Bitcoin 100: Developed Specifically for Non-Profits

[mapsi]

Rassah the 10 transactions of 100 per would only work if it is over a 10 day period but even then the NPO wouldnt be able to accept any more donations for that time period that the 100$ max has been reached. This means no one else will be able to donate.

Still no reply for Bitpay. This is sad because there were 24 possible transactions that the Zoo could not receive.  We received 24 emails for different denominations that say:


BitPay Invoice Blocked
We were unable to create an invoice because its value was higher than your current approval limits.
You are currently approved for $100/day. This limit applies to any invoice with an equivalent value in any currency.
The invoice total was $1000, at Thu Dec 19 2013 01:56:57 GMT+0000 (UTC).

Bitpay has caused the zoo to lose possible donations. The Barcroft Media video went live too. So we are getting more traffic and means more missed BTC transactions.

Check under the description info on the youtube video it mentions the park accepting bitcoin. This story will be picked up by other news agencies. It was just released  5 hours ago and has 2k+ views. They broker to BBC, Daily Uk and a host of others.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl7QlpZibKQ&feature=share&list=UUfwx98Wty7LhdlkxL5PZyLA

Any idea guys? This is sad. The zoo really needs these missed donation and help after being hit by the tornanos in Oklahoma and the recent harsh weather changes in the midwest that caused freezing and closure of the zoo. Which of course being a nonprofit the Zoo suffers when it cant cover operating expenses.

[1713531199]

1713531199

[1713531199]

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[Rassah]

affordable housing NPO interested in seeking bitcoin donations

From: Ryan N.

Hello Dmitry,
I'm a treasurer for La Reunion, an non-profit Affordable Housing Cooperative in Austin, Texas that opened in April of this year. To remain affordable we bought an old building which has required much more maintenance that expected due to health and safety issues such as bedbugs and high levels of carbon monoxide.
One of our goals is to establish more computer literacy in the community by setting up a computer lab and a mesh network and try to provide internet to the surrounding apartments. This goal has been put on the back burner due to high maintenance  costs. Because the founders are educated and use technology for organization we realize how far behind some of our lower income members are and the the pressing need to bring them "on-line" both to the global internet and to our local organizing structures, like our wiki, maintenance trello, food pantry app, etc.
We've set up fundraisers for both maintenance  and tech  and I'm sure by accepting bitcoin we would get more donations. With a $1000 dollars worth of bitcoin we could buy the routers and computers to get started at building a community provide internet and housing.
If you would like more information check out our wiki or email/ call me.

 I think the following links would be valuable for your reviewers/donors.


Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/LaReunionCooperative?bookmark_t=page

Wiki
http://lareunioncoop.org/home

Fundraisers
http://keepourhouseahome.com/menu
https://lareunioncoop.crowdhoster.com/

Thank you,
Ryan Nill
La Reunion Treasurer

I like this org, but can't seem to find their donation page. They are fairly new and use a wiki as their website, but they are linked to 501(c)3 org. I'm curious as to where they would prominently display the Bitcoin donation option on their website. They do have a descent Facebook page.
[/quote]

More info from them:

We have two fund raising websites.

Fundraisers
http://keepourhouseahome.com/menu
https://lareunioncoop.crowdhoster.com/

Ideally both of them. But I think the first one would be easier to work with since it isn't a time limited crowdsource site.

I think for the long term we  would want to create a page for the wiki to for donations, but we don't currently have one. Would having a donate button on a wiki be a security issue? I can imagine someone making an account just so they can change the address and receive the donations.

I checked the forum and saw Phinnaeus Gage response on the forum. To clarify, we are the newest property in an organization that has existed for 11 years. Our sister house is called Sasona, http://www.sasona.org/ and we both form the Community Housing Expansion of Austin (CHEA).

As for our wiki, our houses are run democratically by the members that live in them, so the wiki was intentionally chosen for the ability of any member to log on and edit it. To that effect, I made a fundraiser page, http://lareunioncoop.org/welcome/fundraisers/fundraisers, but I can't figure out how to get it onto the sidebar. I've only succeeded in digger a deeper hole for it. I've cc'ed our tech officer and hopefully he can help me out.

[Rassah]

Still no reply for Bitpay. This is sad because there were 24 possible transactions that the Zoo could not receive.  We received 24 emails for different denominations that say:


BitPay Invoice Blocked
We were unable to create an invoice because its value was higher than your current approval limits.
You are currently approved for $100/day. This limit applies to any invoice with an equivalent value in any currency.
The invoice total was $1000, at Thu Dec 19 2013 01:56:57 GMT+0000 (UTC).

Bitpay has caused the zoo to lose possible donations. The Barcroft Media video went live too. So we are getting more traffic and means more missed BTC transactions.

Send this information to BitPay and please let them know about it. I don't know if this is a regulatory problem, a security problem, or a logistics one, but I would like to know if it can be fixed, too.

[Rassah]

You two have been doing this many cash transactions without FinCEN compliance data on file? You should be happy its taken this long.

We have never made any cash transactions.

You mean you're sending Bitcoins directly to the charity? I thought you were sending to the charity via BitPay and BitPay was exchanging the Bitcoins for cash.

Yes. We don't care who their processor is, or what they do with the coins after they get them. Why should we get FinCEN compliance, if we are not based in US and are not a US organization?

[Rassah]

Another e-mail received:

Dear BitCoin100,

We are MAPS, a 501(c)3 non-profit research organization developing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy into a safe and legal treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MAPS' government-approved research shows that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be an effective treatment for people who do not respond to traditional therapies for (PTSD). Our ongoing study in U.S. military veterans, firefighters, and police officers is halfway complete, and early results are promising.

 - In the recently completed pilot study, 83% of subjects receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy no longer qualified for PTSD,
- Our  long-term follow-up of subjects receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy revealed that overall benefits were maintained on average for 3½ years or more.

Our research findings have been covered by major media sources such as The New York Times, CNN, Military.com, Oprah Magazine, NBC, and many others. To learn more about our research, visit mdmaptsd.org or maps.org, and also check out our indiegogo campaign which is currently underway.

MAPS' research is privately funded and we are exploring the possibility of publicly accepting Bitcoins as donations. If Bitcoin100's offer still stands, it would certainly help offset some of the implementation cost, and enable our marketing/fundraising team to announce the acceptance of Bitcoin donations on our media networks.

Would you let me know if we might be eligible?

Thanks,

Brian B
Communications and Marketing Associate
MAPS

My power went out Tuesday, and I didn't get home until very late last night, so I didn't have time to catch up on things for 2 days. (this e-mail was sent 2 days ago). I'll review all the new stuff I posted once I get home.

[Rassah]

Send the Bitcoins directly to the charity. Make them find their own payment processor.  Suggest BitPay but leave the process to them.

That is, indeed, what we do. We suggest that they sign up with a payment processor, such as BitPay, Coinbase, or BIPS, and only say that BitPay is easier to set up and use.

Do not have any more communications with BitPay.

Not possible, since I am also a customer of BitPay (and Coinbase), need to know this information for myself, and because we promise to help charities to get set up. I can't help the charity with questions about how to set up with BitPay if I don't know the answers to those questions. I don't think we would get in trouble for providing some free of charge technical support to BitPay or Coinbase, just because we might know the answers and be able to answer them right away instead of them having to go through their support ticket.

At the same time, we do treat BitPay, Coinbase, BIPS, and others as our partners, of sorts, and report any issues that donors bring up back to them, if only to improve everyone's experience.

This also removes any burden from you for money laundering. What would you do if one of the charities you two vetted was later discovered to be a front for money laundering? Why take that risk, just send the charity the coin directly.

It is impossible for us to launder money, because all of our accounts are entirely public, and because we only donate $1,000. If you wanted to launder $1,000 by donating it to us, setting up a fake charity, going through our vetting process, and getting that donation back, more power to you. But there are way easier methods of laundering much larger amounts of money.
Also, again, Bitcoin100 is not an American, or a European, organization. We don't have members, just volunteers, and they are not based in any country. Our money is not stored in any bank and is not owned by any one person. We don't even have a structured leadership. I'm just doing a lot of the work related to it, completely voluntarily, but anyone in any other country could do just the same. If I get arrested and charged with something, it will have absolutely no effect on this organization, since the goals and rules will remain, the money will remain, and the method of sending money will remain. Bitcoin100 is, quite literally, everywhere, and nowhere specifically.

I hope this answers your questions.

[Rassah]

Two more:

Hi Rassah,

My name is Shub Sengupta and I am a Digital Media Coordinator at Capacity Waterloo Region. We are an organization that helps other nonprofits excel through providing mentoring, training boot camps, and online resources.

I recently heard of the Bitcoin 100 program through Jason Shim, who implemented a Bitcoin donation system for Pathways to Education Canada, a program I am an alumni of. I would absolutely love to implement Bitcoin donations at Capacity Waterloo Region, as it would allow for truly anonymous and open donations, and would also start the conversation for many local nonprofits who would benefit greatly from Bitcoin donations.

Our website is at www.capacitywr.ca

I have the approval to get this implemented within the next week, and would greatly appreciate your guidance in going forward with this matter.

Look forward to your reply.
Warm regards,

Shubhagata S.
Digital Media Coordinator
Capacity Waterloo Region

Dmitri,

My name is Spencer Campbell and I'm the Operations Director of
Exponential Education in Ghana. We pair needy high schoolers with
under-performing middle schoolers in an innovative after school
tutoring program. We give scholarships to the top tutors to pursue
university education.

We are a Bitcoin friendly non-profit and we've recently started
accepting bitcoin donations on our website,
www.exponentialeducationprogram.org. We are a small but rapidly
growing organization and the 1000 USD endownment from bitcoin100.org
would fund tutoring programs for 50 middle school students, keep 10
needy high schoolers in school and fund a scholarship for 1-2
outstanding individuals.

I hope you will consider supporting us!

Cheers,
Spencer Campbell and the Exponential Education team

Another one of those "they just started donating, do they qualify?" things. I think that shouldn't be a problem, but we really need to set up some rule about this.

[mapsi]

Hi again Rassah and thank you for the reply. Bitpay has lifted the daily limit to 1k
Please find the bitcoin donation link at the bottom of the page.
http://donateoklahoma.usza.us/

Still no reply for Bitpay. This is sad because there were 24 possible transactions that the Zoo could not receive.  We received 24 emails for different denominations that say:


BitPay Invoice Blocked
We were unable to create an invoice because its value was higher than your current approval limits.
You are currently approved for $100/day. This limit applies to any invoice with an equivalent value in any currency.
The invoice total was $1000, at Thu Dec 19 2013 01:56:57 GMT+0000 (UTC).

Bitpay has caused the zoo to lose possible donations. The Barcroft Media video went live too. So we are getting more traffic and means more missed BTC transactions.

Send this information to BitPay and please let them know about it. I don't know if this is a regulatory problem, a security problem, or a logistics one, but I would like to know if it can be fixed, too.

[Rassah]

That's good to hear. Then why is BitPay asking you for more info?

They are not. They are asking the charity for more info, because their default limit on accepting sales is only $100, while our donation amount is $1,000. I was simply relaying that problem to others here, explaining that BitPay asks donors for more info to bump up the amount they are allowed to receive, and trying to figure out what we can do about it. Considering that it is likely a financial regulatory issue, maybe nothing.

From our end as a donor, all I see is me entering $1,000 into the donation form, hitting Submit, and getting an error page saying the merchant isn't allowed to receive that payment.

Very curious considering your statement of the circumstances. They must somehow consider the transactions which are far greater than $1,000 in total to be somehow connected to you or some invisible government hand is asking BitPay for that information on you. Either way it sounds like you have nothing to fear providing your passport or whatever to them. I think that's an unreasonable demand considering what you are doing. Putting a cap on $ amount of transfers from you seems ridiculous considering you're not even using their service. No?

... Go drink some coffee. I think you may not be fully awake yet 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Sorry I couldn't post this earlier

Charles St (BitPay)

Rassah,

You will need to apply for a higher transaction limit at http://bitpay.com/merchant-compliance. We require some additional information from you that we will need to review. Once we've done that, we'll approve you for a higher limit, which will resolve this issue. Thanks for reaching out.

Sincerely,

Charles St
Client Support Engineer
BitPay, Inc.

I gotta say, this really sucks, considering we're doing $1,000 every time. I wonder if BitPay would object to 10 $100 donations at the same time? (Or if they even support it).

You two have been doing this many cash transactions without FinCEN compliance data on file? You should be happy its taken this long.

They don't have a clue that we're tying dynamite to goats, then tossing them in the lake to catch bass, trading the bass for wheat, in turn, trading the wheat for potatoes, making vodka...

[Phinnaeus Gage]

That's good to hear. Then why is BitPay asking you for more info?

They are not. They are asking the charity for more info, because their default limit on accepting sales is only $100, while our donation amount is $1,000. I was simply relaying that problem to others here, explaining that BitPay asks donors for more info to bump up the amount they are allowed to receive, and trying to figure out what we can do about it. Considering that it is likely a financial regulatory issue, maybe nothing.

From our end as a donor, all I see is me entering $1,000 into the donation form, hitting Submit, and getting an error page saying the merchant isn't allowed to receive that payment.

Very curious considering your statement of the circumstances. They must somehow consider the transactions which are far greater than $1,000 in total to be somehow connected to you or some invisible government hand is asking BitPay for that information on you. Either way it sounds like you have nothing to fear providing your passport or whatever to them. I think that's an unreasonable demand considering what you are doing. Putting a cap on $ amount of transfers from you seems ridiculous considering you're not even using their service. No?

... Go drink some coffee. I think you may not be fully awake yet 

Oh, I guess you're right. I thought they wanted you to give info. LOL

They'll never arrest a guy donning a pink tutu, albeit they may tazz him just to hear him squeal. 

I had a feeling that the problem was how the charity initially set up BitPay. Probably ticked the wrong box during the initial process, otherwise they would have been approved for the higher amount from the get-go.

Rassah, you may want to keep this aspect in mind for the next time.

Will be vetting the newest entries later, after I unload a truckload of barn wood before the rain hits. I think I need another vacation.

~TMIBTCITW

[Rassah]

Hi again Rassah and thank you for the reply. Bitpay has lifted the daily limit to 1k
Please find the bitcoin donation link at the bottom of the page.
http://donateoklahoma.usza.us/

$1,000 donation sent: https://blockchain.info/tx/bcc068b393d57ec83a4e9f7c6466ae66c30500aa32fd5661e3fcf7c35ea3d46b

[mapsi]

The zoo is excited and wanted me to send their thanks! Doing a great job and thing here guys and gals. Keep up the good work!

[Rassah]

And hey, those asses at http://www.donkeyrescue.org/ added a bitcoin donation option, too (they finished changing their website, but forgot to tell me, and I just remembered them and decided to look). So, we'll have one more donation going out in a bit. There is apparently a minor issue wit BitPay: the defualt settings don't allow for more than $100 or so per donation   I looked through my ow BitPay account, but can't find where to change it. E-mailed BitPay support. Hopefully they will change the default limit for donations to $1,000, because otherwise we'll keep running into this issue every time (this is the second or third time I ran into it)

They fixed their issue as well, and $1,000 donation sent!
https://blockchain.info/tx/4d63195a66937c2b82a3d8b97aa0d11899a36715b5cf4186918ff6b540fa914d

Mike the burro man reminds me of Bruno for some reason. Probably the hat and the big bushy beard. All you farm folk look like to us yuppies 

[Rassah]

And more work for Phin (and myself)

From: Jason Shim
To Brock, me

Hi Brock,

Just wanted to take a moment to introduce you to Dmitry, who is cc:ed in this email. Dmitry oversees the Bitcoin100 and we had a chance to meet in person recently in Toronto and he graciously volunteers his time to administer the project.

Dmitry, Brock is currently involved with War Child Canada and has expressed an interest in the Bitcoin 100. Brock, from here, just let Dmitry know that you're interested along with a link to the War Child site and let him know that you are looking to implement it within your organization. As I mentioned, if you need any help around the technical implementation / executive buy-in parts, just let me know!

JASON SHIM / DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER
PATHWAYS TO EDUCATION CANADA  

From: Brock W

Awesome! Thanks Jason.

Dmitry, I would love to get the ball rolling on helping War Child accept Bitcoin donations. Here is the link to our site: www.warchild.ca (we have a splash page up for the holidays, FYI)

We haven't started this at all, and I understand that's exactly the types of organizations you're interested in helping out.

Like Jason hinted at, I've got a little bit of internal convincing to do in the New Year but nothing I can't handle with some behind the scenes help from Jason.

Didn't see any problems with this one.

Then there's this

From: Amanda, Co-founder, GO!

Hello Dmitry
My name is Amanda Furst. I am the founder of Growing Opportunities International (GO!), a Canadian-based non-profit organization that partners with individuals in developing countries that have sustainable project ideas to positively impact their community.  To date, GO! has built a nursery school complete with rain water catchment system, play structure and library in rural Rwanda and is in the process of creating Hero Home - a Community Sports Centre and home for street kids and orphans in Northern Tanzania.

I recently came across your website, bitcoin100.org and love what you guys are doing.  I am currently set up on our website to receive bitcoin donations and would love to join with bitcoin100 to help GO! gain more exposure in the bitcoin community.  Our website is www.growingopportunitiesinternational.org.  Currently we have a bitcoin widget that we got from coinwidget.com but we are looking to develop a widget that is a bit bigger and more attractive.  We are also set up to receive litecoin and peercoin donations.  Furthermore, we run Swahili Tutorial series on youtube and are advertising that if people enjoy the videos, they could consider making a donation either in cash or in bitcoin.  

If possible, GO! would absolutely love to be part of bitcoin100.  Is there an application process to be considered?
  
If you require any additional information about GO! please feel free to contact me at <redacted>

Thank you for your time and the work you are doing to support non-profits in need.

Happy Holidays.

Amanda Furst
GO! Founder
www.GrowingOpportunitiesInternational.org

Another one of those "Great charity! But they accept bitcoin already  "
Should we just set the rule as "if you recently started accepting, you still qualify," with "recently" being within a month or two?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Another e-mail received:

Dear BitCoin100,

We are MAPS, a 501(c)3 non-profit research organization developing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy into a safe and legal treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MAPS' government-approved research shows that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be an effective treatment for people who do not respond to traditional therapies for (PTSD). Our ongoing study in U.S. military veterans, firefighters, and police officers is halfway complete, and early results are promising.

 - In the recently completed pilot study, 83% of subjects receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy no longer qualified for PTSD,
- Our  long-term follow-up of subjects receiving MDMA-assisted psychotherapy revealed that overall benefits were maintained on average for 3½ years or more.

Our research findings have been covered by major media sources such as The New York Times, CNN, Military.com, Oprah Magazine, NBC, and many others. To learn more about our research, visit mdmaptsd.org or maps.org, and also check out our indiegogo campaign which is currently underway.

MAPS' research is privately funded and we are exploring the possibility of publicly accepting Bitcoins as donations. If Bitcoin100's offer still stands, it would certainly help offset some of the implementation cost, and enable our marketing/fundraising team to announce the acceptance of Bitcoin donations on our media networks.

Would you let me know if we might be eligible?

Thanks,

Brian B
Communications and Marketing Associate
MAPS

My power went out Tuesday, and I didn't get home until very late last night, so I didn't have time to catch up on things for 2 days. (this e-mail was sent 2 days ago). I'll review all the new stuff I posted once I get home.

This one passes muster.

[mapsi]

The nonprofit who hosts GWZOO.org donation page is interested in accepting bitcoins as well. There NPO is United States Zoological Association. It is a completely separate NPO then the zoo and they represent quite a few zoos across the nation. Do they qualify as well?

usza.us

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Two more:

Hi Rassah,

My name is Shub Sengupta and I am a Digital Media Coordinator at Capacity Waterloo Region. We are an organization that helps other nonprofits excel through providing mentoring, training boot camps, and online resources.

I recently heard of the Bitcoin 100 program through Jason Shim, who implemented a Bitcoin donation system for Pathways to Education Canada, a program I am an alumni of. I would absolutely love to implement Bitcoin donations at Capacity Waterloo Region, as it would allow for truly anonymous and open donations, and would also start the conversation for many local nonprofits who would benefit greatly from Bitcoin donations.

Our website is at www.capacitywr.ca

I have the approval to get this implemented within the next week, and would greatly appreciate your guidance in going forward with this matter.

Look forward to your reply.
Warm regards,

Shubhagata S.
Digital Media Coordinator
Capacity Waterloo Region

Dmitri,

My name is Spencer Campbell and I'm the Operations Director of
Exponential Education in Ghana. We pair needy high schoolers with
under-performing middle schoolers in an innovative after school
tutoring program. We give scholarships to the top tutors to pursue
university education.

We are a Bitcoin friendly non-profit and we've recently started
accepting bitcoin donations on our website,
www.exponentialeducationprogram.org. We are a small but rapidly
growing organization and the 1000 USD endownment from bitcoin100.org
would fund tutoring programs for 50 middle school students, keep 10
needy high schoolers in school and fund a scholarship for 1-2
outstanding individuals.

I hope you will consider supporting us!

Cheers,
Spencer Campbell and the Exponential Education team

Another one of those "they just started donating, do they qualify?" things. I think that shouldn't be a problem, but we really need to set up some rule about this.

www.capacitywr.ca is fine.

exponentialeducationprogram.org is fine as well with the exception of it recently started to accept bitcoin donations. Since we're a loosely knit org, of sorts, sometimes we can show a little latitude, especially if the org in question is very fine candidate, like this one.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

The nonprofit who hosts GWZOO.org donation page is interested in accepting bitcoins as well. There NPO is United States Zoological Association. It is a completely separate NPO then the zoo and they represent quite a few zoos across the nation. Do they qualify as well?

usza.us

Checking it now, since you're online, mapsi. Thanks for the info.

EDIT

Boy, I would love to see a Bitcoin donation option on this page: http://usza.us/Zoo-Animal-Rescue.php

To address your question, it's possible that they qualify, but we don't want to be in position to fund each and every zoo affiliated with the USZA.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

And hey, those asses at http://www.donkeyrescue.org/ added a bitcoin donation option, too (they finished changing their website, but forgot to tell me, and I just remembered them and decided to look). So, we'll have one more donation going out in a bit. There is apparently a minor issue wit BitPay: the defualt settings don't allow for more than $100 or so per donation   I looked through my ow BitPay account, but can't find where to change it. E-mailed BitPay support. Hopefully they will change the default limit for donations to $1,000, because otherwise we'll keep running into this issue every time (this is the second or third time I ran into it)

They fixed their issue as well, and $1,000 donation sent!
https://blockchain.info/tx/4d63195a66937c2b82a3d8b97aa0d11899a36715b5cf4186918ff6b540fa914d

Mike the burro man reminds me of Bruno for some reason. Probably the hat and the big bushy beard. All you farm folk look like to us yuppies