Imagine your nonprofit gets an email from someone who wants to make a $10,000 donation in cryptocurrency. Do you junk it, flag it or follow up? Marlise Riffel at Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability (IRPS) chose to follow up. Spoiler alert – it worked out! I wanted to tell her story to educate, not advocate. There are a lot of toads out there, but Marlise was smart enough to figure out how to work with a prince.

IRSP “is dedicated to maintaining and improving the economic, environmental and social characteristics of our area so that our residents can continue to lead healthy, productive and enjoyable lives.” One way they do that is by acting as a fiscal agent for organizations, such as Recycling Electronics for Climate Action (RECA).

The email in question actually came to RECA from their GiveMN profile but was forwarded to Marlise, who is Chair of the IRPS Board. She read a personal-sounding email offering to donate $10,000 in cryptocurrency. Marlise replied and asked some questions. The donor said he had worked with RECA and someone on staff recognized the name. So that helped legitimize the offer.

The next question was why use cryptocurrency? Turns out donating cryptocurrency can allow the donor to avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciated value of the cryptocurrency AND still get the tax deduction for the charitable donation. (Here’s more info on the specifics.)

Satisfied that the donor was legit, the next step was to figure out how to turn crypto into tangible money. Marlise called the local bank; they didn’t know enough to help with the process. So Marlise went to Google. She found a few third parties that would help transfer the funds. The first company she tried was also not helpful and didn’t feel right. The second option, Crypto for Charity was a better fit for her.

Crypto for Currency had helpful online support and they had staff that got back to her and walked her through the processes. She had to provide:

• 501c3 letter
• Employee ID Number
• Full name (or organization)

Once that cleared, they were added to the Crypto for Charity’s Charity-base, a database of nonprofit organizations able to accept cryptocurrency. I found it helpful to check out the donor portal to see the presentation of potential charitable donations. It reminds me of the Give to the Max database that I think can help nonprofits get found by new donors.

The next step was to set up what I think of as a merchant account. A financial partner to take the crypto from the donor and turn that into a deposit in your bank account. Marlise went with Bill.com. There is no fee. She had to give them banking info, including the routing number. They told her when to expect the funds.

That was last Friday. I was nervous for her. But midafternoon she got the good news. The donation was $10,000; the deposit was for $9996.

I’m happy for everyone involved. Marlise asked good questions and found good partners. I’m sure there are other good partners but again, this post isn’t meant to advocate crypto or promote any specific partner but just introduce a new way to accept funds with the same caution you’d use with any financial transaction. Something worth considering should you get an email from a potential donor.