Liz Rejman and Jason Shim are a part of Pathways to Education, the first Canadian charity to accept Bitcoin gifts. Apra-Carolinas Blog Editor Christopher Resh recently spoke to them about their experience with cryptocurrency.

How long have you been accepting Bitcoin? Can you share your any of your results?

Liz Rejman, Associate Director of Fundraising Operations: For about five years. It’s still a small part of our overall efforts - five cryptocurrency donors is a successful year for us. Bitcoin hitting peak value last year presented a strong argument for giving, though, and we benefited from Bitcoin holders looking for a place to make an impact with their newfound wealth.

Jason Shim, Director of Digital Strategy: After the initial adoption, we expanded the list to Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Zcash, and Monero, and have a form that allows donors to request the ability to donate other cryptocurrency as well.

What drove the decision to start processing Bitcoin gifts? Was anyone at the organization particularly familiar with cryptocurrency when you began the process?

JS: For us, the decision to accept cryptocurrency was about future-proofing our fundraising. When we entered this space, Bitcoin looked like the Internet had a couple decades prior - not widely adopted, carrying significant stigma, but clearly not going away any time soon. Even the Canadian government has explored the possibility of digital currency in recent years.

LR: Jason was our main source of Bitcoin knowledge as we entered the adoption effort, but our organization has always been innovation-friendly. The culture was compatible with the idea.

JS: It was also important to us that the process of adopting cryptocurrency took into consideration the possible rewards for doing so. We entered this realm relatively early in Bitcoin history and have been well-positioned to benefit from valuation increases. When Bitcoin prices were high last winter, for example, we received a donation from someone after they Googled “charities accepting Bitcoin”.

JS: There are people in the cryptocurrency community with an interest in education, just as there are in so many other communities, so there’s certainly a broader precedent for this. Cryptocurrency startup Ripple donated $29 million to fulfill every request for classroom supplies on the website DonorsChoose.org. Another donor anonymously gave away more than $50 million in Bitcoin to various nonprofits through a campaign called the Pineapple Fund in late 2017.

Pathways to Education focuses on helping youth, members of a stereotypically tech-savvy generation. Do you think your work with Bitcoin has helped your reputation with this community?

JS: Yes, we’ve seen some student interest. The culture is different now! Digital payment is the new paradigm - PayPal and Venmo are near-ubiquitous, especially among the youngest generation.

CR: PayPal has a long history of success, but it was Venmo that truly seemed to make that technology universal. Will we see the “Venmo of cryptocurrency” in the years to come?

JS: The right ingredients are slowly coming together for a more universal transaction. There’s a technology called Metamask that allows Ethereum to be used almost seamlessly within traditional browsers, for instance, and there’s every reason to expect this type of technology to expand.

I’ve read in the past that Pathways to Education treats Bitcoin like stock, so you had a model to work from once funds were received. Prior to that step, though, how much of a logistical challenge was it to accept cryptocurrency funds in the first place?

JS: It depends on what you’re looking for in the workflow. Pathways to Education’s process is relatively straightforward: the payments processor we use converts Bitcoin to Canadian Dollars immediately at the time of the gift. We never have to touch the Bitcoin itself. This route compartmentalizes issues of wallet security and the more technical side of Bitcoin to the third-party processor, simplifying the adoption process.

Bitcoin has often made the news for the volatility of its value. Has this presented any issues for you? Have you ever had to pause donations during times of extra volatility?

JS: For reference, a volatile tech stock might fluctuate 8-10% in a day; a wild day of cryptocurrency might see change of 30-40%. With that said, this hasn’t been a material problem for us because we convert Bitcoin gifts to cash immediately. Plus, our donors are protected against rapid change by the multiple options on our invoice screen. Donors can declare their Bitcoin gifts either (1) in dollars, with the equivalent amount of Bitcoin then calculated and donated or (2) in a set amount of Bitcoin independent of the current conversion rate.

Have any loyal donors switched their donations to Bitcoin, or are you primarily reaching new audiences?

LR: Our Bitcoin donor base is entirely new donors and they find us because we accept Bitcoin. That said, we haven’t marketed cryptocurrency heavily to existing donors at this point - it’s not like our mailers now say, “Accepting Visa, Mastercard, and Bitcoin”.

JS: I will add that the new donors haven’t found us because of our Bitcoin policy alone. We’ve also run some search engine optimization campaigns that have contributed to our success there.

Have any other organizations reached out to you for your advice? Do you have a sense of whether Bitcoin gift acceptance has spread?

JS: Absolutely. I would say someone reaches out every month or two. People are curious about the logistics of accepting Bitcoin, but also about how to pitch the idea internally and how to account for it in organizational policy. Liz’s work on our gift acceptance policy has been very useful here.

LR: The key is to integrate Bitcoin donations into your organization’s framework - don’t isolate it. Soon, it’ll be just another donation.

Is there anything else you want to share with organizations who are thinking about integrating Bitcoin?

JS: Think about accepting cryptocurrency as the beginning of a new conversation. Now that Pathways to Education has been doing this for years, we’ve addressed the initial concerns. We’re now able to focus on networking with other organizations in the cryptocurrency community and continue building for the future.

LR: Bitcoin is fascinating as a prospect development tool. Every organization wants new donors, but everyone also has similar lists of the same great philanthropists. Who hasn’t been asked a million times already? Accepting Bitcoin opens the door to a new pool of prospects that you would not have thought about, much less been able to reach, otherwise.

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