The Electric Coin Company’s mission is to empower everyone with economic freedom and opportunity. We believe that everyone has a right to privacy — in fact, we deem it to be a fundamental human right — and this belief extends to charitable giving.
Privacy is built into the core of Zcash, allowing people to send and receive Zcash without disclosing the sender, receiver or the amount transacted. This is a leap forward for charitable giving, allowing privacy preferences to extend beyond the wishes of the donor to include the recipient’s preferences, as well.
Zcash technology has been characterized by regulated exchanges as “a truly innovative privacy coin that offers confidentiality for peer-to-peer transactions similar to those afforded to fiat currency transfers (e.g. ACH, FedWire, SWIFT).”
Private donations are powerful
Privacy is a critical component of charitable giving, for both the donor and recipient.
Charities are firmly focused on the organization’s mission and the good work that brings it to fruition. However, donations that come from sources with real or implied bias can distract from the mission. In these instances, private donations are encouraged but can sometimes pose a logistical challenge when using traditional fiat transfers (e.g. check or wire).
Conversely, donors oftentimes wish to be the quiet heroes who support the mission without attribution. However, despite the vast array of traditional fiat transfer options, financial privacy has remained elusive.
Zcash provides a solution whereby both parties may choose to transact without revealing information about the sender, receiver and the amount. However, both parties are able to verify that the transaction was successful through the blockchain ledger. This empowers charitable causes to stay focused on their mission and private donors to remain the quiet heroes who support causes in which they believe.
Explore the possibilities
A growing number of charitable causes accept Zcash. Their missions range from privacy advocacy to freedom of the press and more. Browse these lists of resources maintained by various individuals and organizations:
The Zcash Community website boasts an impressive list of vendors, services, stores and non-profit organizations that serve a wide range of interests — from apparel to internet services and more.
Pay with Zcash is a list of products, services, user groups, podcasts and other causes. The list is maintained by Zcash enthusiast Eric Vaughn. The site’s initial setup was made possible through an $891 grant from the Zcash Foundation, an independent nonprofit with similar aims to the Electric Coin Company. Vaughn cites a personal experience which served as his inspiration for building this page. “My first purchase using Zcash was a laptop sticker from the Boston Zcash User Group. I sent a z-addy (private) payment with my mailing address in the encrypted message line. The experience was eye-opening because I realized anyone can use Zcash to buy stuff in a secure way without revealing any information to third parties.” Follow @paywithzcash on Twitter to learn about new opportunities to use your Zcash for good.
The Zcash Foundation sponsors key ecosystem projects, such as mineZcash’s Zcash Community website and Zcash community chat.
Connect with a charitable cause
While there are a multitude of Zcash-powered charities, it’s worth calling some out individually:
Airdrop Venezuela’s mission is to send $1,000,000 in crypto-connected digital money to 100,000 ID-authenticated Venezuelans, distributing $10 to each person via their Airtm e-wallet. Ten dollars can help a family purchase food, medicine and scarce imported goods. Access to digital money can help introduce Venezuelans to cryptocurrencies, online freelancer platforms, e-commerce, investments, donations and other income-generating, web-based opportunities.
Courage Foundation raises funds for the legal and public defense of those who risk life or liberty to make significant contributions to the historical record. The Zcash Foundation has been working with Courage Foundation since 2017. Andrew Miller, Zcash Foundation Chair and President, explained “Helping other non-profits to benefit from cryptocurrency is a key part of the Zcash Foundation’s mission. Reaching out to Courage Foundation as a first case study was a natural choice, since they have clear requirements for donor privacy and censorship-resistance, and they also have experience and expertise in securely accepting Bitcoin donations.
Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. EFF champions user privacy, free expression and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism and technology development.
Foresight Institute researches technologies of fundamental importance to the human future, focusing on molecular machine nanotechnology, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
Freedom of the Press protects, defends and empowers public-interest journalism in the 21st century.
GiveCrypto.org distributes cryptocurrency to people living in poverty.
The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. They provide free access with a mission of providing “Universal Access to All Knowledge.”
Lifeboat Foundation is dedicated to encouraging scientific advancements while helping humanity survive existential risks and possible misuse of increasingly powerful technologies, including genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics/AI.
Open Privacy Research Society conducts scientific research advancing the area of privacy and anonymity as they relate to computer science and computer security.
Riseup.net provides online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change.
Seasteading Institute is a nonprofit think-tank promoting the creation of floating ocean cities as a solution to some of the world’s most pressing problems such as rising sea levels, overpopulation and poor governance.
SENS Foundation funds university research around the world and at their headquarters aimed at regenerative medicine to repair the damage underlying the diseases of aging.
The Tor Project creates Tor Browser, which enables you to use the internet privately and resist surveillance.
WikiLeaks is a multinational media organization and associated library. It specializes in the analysis and publication of large datasets of censored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying and corruption.
No matter which charitable causes you choose to support, Zcash donations empower both the donor and recipient — revolutionizing philanthropy. To learn more about Zcash, visit us online or follow us on Twitter.