NFT Art for Good: Charity Efforts

In addition to democratising art, NFT (Non-Fungible Token) art has also been said to have significantly strengthened art’s links with altruistic causes. In recent times, charities and non-profit organisations in particular, have sought to strengthen the ties between NFT artists, charitable contributions, and fundraising efforts. For instance, in April 2021, ‘Stay Free’, an NFT artwork by the whistleblower Edward Snowden was sold for over $5.4 million, with sale proceeds going towards funding the ‘Freedom of the Press Foundation’.

The NFT Guild Philanthropist — Healthcare Heroes, The NFT Guild

You can view this NFT on the ‘OpenSea’ website here.

In 2021 an NFT artwork entitled “The NFT Guild Philanthropist — Healthcare Heroes’ (see above), was auctioned and sold for 6.3 Ethereum (ETH) ($28,000), which was then donated to the American health care charity ‘Sostento’, based in New Jersey. In March 2021, the famous NFT artist ‘Beeple’ (Mike Winkelmann) sold an NFT artwork entitled ‘Ocean Front’ for an impressive $6 million, with proceeds to be donated to The Open Earth Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to tackling climate change.

Ocean Front, Beeple, $6 million

You can view this NFT on the ‘Nifty Gateway’ website here.

NFT art can be used for good causes through charity efforts in various ways, it is not just the charitable donations and contributions themselves that are beneficial. For example, ‘Invincible Kids’ is a collection of 3,333 NFTs each with hand drawn features (see below). The collection was created so that all revenues generated by the sale of NFTs would be donated to children’s charities or community projects all around the world. Invincible Kids state that “Owing one sends a strong message to the world that you’re part of the INKIDS cause. So pick one that brings out your inner child and use it across all your socials” (Invincible Kids 2022).

Invincible Kid #161, Invincible Kids, $137.38

You can view this NFT on the ‘OpenSea’ website here.

At the same time, the Invincible Kids project has made a huge effort to build community via social media platforms such as Twitter and Discord, as well as hosting its NFT collection on OpenSea. In this way NFT art can be used to generate charitable contributions, it can be used to build increased awareness of charities and non-profit organisations, and it can also be used for real-life and virtual community-building efforts. This is partly why ‘The Giving Block’ believes that “NFTs have proven to be a game changer for philanthropy.” (The Giving Block 2022).

The Giving Block provides a new, best-in-class donation platform for non-profits to accept cryptocurrency, because often these firms did not have the required infrastructure (e.g., cryptocurrency wallets and donation widgets) to be able to process cryptocurrency transactions efficiently. In addition, The Giving Block helps to build community by raising awareness of crypto’s potential to facilitate social good causes, which will continue to increase over time. Some of the crypto campaigns facilitated by The Giving Block include ‘The Crypto Giving Pledge’, ‘Crypto Giving Tuesday’, the ‘Crypto for Our Earth Campaign’, and the ‘Crypto for Women’s Rights Campaign’.