Charitable Giving With Cryptocurrency: A New Way to Donate

These are tough times for charities in the United States. Targeted as “money laundering” operations by Elon Musk and his DOGE team, groups like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) that manage and administer assistance programs are on the chopping block, their funding cut off after being labeled as “illegal payments” by the Trump Administration.

Federal judges have stepped in to reinstate funding for many of these organizations, and some state and local governments are doing what they can in the interim to help bridge the gap.

Whatever side of the political fence you’re on, “the government” only provides about one-third of all charitable giving in the United States. Individual donors supplied 68% of the funds in 2021, according to the Giving USA Foundation. In the end, the government is us, so either we’re getting that money where it needs to go or not. Roughly two-thirds of U.S. households will contribute something this year; you should be among them, and you should consider using cryptocurrency if you want the job done right.

What’s in It for Me?

We’re not going to get on our soapbox here and lecture you on why you should help others. Let’s look at those tax incentives instead.

The Tax Policy Center says that some $204.6 billion in charitable deductions was claimed across America in 2020; households making under $50K per annum claimed an average of $4,377, representing a 14.2% share of their income.

The more money you make, the more incentive you’ll have to rack up those deductions and lower your taxable income. Only 1.6% of those in the $50K or lower bracket bothered in 2020, but that rose to 8.5% for the $50-100K bracket, 22.9% for $100-500K, and all the way up to 86.3% for $10 million or more.

Of course, it’s still money coming out of your pocket one way or the other. However, you’re at least the one in control of which charities you donate to. If you don’t make those contributions and choose to pay your full taxes instead, some of that money would normally go to fund federal agencies like USAID, as doled out by Congress.

Not happy with the job they’re doing? Go fund someone else.

Why Should I Donate With Crypto?

Because it works better than “fiat” currency. That’s the whole point of using Bitcoin, Ethereum or any other digital coin out there. However, there are specific reasons why donating with crypto is just the right thing to do:

• There is some added benefit for the people receiving your donation, as they don’t have to pay any tax, provided they’re a U.S. public charity.
• Crypto makes it easier to donate anonymously, as many individual donors prefer to do. (It’s part of the tradition behind the spirit of giving; in this day and age, you might also want to keep certain people from finding out you’re contributing to certain charities they may not endorse.)
• Aid groups can benefit from your crypto donation by holding onto that financial asset and watching it grow in value.

However, the real benefit here is how crypto cuts out so many of the third parties that get in the way when you use USD or other fiat currencies. And isn’t that ultimately what the kerfuffle is all about? Even before DOGE came along, people were rightly worried about what percentage of their donation was actually going to their cause, and how much was getting smothered in red tape.

Now, we can send Bitcoin directly to the American Red Cross – or even non-governmental organizations like Save the Children, which became the first global NGO to accept crypto donations in 2013.

Like the song says, give to the needy, and not the greedy.