially get a qualified appraisal if the donation is more than $5,000. We do supply sufficient written acknowledgment to the donor for our part of their IRS documentation requirements.
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@RandMorgan were you able to get donor name from Engiven or did donor contact you? One thing I have heard is it's hard to get donor name for crypto donation if donor does not contact you.
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@MinalPatel The only field required when the donor makes a gift is their email address. In this case, we did receive the donor's info because they filled out all the fields that provided us that very helpful information!
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@RandMorgan - Who is your contact at Engiven (name and email)? Thanks
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@CarolynSiegfried We just signed up for a demo and they assigned an employee to work with us. We are using the "free" version at the moment until we start receiving gifts on a more regular basis. Check them out at https://engiven.com/.
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