Crypto exchange company Coinbase has launched a charitable organization that the company says will focus on “driving philanthropic initiatives underpinned by a common goal of increasing economic freedom.”
Coinbase Giving will support causes that fall under three main categories: increasing education and access to crypto, speeding up the developments of crypto protocols, and supporting the next generation of professionals in the crypto ecosystem.
The organization will be rolled out in three stages. The first stage will focus on integrating the non-profit GiveCrypto into Coinbase as a 501(c)(3) foundation. By converting the non-profit into a private foundation, Coinbase will increase funding and allow its customers to donate directly to the programs they would like to support.
The second stage will focus on expanding the Crypto Community Fund, a fund meant to develop research and support open-source projects. The exchange expects to put forward $2 million to expand this program.
The third stage will focus on fostering diverse crypto talent as well as implementing an employee match program. The exchange is partnering with Base 11, a non-profit that works with women and underrepresented minorities to bring them into the STEM workforce. The employee match program, which will launch in June, will entail Coinbase matching any employee donations to a qualified 501c3 (or international equivalent) organization on a one-for-one basis up to $500.
According to Dominique Baillet, Global Head of Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion at Coinbase, under the exchange’s Pledge 1% project, employees will be able to participate in the organization by committing employee time towards “charitable activities.”
“Just purely based on employee count that number is currently around 32,000 hours per year. That time will be dedicated to the crypto charitable initiatives outlined in the announcement (GiveCrypto, Coinbase Community Fund and Base 11) and other initiatives as Coinbase Giving continues to expand and grow,” she told The Block.
The announcement comes amidst a flurry of news for the recently public company.
The launch of the organization comes months after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote in a blog post that employees should not “take on activism outside of our core mission at work.” When asked for clarification on this point, Baillet highlighted the one-for-one employee match program, saying this will allow employees to support causes that are important to them.
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