Swedish bitcoin exchange Safello has launched a new service for charities that enables them to easily create free fundraising campaigns.
The exchange says the new pages offer a new way of donating money that allows charities to receive 100% of donated funds.
All donations show up in real-time in the transaction stream and the funding goal is updated automatically. Safello says the new service will enable small, local charities to create a global fundraising campaign in mere minutes.
Free fundraising tool
Frank Schuil, co-founder and CEO of Safello said the new donation pages demonstrate the power of bitcoin in a tangible way, as they allow people from all corners of the world to unite and fund various causes at virtually no cost.
Schuil explained:
“Our goal is to make bitcoin fundraising a fundamental source of income for these and other charities by connecting them to audiences they may otherwise not reach. The variety in campaigns [shows] how widely applicable this is and we hope to spark a wave of pages to introduce a new way of donating to the charities we all care about.”
Charity experiment
Safello teamed up with three charities for the launch: LiveBuild, Shifo and the Lifeboat Foundation.
The Livebuild Ntisaw campaign aims to raise 25 BTC (almost $12,000 at the time of publication) for a local school in Cameroon. It will help the school fix its leaky roof and construct four additional classrooms, a library and new toilets.
Koen van Bremen, founder of LiveBuild, said he believes bitcoins will become an important method of payment in Africa in the future.
Shifo’s Every Child Counts campaign has a fundraising goal of 20 BTC, which will be used to vaccinate children in Uganda and help improve child health through systematic registration and vaccination follow-up.
“100% of funds raised [within the] bitcoin community will go to the cause, and for every bitcoin, Shifo will provide impact reports,” said Shifo co-founder Nargis Rahimi.
The Lifeboat Foundation is also trying to raise 20 BTC, which will be used to provide bounties for developers who can come up with fixes for bitcoin-related bugs.
Safello said the pages are an “experiment” to see how quickly the funding goals can be reached. The service is currently in beta, but interested parties can sign up for early access.
Charity image via Shutterstock