Revolutionizing Bitcoin Philanthropy over the Holidays

By Jasmine Youssefzadeh

There has been a great deal of speculation around the Bitcoin market. Over the past month the currency quadrupled in value and passed the $1000 mark for the first time.

Bitcoin is an open source, peer-to-peer electronic money and payment network that operates with no central authority or banks. First introduced in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis, Bitcoin gained prominence in 2012 and has been in headlines ever since – with a number of notable vendors accepting Bitcoin today, including WordPress, Reddit, and a group of Etsy merchants.

This rise in the currency’s acceptance as a medium of exchange – a role that was previously reserved for national currencies - has also led to a surge in creativity for non-profits, philanthropies, and social enterprises to use the currency for social good.

This past Giving Tuesday, GoCoin, a leading payment platform for the Bitcoin economy, announced its partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica in launching their #GO4Good campaign. The campaign asked participants to tweet using the hashtag #Go4Good on Giving Tuesday with the promise that GoCoin’s founders would donate $10 per tweet and match Bitcoin donations up to $10,000. Donations to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica will benefit at-risk youth and under-privileged families in the Santa Monica community.

My company, Los Angeles-based creative agency filmanthropos also announced its acceptance of Bitcoin for social good, making it the world’s first creative agency to accept Bitcoin for philanthropic use. Filmanthropos specializes in multiplatform storytelling for philanthropies, causes, and corporate social responsibility initiatives, and dedicates over 50 percent of its efforts towards pro-bono services to non-profits. Donations to the agency will sustain their pro bono service offerings to non-profits.

Several other Bitcoin giving campaigns were featured for Bitcoin Black Friday on Nov 29, including Fight for the Future, Humble Bumble, and BitGive.

There is no doubt that Bitcoin philanthropy will become a hot topic this holiday season as more non-profits, foundations, and social enterprises embrace the digital currency.
Jasmine Youssefzadeh is a social entrepreneur committed to finding innovative mediums for non-profits and corporates to build alliances through new media. She is Founder and Director of Production of filmanthropos, a creative agency that specializes in multi-platform storytelling for philanthropies, causes, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.