As executive director of the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn, Adam Woodworth is always fundraising — and always keeping his eyes peeled for new ways to do it. It’s just part of the job when running a nonprofit.
So when he started hearing more and more about cryptocurrency — digital, decentralized currency not tied to particular countries or financial institutions such as banks — Woodworth got an idea.
“One of the thoughts I had was: If this has value, could it be donated?” he said.
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He started researching whether or not other nonprofits were using it, and how he could accept such donations for the Children’s Museum. He talked to some brothers-in-law who are into crypto and offered their help. What he found were a few businesses that let people donate crypto to nonprofits, taking a small administrative fee to convert it to traditional U.S. currency.
In July 2021, the Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn became what Woodworth believes is the first children’s museum in the country to accept crypto donations. It started with the platform Engiven and later added Every.org as another option for people wishing to donate that way. Since then, roughly 120 donations of crypto have added up to approximately $500 for the museum.
“It’s not really something that’s, ‘Every day we’re getting crypto donations in,'” Woodworth said. “We never got that off of our website anyway: daily donations. But we did pick up … new donors through this — people that never donated before. We’ve had several anonymous donations, too.”
A news release last summer got some attention from crypto publications and blogs — places that never would have written about the museum for any reason other than that it started taking crypto donations. The comments were generally positive, Woodworth said, and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum happened to be on the rise at the time.
“I think some people donated just to do it,” he said. “It seems like every time we put something out about crypto — that we accept it — we get two or three donations. That’s neat.”
While the crypto donations may not be making a huge impact on the bottom line, the museum is reaching a different market with them. Older people still are writing checks for their donations, and “a lot” of other folks use credit cards, Woodworth said. But crypto is appealing to a younger audience.
“It’s new money for us,” he said. “We haven’t seen a situation yet where a donor has done that instead of a (traditional) donation.”
The museum’s leadership considered holding the crypto in its original state, rather than immediately converting it to dollars, Woodworth said. But the volatility of crypto is a concern for the nonprofit, and Woodworth could not find any others who are holding it. The Internal Revenue Service also treats crypto more like stock than cash, so tracking gains and losses with the value of donations can get difficult.
“It’s just a lot easier right now to convert that straight to cash and move on,” Woodworth said. “You could have $100 in crypto, wake up and it’s worth $50 the next morning because it never sleeps. Vice versa, you could turn around and it’s worth $150 when you wake up. That’s one of the reasons we currently don’t hold it. Do I see a time down the road where, if it stabilizes better, nonprofits might hold it? Sure. That time is not now for us.”
After the museum got comfortable with crypto donations, Woodworth sent an email in January to the museum’s supporters to seek feedback on the idea of letting people purchase or renew memberships with cryptocurrency. The web system would be set up like a shopping cart that lets people pay with a variety of currency options. It would know the current rates of transfer for crypto and handle that conversion on the spot, Woodworth explained.
But Woodworth wants to make sure there is enough interest before putting resources behind the idea. If the museum moves forward with the plan, the new options would probably roll out in March or April, he said.
For those interested in learning more about the museum or donating, visit cmoaklawn.org. Those interested in offering their feedback on the museum’s crypto initiatives can do so by emailing [email protected].
Coming up: The museum is planning an egg hunt for children with disabilities to take place on Sunday, April 3. Registration should go live for that in February. There are also monthly sensory-friendly nights at the museum. And the Children’s Museum is still doing its Wee Ones Wednesdays program, for which the museum is open those mornings exclusively to children ages birth to 3 years old and their caregivers.
“That’s been a staple since we reopened,” Woodworth said. “It’s doing really well.”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.