St. John’s Now Accepting Cryptocurrency Donations

Image of Bitcoin Cryptocurrency over black background
January 14, 2022

St. John’s University is pleased to announce the capability to accept donations of cryptocurrency for charitable giving. According to GiveCampus, a digital fundraising and volunteer management platform for nonprofit educational institutions that the University utilizes, St. John’s is one of the first schools in the nation to be able to do so and is excited to offer this service to donors who wish to take advantage of this new giving vehicle.

“At St. John’s, we aim to leverage modern technology in everything we do, and that includes the way we receive philanthropic support,” stated Christian P. Vaupel, Ed.D., Vice President for Advancement and University Relations. “We work hard to make it easy for our global community to contribute to all the good things the University does.”

Cryptocurrency is a form of decentralized digital money that is based on blockchain technology. A cryptocurrency, or “crypto,” is an emerging form of payment that can circulate securely without the need for a central monetary authority such as a government or bank. Often used as investment vehicles, cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for goods and services.

Blockchain is an open and distributed digital ledger that records transactions in code. A blockchain collects information together in groups, often known as “blocks,” that hold sets of information that are then linked together on a “chain” via cryptography.

Cryptocurrency donations are mutually beneficial. Donations of this type allow donors to give appreciated assets and take advantage of potential tax benefits. According to GiveCampus, donating cryptocurrency can have substantial tax benefits for donors. “The Internal Revenue Service considers cryptocurrency to be property for federal income tax purposes, so donors receive a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the donated cryptocurrency, and they do not have to pay capital gains taxes. This means schools will receive donations that are 20-30% larger than if donors instead needed to sell their cryptocurrency and donate the after-tax proceeds.”

To make a gift of cryptocurrency to St. John’s, donors simply need to complete the standard giving form. After a donor clicks on "go to checkout," they will be given the option to choose a cryptocurrency. Donors are then provided with a crypto wallet address to send the crypto and confirm on the blockchain.

With more than 5,000 different cryptocurrencies in circulation, the following are the cryptocurrencies St. John’s can currently accept: 0x, 1inch, Aave, Alchemix, Amp, Ankr, Balancer, Bancor, BarnBridge, Basic Attention Token, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink Compound, Cube, Curve DAO Token, Dai, Dogecoin, Enjin Coin, Ethereum, Fantom, Filecoin, Gemini Dollar, Injective Protocol, Kyber, Litecoin, Livepeer, Loopring, Maker, Mana, Mirror Protocol, Orchid, PAX Gold, Polygon, Ren, Sandbox, Skale, Storj, SushiSwap, Synthetix, Tezos, The Graph, UMA, Uniswap, Yearn Finance, and Zcash.

 Click here to learn about the many ways to support St. John’s.

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