Written by Sunita Bansel, Sands Corporate Partnerships and Engagement Officer

Sands’ vision is for a world where fewer babies die and when a baby dies anyone affected by the death receives the best care and support for as long as they need. Parents and families who have experienced baby death remain at the core of everything we do. In order for us to achieve our mission we must, as a charity, remain sustainable to ensure we can save lives now and far into the future. To do this Sands must be innovative, evidence based and have parents at the heart of everything we do.

If there is one thing that the pandemic taught us, it was that everything could change. Covid-19 showed that in order to strive, all organisations regardless of sector, must adapt the way they do business, deliver services and raise money to support their beneficiaries. For the charity sector in particular, traditional methods of funding – mass participation events, employee engagement and individual giving (to name a few) – were no longer guaranteed pots of money. So this got us thinking, how do we learn from the pandemic and remain sustainable for years to come so we can achieve our vision, as you’ve read above?

We decided to diversify our income streams and introduce, on a trial basis, cryptocurrency donations. Next question, what is cryptocurrency? Right?

Well, cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography (the art of writing or solving code), which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralised networks based on blockchain technology. Blockchain technology allows digital information to be distributed in a more transparent way that can help cut fraud and makes it easy for those in the chain to see when changes are made and to trace transactions.

Cryptocurrency will support Sands to remain innovative in the ever-changing environment we operate in and enable us to tap into new income streams and expertise that we don’t currently have access to. It will allow us to diversify our funding streams to ensure we can remain sustainable, so that we are always there to offer the expert support and care that our beneficiaries deserve.

Daniel Brett-Schneider, Director of Income and Engagement at Sands

Although the charity sector is still learning about cryptocurrency and its benefits, there is a trend emerging within the sector as we see an increase in charities exploring this area of funding. A number of global charities (typically based in the US) like Save the Children, The Water Project and Unicef are openly accepting donations in the form of cryptocurrency and are being hailed for it and has even seen some UK based charities follow suit. Thanks to other industry leaders who have also adopted cryptocurrency donations, Sands is now in a position to follow suit with ease.

We want to give special thanks to HOPE Token for their generous cryptocurrency donation of $35,000 and for sharing their knowledge and expertise with Sands to help us make this funding stream possible. Their generous donation will support our work to save lives and support anyone impacted by baby loss. To find out more about the work of HOPE visit https://hope-token.com/.

Sands is working with The Giving Block to provide a seamless experience for our supporters and companies who wish to donate their cryptocurrency. The Giving Block will provide you with a tax receipt and, depending on your circumstances and the tax rules in your country, you may be able to obtain a tax deduction. For more information on how to donate via cryptocurrency to Sands visit https://www.sands.org.uk/donatecrypto