GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — Cryptocurrencies have been popular among a niche group of internet denizens for years, but a Grand Junction nonprofit is bringing it just a little more mainstream with their claim of being the first nonprofit hospice organization in the nation to accept crypto donations.
Debbie Horwitz, the Development Director for Hopewest, told us she’s even received calls from other non-profits asking her how they can do it. Debbie is excited to possibly start a trend, but mostly she’s happy she’s bringing new options to donors. Debbie shared with us that among cryptocurrency owners, 46% have given $1,000 dollars or more in donations, so she is also interested in the possibility of new donors.
Hopewest told us the timing is less than ideal, “It took a while to set everything up. Right. Policies. So when we started the process, crypto was doing great. And then the day we launched, the day before we launched it, FDX imploded.” But they also told us despite crypto being down right now they aren’t worried, “Once we got all the policies and everything in place, there’s really not a lot of risk. It took time and effort to get to this point. But there’s no way –we’re not putting ourselves at risk in any way, shape or form or our donors.” Within a week of launch, Hopewest had already received one Crypto donation, which is only the first step. The organization has also recently made Venmo an option for donations and hopes to add apple pay sometime next year.