Whether it’s donating money, time or resources, the festive season offers a time to give back.

Crypto donations have been steadily increasing over the past few years as global adoption increases, but what makes donating in crypto so attractive to both donors and charities themselves.

The Giving Block is a crypto donation platform that allows donors to choose from thousands of crypto-friendly nonprofits to support, with more than 90 cryptocurrencies available to use for donations.

They also help nonprofits get set up to accept crypto donations, including international charity WaterAid who are determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone.

Earlier this month Marketing Manager Lorna Hutchman caught up with Pietro Moran, Director of Partnerships at The Giving Block and Sarah Kershaw, Digital Acquisitions Lead at WaterAid to find out more the role cryptocurrency plays in this space.

Here are four key takeaways from the conversation on how charities are embracing digital assets.

WaterAid’s crypto journey started in 2018 with a project that tracked donations on the blockchain and allowed donors to see where their donation was being put to use.

In 2020 when the pandemic hit however, WaterAid decided to start accepting cryptocurrency donations. “The Giving Block made this really easy for us to get started,” explained Sarah Kershaw, who admits that as a charity she doesn’t have an entire team of developers to implement complicated code.

“It was a very simple process to onboard using The Giving Block’s Crypto Donation Widget, and our crypto donations have been growing ever since.”

Sarah shared that “Given the crypto community is a completely different segment from our traditional donors, the opportunity is huge.”

And so to have this opportunity to connect with people who maybe haven’t been engaged in charity giving in this way before, despite being a very digitally savvy group, they are always very excited to engage!

With the help of organizations like The Giving Block, charities can get set-up to accept crypto donations in just five to seven business days.

“We’re essentially a technology partner that does all the heavy lifting for charities,” explains Pietro. “Once we understand the charity’s mission and purpose, we gather all the relevant documentation across legal and other business functions. We try to make it as pain free as possible!”

Despite the downmarket, The Giving Block have still been busy onboarding new non-profits, “We haven’t really seen too much of a turndown in demand,” explains Pietro.

Adding to this, Pietro explains that donor activity has not slowed down either, “Over the last 12 months, we’ve helped fundraise over a hundred million dollars across our charity network, which highlights the social impact that crypto holders want to have.”