Blockchain Donation Platform GiveSafely Aims to Redefine Charity Sector

Table of Contents

• Using Blockchain to Restore Trust
• When Charity and Crypto Intersect

• Charity starts on the blockchain.
• At least it does with GiveSafely, a new platform to help charitable organizations incentivize donors. 

Charity starts on the blockchain. At least it does with GiveSafely, a new trust-based donation platform intended to help charitable organizations incentivize and interact with donors. 

The brainchild of the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance (BBB WGA), and co-funded by the biggest national charity monitoring organization Give.org, GiveSafely aims to lever the efficiencies of blockchain technology within the charity sector. The project has been in the works for over a year, following conversations with accredited charities.

GiveSafely will list only BBB-accredited charities and use TrustTokens to dispense rewards (gifts, online experience) that incentivize donors and tie them to charities’ objectives in relatable and engaging ways. All donors’ personal information is secured by the Ardor blockchain, with donations and donor data flowing directly to the relevant organizations. 

Using Blockchain to Restore Trust

With immutable infrastructure in place, GiveSafely and the BBB WGA hope to address the fact that just 19% of people “highly trust” charities, according to last year’s Donor Trust Report.

The GiveSafely platform also enables cryptocurrency users to make donations by pledging digital assets, with stats showing that a quarter of wealthy millennials hold or use virtual currencies.

Art Taylor, CEO of BBB Wise Giving Alliance stated: "This platform will provide new forms of engagement with Millennials and Generation Z which we believe are critical audiences for the future growth of philanthropy. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, charities were facing a wide variety of challenges in how their traditional fundraising model operated, we believe this new donation platform will help strengthen donor trust in charities while also providing a bridge to younger donors seeking new forms of engagement."

By protecting user data and facilitating crypto-based donations directly to the likes of Save the Children, World Emergency Relief, and the Wild Animal Sanctuary, the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance hope that GiveSafely – operating as a child-chain based on the Ardor multichain platform – becomes a new and transparent benchmark for fundraising.

When Charity and Crypto Intersect

This isn’t the first time the worlds of charity and blockchain have intersected, with Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange – having founded a philanthropic arm it’s dubbed the planet’s first decentralized charity foundation. Binance Charity recently facilitated over $4 million worth of donations to COVID-19 hotspots, enabling the donation of masks, PPE suits and gloves to 24 countries in need. 

A UK-based charity for children with cardiac conditions, the Children’s Heart Unit Fund (CHUF), also revealed that it had received almost $48,000 in cryptocurrency donations.

Proponents of blockchain technology have long contended that its incorporation into the philanthropy sector could restore trust in the donation process by ensuring transparency of funds, eliminating barriers and borders, overcoming censorship and appealing to tech-savvy millennial and Generation Z donors. If donating is a secure, transparent and rewarding experience, the theory goes, trust in charities will be strengthened and benefactions will rise.