Cryptocurrency - Will Your Non-Profit Be Ready?
Part of being a successful mission or non-profit leader is looking toward the future to identify coming trends that will help advance your goals. Cryptocurrency is one of those trends that will significantly impact mission and non-profit work in the future.
While only some non-profits or mission organizations comprehend cryptocurrency's impact in the future, others are seeing its potential and adopting its usage now. There are three ways I believe we can use crypto to be more effective in reaching people with the gospel. Those three main areas are:
1. Donations.
2. Transfer of Funds.
3. Helping the unbanked around the world.
Crypto Donations
The heart of what keeps non-profit organizations going is their donations. There are various ways to donate to non-profits, such as cash, stocks, property, etc. The newest option for giving is digital money or cryptocurrency. Currently, few churches and mission organizations offer crypto-giving opportunities. However, this trend is changing.
For example, the International Mission Board, the largest mission board in the world, has recently begun accepting cryptocurrencies. Because the church I attend now accepts crypto donations, I was able to give to our mission fund using cryptocurrency. Other Christian organizations, such as the Assembly of God denomination, Samaritans Purse, and a Presbyterian Mission board, are among just a few that now offer a donation channel for cryptocurrency. One group doing well and tapping into this new donation channel is Universities, with one school recently receiving a $15 million crypto gift1. This growing trend in crypto donations can be attributed to the fact that crypto adoption is growing.
In 2019 approximately 6% of the U.S. population was invested in some cryptocurrency. By 2022 that number had rapidly grown to 24%2. That is a fourfold increase in three years.
As the adoption rate grows, people use crypto to donate to their favorite non-profits. In the past two years, the cryptocurrency donation rate grew by 2200%3.
A non-profit organization opens the door to a larger donor pool by offering a crypto donation option. Many churches would not accept credit cards or online giving years ago, but that has changed. Online giving is now the norm and was instrumental in helping non-profits fund their ministry during the pandemic. Soon, we will see the same upward trend in crypto giving. Those hesitant to accept this trend may need to catch up in raising the necessary funds to fuel their ministries.
Transfer of Funds.
Another area where cryptocurrency finds practical applications is transferring funds to those in the field. A crypto transfer is significantly faster than traditional international bank transfers, which can take days to reach their destination. While there is always a cost involved in transferring crypto, it can be significantly less than a traditional bank transfer.
Security is always something to consider in moving money to personnel on the mission field, especially when working in countries where a donation from a church or missions organization could put a missionary in great danger. I know a mission group that has transferred over $1 million to a country with elevated security challenges, saving thousands of dollars in transfer fees and sharing the funds securely where that money is not tied to any non-profit organization.
The volatility of fiat money and a desire to move away from the US Dollar has caused many countries to explore crypto usage. In 2022 there was a conference held in El Salvador where Forty-four countries, including the two largest economies in Africa, Egypt and Nigeria4. The conference leaders said this meeting was “…in response to combat hyperinflation and to reduce its reliance on the US dollar”.
As more countries adopt crypto, we will see its usage become commonplace. Many of these countries will be in unreached areas hostile to the gospel. We should be ready to use crypto as this adoption process grows.
Banking the Unbanked
According to some statistics, the number of unbanked people worldwide sits between 2.2 billion and 2.5 billion5. The are several reasons people are unbanked, including but not limited to poverty and trust. There are people around the world who do not have enough money to save, and poverty is the reason they do not use banks. Sometimes, people do not trust their banks or the government to hold their money. Governments have been known to use access to personal bank accounts to control people and shut down protests by refusing them access to their funds.
The good news for the unbanked is that this is changing due to the vast proliferation of smartphones. Something eye-opening happened on one of my trips to a refugee camp in a war-torn country. I noticed that almost everyone in the refugee camp had a smartphone. Even in the middle of a tent in this camp, I could get a better signal on my cell than in my office in America. One gentleman, desiring to be discreet in this Muslim-dominated culture, approached me to let me know, through Google Translate, that he was a Christian. I have seen similar smartphone usage in many countries I travel within. This widespread usage of smartphones is growing, with a current usage being around 6.8 billion smartphones in use, with a projected growth of 7.1 billion by 20246.
Smartphones allow people who, even though not wealthy, will be able to begin investing in and storing value in cryptocurrency. With the simplicity of a phone app, they can transfer money to the blockchain, a digital ledger that cannot be altered. The government cannot steal, nor can it freeze accounts. One of the primary challenges is paying the poor in a digital currency that can be used to purchase everyday goods and services. There are ATMs in some places that allow a user to access their digital funds by converting crypto to local fiat currency. Part of the answer to this problem is already taking place. The option to pay employees in cryptocurrency is available in several countries7. For those in areas where this may not be an option, the Bitcoin beach story offers a small glimpse into the future, exploring the idea that digital crypto payments will become a reality as time and technology move forward8.
I guess the question I would ask my nonprofit and mission friends is, “Will we be ready, or will we be playing catch up to the crypto revolution?” I aim to be one of those mission leaders ready to step into the future, maximizing the tools God has given us to reach the world with the gospel.
1 https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-receives-15m-cryptocurrency-donation-largest-for-research-on-airborne-pathogens?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_content=ap_5u151o7cb2
2 Conversation with Jusitn Greene, CFO, Engiven Inc.
3 https://thecharitycfo.com/cryptocurrency-for-nonprofits-donations/
4 https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/bitcoin-el-salvador-crypto-btc-b2079881.html
5 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/the-worlds-unbanked-in-6-charts/
6 https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-people-have-smartphones
7 https://www.analyticsinsight.net/top-companies-that-are-paying-its-employees-in-bitcoin/