Archdiocese of Washington offers crypto option for donations

NEW YORK – The Archdiocese of Washington has entered the world of cryptocurrency.

Catholics can now make donations to the archdiocese — and its parishes and ministries — through Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other forms of the virtual currency often referred to as “crypto.”

For Joseph Gillmer, the archdiocese’s executive director of development, the addition of cryptocurrency as a donation medium is another step in his goal of making it as easy as possible for parishioners to donate by giving them a variety of ways to do so.

“It wasn’t demand per se,” Gillmer said Core. “It was that this is something that might resonate with some people who have these assets and I want to make sure they know they can use it and how to use it and give them all the instructions they need to be able to do that .”

To make cryptocurrency donations possible, the archdiocese partnered with Engiven, a provider of cryptocurrency donation services to nonprofits and faith-based organizations.

Engiven works with a few other Catholic organizations, including Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington in the Diocese of Spokane, and the Catholic Community Foundation of Southwest Florida in the Diocese of Venice. By and large, however, hardly any dioceses are involved in cryptocurrency.

James Lawrence, the organization’s co-founder, had the idea for the company around 2017 when he had about $100 in Bitcoin that he wanted to donate to a Protestant church or ministry, but couldn’t find anyone who would accept it. He said many of them had not even heard of cryptocurrency.

This reality led him and his business partner, Engiven co-founder Matt Hayes, to develop Engiven to educate and show faith entities that they can benefit from cryptocurrency. Simply put, Lawrence said “the basic economics of it make so much sense.”

“Most organizations will not receive a large volume of crypto gifts, but when they do it will usually be between $15,000-$35,000 and the implementation effort is relatively low,” Lawrence said. “Second … it’s a way to meet parishioners where they are in terms of what they want to give.”

“You just don’t know if you have someone who invested in crypto years ago or even recently,” he continued. “We can’t necessarily know why or who, but we can know the opportunities there and just make sure we present them with a safe, really safe and elegant way to make that donation.”

Lawrence said the average gift on the Engiven platform is between $15,000-$35,000, but noted that they receive donations of all different sizes. He said last year they processed a $10 million Bitcoin donation for a ministry, and they’ve seen many six-figure ministries.

Stephen Barrows is the Chief Operating Officer of the Acton Institute, a Michigan-based think tank that promotes free market policies underpinned by religious principles, and has written and spoken about cryptocurrency.

He told Core that one thing Catholic dioceses and organizations may have to look out for with cryptocurrency donations is to make sure a cryptocurrency isn’t involved in something that goes against Church teaching, like the approach with stocks.

Otherwise, Barrows said, “it’s certainly a way to lower the barriers to giving.”

In the Archdiocese of Washington, the cryptocurrency donation platform is running through its Parish Support Initiative, a program the archdiocese started during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic to give parishioners another way to donate to their parishes from afar.

The donation page is set up where a user can choose which cause to donate the cryptocurrency to, and whether the donation is intended for a congregation that can be identified in the note line. From there, a user selects the form of cryptocurrency they’re donating from — more than 90 are accepted — and then enters their name, email address, phone number and other typical online form questions.

Crypto is considered a highly volatile market, although Gillmer said the archdiocese liquidates the donation right when it is received to eliminate any chance of market manipulation. It’s the same policy the archdiocese uses when people donate other forms of property such as stocks. He also noted that he chose to work with Engiven in part because of its security protocols and that it has cyber liability insurance in place.

The collaboration with Engiven costs the archdiocese $1,500 a year, which he said is well worth it. He said another appealing aspect of Engiven is the ability for the archdiocese to create cryptocurrency donation pages for various parishes to operate on their own at no additional cost.

The Archdiocese of Washington has not received a donation since it added the ability to donate in cryptocurrency in late July. Gilmer said he’s not surprised. He said he expects not just a few donations this year, and around 10-25 donations a year as the opportunity becomes more widely known.

However, Gillmer emphasized that the expectation is not and never was a great wave of giving.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just a few in this first year, and that’s fine with me, because again, it’s not that it’s going to raise that much money,” Gilmer said. “It’s about making sure we have as many ways as possible for someone to support us and for them to choose what might be best for them.”

Follow John Lavenburg on Twitter: @johnlavenburg