Quincy University, a private Franciscan university based in Illinois, has announced that it has started accepting donations in cryptocurrencies, including the meme-inspired tokens Dogecoin ($DOGE) and its rival Shiba Inu ($SHIB).

In an announcement, the university noted that as a 501(c)(3) charity it will receive the full value of contributions and that these cryptocurrency donations are tax-deductible. Tax-deductible donations can’t, however, be anonymous as donors will “need to provide their name, address and email for the gift to be tax-deductible.”

In total, the university is accepting 32 different cryptoassets including leading tokens like BTC, ETH, and LTC, as well as meme-inspired cryptocurrencies. Matt Bergman, senior director of advancement at the institution, was quoted saying:

More and more people are investing in digital currency, and we don’t see that slowing down anytime soon. QU is always looking for ways to make it easy for donors to support our students and initiatives.

In its announcement, the university noted that 46 million Americans, roughly 22% of the U.S. adult population, own cryptocurrency and that the first known cryptocurrency gift to higher education occurred in 2014, when a University of Puget sound alum donated $10,000 in crypto to the school.

Notably, cryptocurrency donations with Fidelity charitable, the largest grant-maker in the United States, rose over 1,000% last year. The organization received $331 million in cryptoassets through donor-advised funds, up from $28 million it received in 2020.

The early DOGE community was well-known for taking on philanthropic projects. It made headlines in 2014 after raising more than $25,000 worth of DOGE to let the Jamaican bobsleigh team attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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