For more than four decades, Make-A-Wish has granted life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses around the world. Now, the organization is expanding that mission into the digital age by embracing crypto philanthropy, a growing movement that merges innovation, transparency, and global giving.

We sat down with April Stallings, Charitable Gaming and Creators Community Manager at Make-A-Wish International, to discuss how the organization started accepting crypto donations, what makes crypto donors unique, and how blockchain could help shape the future of charitable giving. 

OpenSea: What inspired Make-A-Wish to start accepting crypto donations, and how does this fit into the organization’s broader mission?

April Stallings: Make-A-Wish International is one of the world’s truly global charities, operating in over fifty countries. Our mission is ‘To Grant The Wish of Every Eligible Child’. Children all over the world living with critical illnesses deserve the mental and physical health benefits that a wish can bring during their medical treatment. We need to reach those children. 

That means we think in innovative ways and have to be nimble in how we respond to global trends to keep our mission moving forward. We see cryptocurrency as an innovative shift in how money can be held, invested and donated to charity. Crypto philanthropy will continue to grow and impact how nonprofits are tapping into the donations that are crucial to our missions.

OpenSea: When did you first begin exploring blockchain and crypto, and what made now the right time to take action?

April Stallings: This is the fifth year we have been accepting cryptocurrency donations and engaging with blockchain and web3 communities. I think now we are seeing a more mature space that is demanding to be taken seriously as a global financial reserve. But we know that we need to raise even more awareness that we are crypto friendly and ready to do something big and exciting with the right partner. 

OpenSea: What unique opportunities do you see in crypto philanthropy, and what challenges, technical or reputational, have you had to overcome?

April Stallings: Reputational concerns when it comes to cryptocurrency is a real thing. A charity’s brand is everything. It takes years to develop trust that, if it is broken, takes a long time to build back up while the mission suffers. I do a lot of work internally to try to alleviate those concerns when it comes to cryptocurrency. Bad actors get the most press unfortunately and the people who are working hard to make an impact through crypto suffer for it. 

End of year is a huge time for us with crypto philanthropy. Right now BTC is outperforming traditional investments in a major way which means that there’s a great opportunity for us to offer tax incentives for major donors to help offset their burdens. And time’s running out to get that done for 2025. 

I also see gaming as a great space to engage with. Around the world, Make-A-Wish children use gaming to stay connected to friends and family while in treatment. It’s our fastest growing category of wishes so it resonates really well with the blockchain gaming community. We just did our first activation with a great game called The Wildlands of Faenora. They created a bespoke character called Tendybear that acts as a healer in-game and had a great story behind him as a child’s wish come true. 

OpenSea: Have you noticed differences between crypto donors and traditional donors? Perhaps in motivations, demographics, or engagement style?

April Stallings: Crypto donors are so different! Traditional donors, you steward them — thank them, send them updates and make sure that they know how you are using their funds. Crypto donors do a lot of research, expect a seamless online donation experience, often remain anonymous and almost never engage when you do send an email! They can be a mystery to seasoned fundraising professionals. You have to believe that they are seeing the good work on social platforms and will return to you when they’re ready to donate to grant more wishes! They are all over the map — metaphorically and literally — with demographics but also have more in common. Everyone loves the tax incentives. Everyone wants impact. And everyone wants to show the world crypto can be a force for good.

OpenSea: How do you educate or onboard potential donors who may be new to crypto, or make the giving process approachable for everyone?

April Stallings: Our name is strong so we often don’t have to educate too much around the mission. It’s more that we need to educate around being crypto friendly!

We try to keep a steady flow of information to prospective donors and even past donors who may be crypto friendly without us knowing it. Ease of giving is everything with crypto donors. We have a process that allows a donation to be made in three steps from widget to wallet through The Giving Block platform. We try to do passive education through our X account and our X bio also features the direct crypto donation link. We interact with the crypto world through Reddit too. Always looking to educate and connect.

OpenSea: Where do you see crypto and blockchain fitting into the future of charitable giving over the next few years?

April Stallings: My personal take is that they will be one of the more consistent and reliable sources of donations for charities now and in the future. I think crypto based endowment funds are imminent. The reward vs the volatility of the market will always be a consideration but I think we’re getting close to more charities holding crypto rather than converting it to fiat and using the gains to fund the mission. I think staking for charity has a lot of promise too with the right partners.

OpenSea: For readers who hold crypto and want to support Make-A-Wish, what’s the best way to get started?

April Stallings: I am always here to chat if you want to reach out to me and talk about our global programs and what a wish does for a child. Email, a DM on X or Discord, whatever works! If you want to donate right away just head over to our crypto portal and make an anonymous (or not so anonymous) donation. That’s always the 24-hour option. 

But right now my crypto dream is someone who has a big idea and wants to make a big impact. Do you want to fund 100 wishes? Do you want to help launch our next country Affiliate and reach more children? Are you thinking of something even more ambitious? Let’s collaborate.