Pay with Crypto Currencies (bitcoin, ethereum, etc)

According to the IRS cryptocurrency are consider assets and you should pay capital gain on appreciated assets.
I know that the church accept some donation in kind ( https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Donations_in_kind ).

Giving appreciated assets is a great way to get a tax break in the US.
This works well if you are in a high tax bracket, and even more if you are in a high state tax state.
It can "cost" little to gift money this way--for example only 20% of the total donation.

I was wondering when we could have a way to donate in Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The Church does accept donations via Bitcoin. I'm not sure about Ethereum. If you send an email to donations@ldschurch.org they can help you with the process.

Good to know that they accept Bitcoins. I did not see any official communication about it.
Ethereum is another big player in the cryptocurrency space I hope they will be able to accept them too.

Was curious if anyone got any more information on this or not? I reached out to donations but have not heard back yet. Hoping to get all the necessary info and donated before year end.

Another email address you might try is LDS Philanthropies: ldsphilanthropies@ldschurch.org.

Received an email back from donations@ldschurch.org:

Currently, bitcoin or Ethereum are not approved methods for making donations to the church so we are unable to accept it.

We appreciate your efforts in reaching out to us.

Thank You,
LDS Donations
US Headquarters

I will try ldsphilanthropies@ldschurch.org as well just in case. SBradshaw- did you actually go through the process or have an email stating they accept bitcoin in the past?

jdye06 wrote:SBradshaw- did you actually go through the process or have an email stating they accept bitcoin in the past?

About a year ago I was talking to someone who had gone through the process and was donating with Bitcoin (if I understood them correctly).

Another option is to use a Donor advised fund as a go-between. I know the one offered by Fidelity accepts Bitcoin

Or Speak to a financial advisor rather than some random non-experts on a message board

As the new internet money technology, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, have been gaining adoption around the world, I feel it extremely important that the church at least learn somewhat how this technology works and perhaps acknowledge what they think about it to interested saints with any guidance or cautions. I feel this dirupting technology will change the financial world and fiat currencies in bigger ways than the internet did with information transfer.
Just a thought.
If they have already given information on the above please let me know.
Thanks.
-Spencer J. Gibson

Nov 2021 Update:

YES there is a way to donate Bitcoin (or crypto):
1. Set up a Donor Advised Fund with Fidelity (or others)
2. Donate your BTC the Fidelity Charitable Giving Account (no fees except small on-chain transaction fee)
3. Fidelity sells the BTC and contributes those funds (in USD) to the Church in your name
4. The Church sends you a receipt for the value donated in kind

Link to Open a Giving Account: https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/givi ... arity.html

More info: I spoke today with Derek Carter (Donations Director at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and he said that they don't currently accept Bitcoin or crypto. They get 10 calls daily requesting this and have been turning people down. However, I looked into it and found they do accept donations from donor-advised funds like Fidelity - it just has to arrive in cash or accepted in-kind donations. We agreed this would be a workable way for people to donate Bitcoin and possible a source to point people to going forward.

Helpful contacts:
801-240-4554 Church Donations Director for specific Q's (spoke with Derek Carter)
800-682-4438 Fidelity Charitable Gift Accounts (spoke with Jeremy)

Maybe the Church could go with GivingBlock?
https://thegivingblock.com/

Hi Everyone, based on the Crypto Currency discussion I searched on the official website and I did not get anything the Church still isn’t accepting cryptocurrency directly, but donor-advised funds like Fidelity remain the only workable option. I checked with Philanthropies this year and there’s no official announcement about future crypto support yet.