#Give100% on Bitcoin Giving Tuesday

Today is Giving Tuesday, and the Bitcoin Foundation has partnered with the BitGive Foundation and Bitcoin Black Friday “to raise awareness and provide a way for people to give 100%, no matter how small the amount, to the causes they care most about.” People looking to donate using Bitcoin can visit BitcoinGivingTuesday.org – a collaboration among these three organizations – to find a listing of all charities and not-for-profit organizations that accept the digital currency.

In a press release sent to CoinReport, the organizations noted that with Bitcoin, individuals are now empowered to give as little as one cent and see 100% of their donation go toward their cause.

“Most people don’t know that many charities are charged a fixed transaction cost for each deposit into their bank account,” said the groups in the press release. “If a fixed transaction fee is $0.25, then a $1 donation will equate to a 25% loss. Such inefficiencies in banking systems – particularly when remitting funds internationally – could be overcome by giving in Bitcoin.”

Among the non-profits listed on the Bitcoin Giving Tuesday website is The Water Project, which for the past seven years has been providing sustainable water throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The press release includes an excerpt from a post The Water Project president and founder Peter Chasse wrote on his group’s website in January about the emerging benefits of digital currency. In the post, Chasse discusses costly donation fees. The excerpt reads:

“Unfortunately, today, as our supporter’s donations make their way to our partners in Africa, these exchanges have become far more costly than the benefits organizations and individuals actually receive from these arbiters of trade,” wrote Chasse. “From credit card donation processing fees, to domestic banking fees, to the costly overseas transfer of funds with its concomitant dilution through currency trading arbitrage and trade commissions, and finally to the local bank fees in Kenya or Rwanda, a lot of folks take significant ‘cuts’ along the way. Most of these fees are obscured and non-negotiable. We’re told the process is difficult, cumbersome and expensive, but since we can’t see it we remain unconvinced.”

On the matter of Bitcoin, Chasse wrote that “a system this open tends to be harder to manipulate and skew in favor of one population or another. When you look at the disadvantages the poor so often face in traditional banking, this one potential benefit become central to cryptocurrency’s appeal for me, especially in emerging economies.”

The Bitcoin and BitGive foundations and Black Bitcoin Friday are asking people to spread the word about Bitcoin Giving Tuesday on social media by using the hashtags #GivingTuesday, #BitcoinGivingTuesday, and #Give100%

Image credits:

Bitcoin Foundation image courtesy of Bitcoin Foundation

BitGive Foundation image courtesy of BitGive Foundation

The Water Project image via their media kit