Crypto donations in 2024 hit an all-time high of $1.09 billion, a 42% increase from the previous year.(The Giving Block’s 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy) Photo by AI
In a year that saw AI dominate headlines and global economies struggle to find their footing, a quieter revolution was gaining momentum, one that could permanently alter the future of charitable giving.
According to The Giving Block’s 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy, crypto donations in 2024 hit an all-time high of $1.09 billion, a 42% increase from the previous year.
The future looks even more promising, with $2.5 billion projected for 2025 and exponential growth anticipated over the next decade.
This shift isn’t just about dollar values or the rise of digital currencies.
It’s about how we give, who gives, and what systems enable giving to happen faster, more transparently, and with fewer intermediaries.
For African nonprofits, this may be the most important transformation in philanthropy since the advent of mobile money.
A Generational Shift in Giving
The report also notes that crypto donors are especially motivated by transparency and speed of impact.
Unlike traditional giving, where funds may sit idle in institutional pipelines, crypto donors expect their gifts to be deployed quickly and visibly, often within days.
This demand has led many nonprofits to rethink how they track and report programmatic outcomes in near real-time.
What stands out about crypto donors isn’t just the size of their gift, but it’s their profile.
They are young, digitally native, and driven by purpose.
According to the report, the average age of a crypto donor is between 25 and 40, and they typically give four times more than traditional donors, with an average donation of $10,978 in 2024.
“These donors are not waiting until they’re 65 to make a bequest,” the report notes.
“They’re donating now, strategically often as part of end-of-year tax optimization but also as a way to see immediate impact.”
More than 70% of the top 100 U.S. charities already accept crypto, and leading recipients include Save the Children, Direct Relief, and the American Cancer Society.
The top five cause areas receiving crypto gifts in 2024 were:
- Education (16.0%)
- Health & Medicine (13.4%)
- Children & Youth (9.9%)
- Animal Welfare (9.6%)
- Women & Girls Empowerment (9.3%)
These align closely with the focus areas of many African civil society organizations.
Globally, these categories also mirrored broader donor interest in social justice, climate action, and education equity, showing that crypto donors are not just tech-savvy but cause-driven.
Yet, the African nonprofit space has been largely absent from this digital giving wave.
That absence may come at a cost.
What Crypto Means for the Future of Philanthropy
In a dedicated section titled “What Crypto Means for the Future of Philanthropy,” the report argues that cryptocurrency is not just another payment option; it is reshaping the entire architecture of global giving.
“Crypto donors are more philanthropic than the average donor,” the report states.
“They donate higher amounts, give more frequently, and are in the earlier stages of their giving careers. They also represent the future of wealth, with crypto playing a central role in how wealth is created and transferred in the 21st century.”
By 2035, The Giving Block estimates that crypto donations could reach $89.27 billion per year, surpassing even stock-based giving.
The reason isn’t just the value of crypto assets but the mindset and infrastructure that underpins them: global, real-time, borderless, and programmable.
And for nonprofits? This means more than fundraising tools.
It represents a fundamental opportunity to rebuild trust, reach younger donors, and innovate in donor engagement and transparency.
“Bitcoin philanthropy (or The Blockchain of Philanthropy) brings in more transparency and efficiency to the industry while also shaping how the world views digital currency. It also brings in new donors who want to use Bitcoin for social good,” says Yusuf Nessary, Director of Philanthropy at the Built With Bitcoin Foundation, quoted from the report.
Real-World Impact: From Dollars to Deployment
The report offers clear, named case studies of nonprofits leveraging crypto not just to raise funds, but to deploy them faster, more transparently, and with global reach.
One standout example is the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a nonprofit that received a single donation of $1.5 million in Bitcoin, which was the largest donation of its kind the organization had ever received.
Another is Make-A-Wish International, which received a $20,000 crypto donation that was used to grant 10 wishes for children with critical illnesses.
These are examples of how donor behaviours and expectations are evolving.
Speed, transparency, and global connectivity are now part of the philanthropic equation.
Africa: Crypto Roots and Philanthropic Reach
While the report does not explicitly discuss Africa’s fintech landscape, broader contextual trends suggest a strong foundational overlap between Africa’s fintech evolution and crypto’s potential.
While many African nonprofits have yet to fully adopt crypto donations, Africa itself already plays a leading role in the broader digital currency ecosystem.
Digital Readiness -Africa’s leadership in mobile money (e.g., M-Pesa) laid the groundwork for digital finance long before crypto became mainstream.
Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa consistently rank among the highest adopters of crypto in global indexes.
For example, Nigeria is home to one of the world’s largest populations of crypto traders and holders, and Kenya consistently ranks in the top 10 for peer-to-peer crypto activity.
South Africa has a remarkably high rate of crypto adoption, with some studies suggesting that the country’s ownership rate is more than double the global average.
Diaspora and Borderless -Giving African communities abroad sent $53 billion in remittances back home in 2022 alone.
Crypto is increasingly used in these transfers, especially among younger members of the diaspora who are more comfortable with digital wallets than Western Union branches.
Philanthropy sits naturally within this pattern.
African-focused nonprofits can tap into diaspora giving, using stablecoins and Bitcoin to receive support directly, bypassing banks, government red tape, or costly platforms.
Philanthropy in Practice: Built with Bitcoin in Africa
One of the strongest examples of crypto philanthropy in action on the continent is the Built with Bitcoin Foundation.
Founded with the belief that Bitcoin can advance human development, the organization has built schools, water projects, and sustainable agriculture programs across Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria, entirely funded by crypto donations.
Their model blends transparency with agility.
All donations are traceable via blockchain, and project updates are shared in real time with donors worldwide.
The Infrastructure Gap and How to Fix It
Despite the momentum, barriers remain. The report highlights a key problem: most nonprofits still make crypto donations hard to find, understand, or complete.
“The average nonprofit’s crypto donation experience is the digital equivalent of hiding a store’s checkout in the employee lounge,” it quips.
“And even when donation pages exist, they are often poorly optimized, riddled with jargon, or designed only for U.S. donors.”
African nonprofits also face challenges such as low technical capacity, limited regulatory guidance, and infrastructure gaps, factors not directly discussed in the report but widely documented in digital finance analyses.
But these are surmountable. The Giving Block recommends:
- Partnering with custodial crypto donation platforms that handle compliance and conversion.
- Training staff on crypto basics and its value proposition.
- Making donation pages mobile-friendly, easy to access, and aligned with storytelling efforts.
- Joining global crypto giving days like Crypto Giving Tuesday for visibility.
Additionally, while not part of the report’s recommendations, African philanthropy organizations could consider forming regional learning hubs to share case studies and best practices in crypto fundraising.
These hubs could offer workshops and peer-to-peer training on:
Setting up crypto wallets and integrating donation buttons, understanding tax laws, and working with compliant platforms, running digital-first campaigns that resonate with younger donors
Looking Forward: The Non-Cash Future
The 2024 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index ranked Nigeria, Vietnam, Ukraine, and the Philippines among the top users of crypto per capita, demonstrating how emerging markets are embracing decentralized finance at faster rates than the Global North.
These patterns suggest that crypto giving will likely follow the same trajectory: fast, mobile-first, and globally dispersed.
The forecast is bold but not speculative.
With stablecoins processing over $29.9 trillion in transaction volume in 2024, more than Visa and Mastercard combined, the report concludes that non-cash giving is becoming the norm, not the exception.
Beyond crypto, other non-cash assets like stocks, real estate, and donor-advised funds (DAFs) are growing channels for charitable giving, with many of these assets now being tokenized for easier transfer and greater transparency.
DAFs, in particular, are becoming a key vehicle for strategic philanthropy, while the rise of tokenized real estate offers new ways for donors to contribute illiquid assets.
But crypto remains the only asset class where donors are disproportionately young, global, and willing to give large amounts.
And while regulation still varies, governments in the U.S., Europe, the UAE, and even parts of Africa are increasingly clarifying the tax treatment of crypto gifts, making it easier than ever to accept and process them responsibly.
A Time for Vision and Action
For African philanthropy, the question isn’t whether crypto giving will matter,r it’s whether the sector will lead, follow, or lag.
The ingredients are already in place: a digital-savvy population, urgent causes, and a global diaspora eager to give.
What remains is investment in infrastructure, training, and donor engagement strategies that align with the future of giving.
African nonprofits can start by exploring crypto donation processors, attending free webinars offered by platforms like The Giving Block or Binance Charity, and consulting fintech experts within their diaspora communities.
These small but strategic steps can open new doors for fundraising beyond borders. Non-cash giving is not a gimmick.
It’s a glimpse into a broader shift in how value moves through society.
As wealth gets more digitized and decentralized, nonprofits that embrace this new architecture early will be the ones best positioned to thrive.
Source: The Giving Block, 2025 Annual Report on Crypto Philanthropy [https://www.thegivingblock.com]
