In the 2000s, disaster-relief groups began testing ways to raise money via something relatively new called the World Wide Web. With each emergency — notably the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Haitian earthquake in 2010 — more donations flowed. Over time, the entire nonprofit field caught on. Today, online giving is essential to virtually every organization and accounts for more than 10 percent of all donations.

The Ukraine crisis offers a chance that history might repeat itself. More than two dozen nonprofits are trying out nascent cryptocurrency fundraising programs to support their efforts in the country and Central Europe. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been dubbed the “crypto war” because both countries have embraced digital cash for some time, and campaigns to support Ukraine are emerging as a test case of how cryptoinvestors work for good — and whether nonprofits fit in their charitable strategies.

The first weeks of the war have seen a rush of cryptophilanthropy, albeit most of it outside the traditional charity realm. The government of Ukraine and Come Back Alive, a Ukraine nonprofit funding the country’s military, have raised more than $60 million via cryptogifts, according to Elliptic, which tracks such donations through the blockchain technology that lies behind cryptoassets.

“Stand with Ukraine,” the government posted on Twitter, a popular platform for the cryptocommunity, soon after the invasion began. “Now accepting cryptocurrency donations.”

Individual relief charities have raised relatively small amounts so far. Save the Children, which has one of the most robust crypto programs, has raised $300,000 — a sizable amount but a fraction of the $17 million it has received since Russia’s invasion began.

Still, like the online-giving pioneers who hoped to attract young donors, today’s aid groups are excited by a chance to connect with a hard-to-reach demographic — the affluent young men, mostly millennials, who are the typical cryptoinvestors. These organizations aim to learn, grow, and see if there’s truly lightning to catch in the bottle of this new technology.

“The time is right for this type of innovation,” says Ettore Rossetti, a top digital, marketing, and innovations strategist at Save the Children. “We’re seeing a new generation of donors giving back.”

Time will tell whether chasing cryptodollars proves a successful strategy or a passing fad. Some aid groups — notably the U.S. arm of Doctors Without Borders and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee — don’t accept cryptodonations. Cryptocurrency’s reputation suffers because of bad actors who’ve used it to launder money and perpetrate other crimes. Also, some groups may be wary of the environmental impact of cryptocurrency, which requires tremendous computer power and energy to manufacture.

Ultimately, the future of cryptofundraising rests with donors, says Steve MacLaughlin, a data expert at Blackbaud who’s tracked the growth of online giving. They will decide whether and how to use digital cash, and nonprofits will respond accordingly.

Still, the parallels with the start of online giving are undeniable. “It feels like the beginning of the beginning,” MacLaughlin says.

Why Cryptodonors Give

Cryptoinvestors are jumping to aid Ukraine in part because of the nature of the war, says Robbie Heeger, CEO of Endaoment, a community foundation-like nonprofit that houses donor-advised funds of cryptocurrency.

“This is a conflict that hits on core values for the cryptocommunity,” which skews libertarian and opposes the authoritarian nationalism of countries such as Russia, Heeger says. “The only threat to crypto is that the world becomes a more closed-off place where you can’t interact with people across borders or freely over the internet.”

So far, cryptoinvestors have acted on their charitable impulses in a surprising variety of ways. The direct donations to the Ukraine government are unusual unto themselves, but they also amount to lethal aid, which most nonprofits refuse to provide. One cryptocommunity is sending cash directly to Ukranians in need who apply, according to Heeger — evidence, he notes, of the power of cryptodonors to organize quickly and direct capital from anywhere and to anyone.

Nonprofits, however, shouldn’t be discouraged that cryptophilanthropy at times is bypassing them altogether, he says. Some cryptodonors value nonprofits as established entities that are experts in their fields. These donors also appreciate the tax breaks that giving directly to a government or refugees would not afford.

“The giving is not zero sum,” Heeger adds, arguing that crypto will expand philanthropy. More good will be done, and nonprofits will be part of that. “The nonprofits that have embraced this technology have gotten exposure to an entirely new asset class that has been creating trillions of dollars in wealth that previously didn’t exist.”

Cryptobusiness and Giving

To date, much of the Ukraine-related giving to nonprofits has been sparked by crypto-based businesses. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is donating $10 million to Ukrainian relief efforts through its charitable arm. So far, it has put about $6 million into what it calls the first crypto-crowdfunding effort, which has raised an additional $4.5 million. Money from the fund is going to, among other organizations, Unicef and People in Need, a large Central European nonprofit.

Cryptoinvestors at Endaoment have made $2.2 million in Ukraine-related donations, according to Heeger. The total includes roughly $700,000 committed to Endaoment’s Ukraine fund, which is supporting relief agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross but also democracy-building organizations such as the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation.

The Giving Block, a company that helps nonprofits convert cryptogifts and create cryptofundraising programs, has raised more than $1.5 million through a fund promoted to cryptoholders. It is directing monies to more than 20 U.S. nonprofits; large aid agencies featured include CARE, Catholic Relief Services, and Direct Relief as well as smaller organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Launched in 2018, the Giving Block was recently acquired by Shift4, a payment processor whose CEO, Jared Isaacman, was one one of 2021’s most charitable donors, according to the Chronicle‘s Philanthropy 50 ranking. Last year, he and his wife, Monica, made donations totaling $145 million. Among other services, the Giving Block vets the source of contributions before converting them to cash for the nonprofits and flags for authorities any suspicious donors.

Some groups promoted by the Giving Block or Endaoment aren’t doing much more to advertise that they accept cryptodonations. Catholic Relief Services says it is focusing on the 74,000 donors who have stepped up to back its Ukraine work, many of them making first-time gifts through online channels. One of the drawbacks of cryptodonations: They are often anonymous, making it hard for organizations to build ties with donors and ask for future contributions.

International Medical Corps is engaging with cryptocommunities outside of the Giving Block promotion, following cryptoenthusiasts on Twitter and taking part in Twitter discussions about cryptodonations. With the Ukraine crisis, several digital artists (individuals and collectives) organized sales of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, they had created and donated proceeds to the organization.

These sales, which have generated about a quarter of the $100,000 that International Medical Corp has raised in crypto, had the feel of charity auctions, says Rebecca Milner, chief advancement officer for the group. “People paid more for the NFT than they probably normally would because they wanted to support the organization.”

Illustration by Sabrina Zanzi

An array of artists are selling their work through DoinGud and directing all or some of the proceeds to Save the Children. DoinGud is a global online platform where artists can back various causes. Those supporting Save the Children come from a host of countries, including China, Venezuela, and Italy,

Project Hope, an international health organization, began cryptofundraising about a year ago but had received only $1,000 before the war began. So far, it has raised about $50,000 in crypto for its Ukraine response. Livestreaming events, by contrast, have netted $450,000 for the group, but its efforts there are more mature, says Evan Johnson, the group’s senior director for mass market fundraising.

“We’re further ahead in our strategy for streaming,” Johnson says. “If I had dug into crypto a year earlier, we’d probably be at the same point” in terms of gifts, Johnson says.

Cryptodonations make up about 1 percent, or $150,000, of the more than $15 million that CARE has raised for Ukraine. Still, it is excited at the potential, according to Alejandra Villalobos, associate vice president for major gifts. The sales of a limited edition of NFT “CARE Packages” netted more than $200,000 this fall for the organization’s work in Afghanistan.

“There is significant room for growth,” Villalobos says. “We want to proactively channel some of the extraordinary wealth that’s been created in crypto to good causes.”