Previously yr, the Toledo Museum of Artwork obtained a number of dozen works on paper by the Pop artist Marisol, a collection of black-and-white pictures by Brett Weston, two sculptures by Roxy Paine, a portray by Richard Diebenkorn, 4 sculptural works by Martin Puryear and a linoleum-cut print by Kara Walker, amongst different artworks. Most donations to the museum, in fact, got here within the type of money—such because the present from one native household that funded free parking for guests for 10 years—however not all. Different items included shares in startup companies (a pharmaceutical and a tech firm amongst them), an property and cryptocurrencies similar to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, and others.
“There’s loads of flexibility within the sorts of donations we’ll settle for,” Adam Levine, the museum’s director, advised Observer. The museum’s board determines the sorts of items the establishment will settle for, and it turns into the event division’s job to determine what to do with donations that aren’t artworks or money. “We don’t have folks on employees with experience in actual property and crypto and startup firms,” he stated, including that the museum can “settle for quite a lot of issues, usually liquidating them instantly.”
The property, as an example, was turned over to realtors who bought the home and property for $800,000, whereas the crypto was deposited in an account at The Giving Block, a Pennsylvania-based platform that helps nonprofits convert cryptocurrency donations into usable money. The Toledo Museum of Artwork started accepting crypto in 2023, with donations amounting to greater than $100,000 in 2025, “and that quantity has been rising yearly,” Levine stated.
A rising share of items to museums arrive within the type of “actual property, pension plans, life insurance coverage payouts, boats, vehicles, crypto—you identify it,” stated Ken Cerini, managing companion of Cerini & Associates, which helps not-for-profit teams worth and make use of non-cash donations. “I inform individuals who need to donate crypto to a nonprofit to succeed in out to the group to see if they may take it. Most organizations will discover a technique to make it occur, significantly if it will likely be a sizeable donation.”
Amongst high-profile museums that settle for non-cash donations are the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, which accepts cryptocurrency; the Museum of Trendy Artwork in New York Metropolis, which accepts appreciated securities; and the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork, which accepts actual property. All three, together with others such because the Guggenheim, settle for donations of inventory.
The Excessive Museum of Artwork in Atlanta, in keeping with a spokesperson, accepts inventory (“a number of occasions every month”) and actual property (“that’s a bit extra uncommon”), in addition to wine donations from winemakers for its annual wine public sale. “However right now we don’t settle for Bitcoin,” the spokesperson added. As one may anticipate, the online-only Museum of Crypto Artwork does.
Receiving a crypto or different non-cash donation requires greater than merely deciding to just accept it. The Giving Block, a crypto fundraising platform, works with near 30 museums and cultural establishments throughout the U.S., together with the Smithsonian Establishment and the Los Angeles County Museum of Artwork. Over $1.2 million in crypto was donated to museums and cultural establishments in 2025—a virtually 50 p.c improve from 2024. “When a crypto donation is obtained, we immediately convert the crypto to U.S. {dollars} to seize the complete donation worth after which ship the U.S. {dollars} on to the group’s checking account,” a spokesperson advised Observer. Unsurprisingly, crypto donors are inclined to “skew youthful than conventional main donors”—millennials and youthful Gen X—“however additionally they are typically meaningfully wealthier than the typical on-line donor.”
Making non-cash items affords tax advantages to donors, Cerini stated, noting that “with the uptick within the inventory market and cryptocurrencies realizing vital features, there’s actual worth within the donation of those property, as donors get the advantage of a charitable contribution for the truthful market worth of the asset” with out having to promote it and incur capital features tax.
Chris Haydon, founding father of Crypto Appraisal Professional, which offers IRS-compliant value determinations for cryptocurrency donations, acknowledged that greater than 70 p.c of the highest charities within the U.S., as ranked by Forbes, settle for cryptocurrency donations. “That’s up from simply 12 p.c in 2020.” Donations of crypto have greater than tripled prior to now yr, pushed by the truth that cryptocurrencies have “created monumental wealth. Bitcoin alone has gone from beneath $1,000 in 2017 to over $90,000 at the moment. Early holders are sitting on huge unrealized features.” He added that “5 years in the past, accepting crypto was a novelty. Right now, for main charities, universities and hospitals, it’s changing into commonplace observe.”
As with every different non-cash charitable donation—similar to art work or an vintage—donors could obtain a tax deduction (often 30 p.c of the merchandise’s truthful market worth) if the asset has been held for a couple of yr, with the worth assessed on the time of the present. In keeping with IRS guidelines, if the charitable contribution deduction claimed exceeds $5,000, a certified appraisal is required.
Discovering an appraiser with crypto experience who’s certified to submit an IRS-compliant valuation just isn’t straightforward. Not one of the members of the 2 largest appraiser associations—the Appraisers Affiliation of America and the American Society of Appraisers—record crypto as a specialty. Whereas some nonprofit employees could recommend a reputation, most observe Adam Levine’s coverage: “We don’t suggest appraisers for artwork or crypto or something. That’s one thing for the donors to deal with… we don’t need to get embroiled with the IRS.”
Linda Selvin, government director of the Appraisers Affiliation of America, recommends in search of out people recognized as “enterprise appraisers” to conduct certified crypto value determinations. Some firms that supply appraisal companies for non-cash property embody Charitable Options, Havenwood Holdings, AppraiseItNow.com and Sickler, Tarpey & Associates. Platforms that allow crypto donations—similar to The Giving Block, Dechomai and Constancy—may also present suggestions. Appraisal charges range with the worth of the present: Randy Tarpey, a CPA and companion at Sickler, Tarpey & Associates, expenses $120 for donations within the $5,000 vary and $995 for donations above $500,000. Joe Kattan, proprietor of AppraiseItNow.com, stated his charges vary from $400 to $2,000.
Maybe one of many defining options of crypto is its volatility, rising and falling in worth quickly since—in contrast to the U.S. greenback—it’s not pegged to different currencies or backed by a central financial institution. Nonetheless, Haydon argued, “crypto is simpler to appraise than artwork or collectibles. With a Picasso or a uncommon vintage, you’re making subjective judgments about situation, provenance and comparable gross sales that could be years aside. With Bitcoin or Ethereum, you have got clear, real-time pricing market information throughout a number of exchanges, 24 hours a day. The asset’s worth at any given second is publicly verifiable.” CNBC offers each day pricing information for Bitcoin, Ethereum and different cryptocurrencies; nobody can inform you what that Picasso is value at the moment versus tomorrow.
Extra for artwork collectors
