Many charities 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 charitable organizations in CAF America’s study said the pandemic negatively impacted them, and ~74% are pivoting efforts to digital fundraising. Furthermore, smaller charities 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.
We at Angel Protocol have seen the charitable nature of the crypto community first-hand. Our recent focused fundraising campaign, “Restore Earth,” raised over $1.5 million from crypto donors to tackle climate change issues. And the formation of the Angel Alliance this past year has demonstrated that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a well known concept amongst crypto & NFT projects.
Crypto Community and philanthropy
Cryptocurrency philanthropy is still relatively new, but the growth has been massive. “The Giving Block,” a crypto donation solution, raised $100 million in 2021; and expects to raise more than $1 billion this year. According to its co-founder Alex Wilson, a projected ten-fold increase in one year.
Moreover, 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% for 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%).
Our experience at Angel Protocol 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 in Crypto and UST stablecoin donations from 2,000+ individual crypto donors. Money that’s going toward funding Global Brigade’s reforestation campaign, SELF’s initiative to offset carbon with renewable energy, and 5 Gyres to reduce ocean plastic. The funds will be deposited in the charity’s respective endowment accounts, providing a reliable, perpetually growing funding source for decades to come.
But 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.
The Angel Alliance
One of the most incredible developments for us last year was the formation of the Angel Alliance. In April 2021, Apollo DAO, a Terra-based yield aggregator, proposed to donate 1% of its revenue to Angel Protocol. The act of generosity created a ripple effect within the Terra community. Soon after, LOOP Finance announced it would stake 10% of their tokens in the LOOP Charitable Fund, with yields going to Angel’s charities.
Today the Angel Alliance consists of 80 members contributing over $400,000 to charity every month! With our recent cross-chain expansion with partners like Olympus DAO and PleasrDAO joining the ranks, we expect the Angel Alliance to continue growing in the coming year.
But this is just the beginning. Between contributions from the Angel Alliance, Angel validator stakers, crypto donors, and the HALO token sale, Angel Protocol has raised over $5M to date for charities.
By the Numbers:
The different campaigns have raised contributions as follows
- Angel Alliance Contribution — $1.56 Million
- Restore Earth Campaign — $1.5 Million Raised (2,000+ Donors)
- Angel Validators Stakers — 1.29 Million LUNA Staked (Yield Donated to Angel Protocol charities)
- $DOG charitable contribution to the AP endowment — $500k
- Halo Token Sale — $1.16 Million
- Validator Commission (Jan 1- Jan 17 only) — $381k
While fundraising continues to be one of the biggest challenges for charities, we believe crypto investors and projects present a new and largely untapped opportunity for charity fundraising. And we are incredibly excited for the new year, with our public-facing platform is launching later this month.
We hope you will join us in this journey to put sustainable influence-free money in the hands of charities tackling society’s biggest problems.
Individually, we are a drop, Together we are an Ocean.
Many thanks to author:
Brandon Twitter — @CryptoCents