Charities and Businesses Unite to Launch Bitcoin Giving Tuesday

Bitcoin’s social and philanthropic use cases have emerged as arguably one of the most powerful arguments for the fast-growing but still fledgling digital currency and technology.

This year, the bitcoin community is seeking to highlight this aspect of the cryptocurrency with Bitcoin Giving Tuesday, which takes place today.

Notably, the BitGive Foundation, Bitcoin Foundation, BitPay, Bitcoin Black Friday, Circle and ChangeTip are all participating in the campaign – an extension of the global #GivingTuesday event that aims to encourage and celebrate generosity.

BitGive founder and executive director Connie Gallippi said the announcement is a soft launch for what she hopes will become an annual event.

Gallippi told CoinDesk:

“With plans for Bitcoin Black Friday already well underway, we planned for cross promotion and a soft launch of Bitcoin Giving Tuesday this year. Next year, BitGive will lead Bitcoin Giving Tuesday as a separate but co-branded event with Bitcoin Black Friday and the rest of our partners.”

Bitcoin-accepting non-profits like Save the Children, American Red Cross, Greenpeace, UnitedWay and the Water Project, among others, are all involved in the initiative and will accept donations in bitcoin through the Bitcoin Giving Tuesday website.

A larger community

In August, BitGive became the first nonprofit bitcoin organization to achieve 501(c)(3) status, making it officially recognized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a tax-exempt charitable organization in the US.

Since then, BitPay has recruited a number of prominent charities into the bitcoin community, including Save the Children, American Red Cross and Greenpeace.

Gallippi said BitGive aims to raise awareness of the benefits of bitcoin to nonprofit work with reduced fees and transaction costs, welcome new charities into the bitcoin community and promote the work of nonprofit organizations.

The Bitcoin Giving Tuesday website states:

"Charitable giving should not pad the pockets of credit card companies, banks or any other financial middlemen. 100% of funds given through Bitcoin Giving Tuesday will go to the nonprofit you choose."

Tipping Tuesday

Tipping service ChangeTip is also promoting Bitcoin Giving Tuesday as part of its #TippingTuesday campaign which seeks to engage users tipping in bitcoin on a number of social media avenues including GitHub, Reddit and Twitter.

Tipping has always been a point of interest for those in the bitcoin community, as it may hold the potential to drive broader bitcoin adoption and encourage micropayments, thereby breaking down barriers in developing countries.

However, the community has only recently begun to see signs of increased tipping activity among users.

ChangeTip has reported a recent surge in volume and interest from consumers, citing 10,000 transactions in one day. In the same month, bitcoin services company Coinbase has introduced its own tipping tool.

Donate image via Shutterstock