Q&A: Why donating cryptocurrency to charity is a win-win financial strategy  

Forward-thinking crypto owners are investing in a powerful way to maximize cryptocurrency impact and tax advantages: charitable donations. 

In this month of historic crypto highs, we sat down with Eranga Fernando, SOS USA’s Manager of Donor Experience, to discuss how SOS is using innovative finance to deliver life-changing care for children—creating a ripple effect of generational impact worldwide. 

What is cryptocurrency?  

Crypto is a digital asset that—unlike traditional currencies, which are issued by a country’s central bank—operates on a decentralized network using blockchain technology.  

Meaning: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other cryptocurrencies aren’t controlled by any government or bank. Crypto is one of the few forms of currency that you actually own completely. 

What is the benefit of donating cryptocurrencies to charity? 

One of the biggest benefits is that donating crypto is similar to giving stocks and noncash gifts. When you donate appreciated cryptocurrency, you avoid paying capital gains tax.  

But donating crypto doesn’t just benefit the donor—it’s powerful for the charity, too. When a charity receives crypto donations and liquidates them, the organization avoids taxes on it—allowing the organization to use all of the funds to drive meaningful change. 

Meaning: 100% of a cryptocurrency donation goes to the charity. Donating crypto directly is the best way you receive the most tax advantages while your impact goes further for the causes you care about. 

Plus, donating crypto is a unique and forward-thinking way of giving back. Since it was created in the last 12 years, crypto is one of the newer forms of currency. Donating cryptocurrency is a cutting-edge method to support a charity you care about and maximize your charitable tax advantages. 

What is SOS Children’s Villages USA’s crypto journey? 

For more than 75 years, SOS has been a global leader in transforming alternative care for children. Traditionally, alternative care includes institutions like orphanages, where children grow up with clinical, detached methods of caregiving.  

But SOS has been revolutionizing better care for children for decades. With our innovative, family-based villages, we’re ahead of the curve in best practices for child care. 

As the largest organization providing care to children without parental care, we are trusted experts that work with families, communities, local, state and national governments and even other humanitarian organizations to care for children, strengthen families and—in doing so—break systemic cycles of poverty that plague whole communities. 

Our acceptance of cryptocurrency beginning in 2019 is an extension of our innovative work. Understanding and accepting crypto as a new, revolutionary currency aligns with our cutting-edge work and values to always provide the best care for children. 

What happens to people’s cryptocurrency donations when they give to SOS?  

When someone gives a crypto donation to SOS, we liquidate the cryptocurrency through our partner, The Giving Block.  

Then, we can immediately use those funds to send life-changing support to children around the world—providing safe, loving homes, strengthening families or even delivering urgent relief in humanitarian crises.  

Cryptocurrency is a unique form of donation because the transaction is so quick. We’re immediately notified, and we can directly receive the donation and use it for children’s most pressing needs. 

Are cryptocurrency donations tax-deductible? 

Yes, they are! That’s one of the best benefits of donating crypto. 

IRS treats cryptocurrency as property, so when you donate to a 501(c)(3) charity, like SOS, you can itemize it as a deduction. 

What else do you think people should know about cryptocurrency donations? 

For some cryptocurrency owners, holding on to their investments for long periods of time has been a successful strategy. 

But instead of letting those coins sit in their crypto wallet, they could make an impactful difference in a vulnerable child’s life by donating. 

I would remind anyone who is HODLing that:  

1. You can get rid of that cryptocurrency and get a tax deduction by donating it, and 

2. Your donation can be immediately used to give a child in need a safe, loving home and all the opportunities they need to reach their full potential.  

In my mind, that’s why so many of us are drawn to cryptocurrency—it’s a way to change the world. 

And there’s no better way to change the world, which is what Bitcoin—the first established cryptocurrency—set out to do, than to change a child’s life. 

Cryptocurrency was established as a new form of currency with the innovative hope that everyone could control their own assets. I would encourage every crypto owner to think of the similarity in those values—that crypto isn’t just life-changing for its owner, but for children in need, too. 

Ready to transform our digital assets into life-changing support for children?  

You invested in the future of finance. Invest in children’s futures by donating crypto today.  

Questions?  

Contact: Eranga Fernando 

Email: efernando@sos-usa.org