Bitcoin Grants for Nonprofits

What Is a Bitcoin Grant?

A Bitcoin grant is a grant paid in bitcoin, or paid from money a funder raised or holds in bitcoin. Some funders send the grant itself in bitcoin. The Human Rights Foundation's Bitcoin Development Fund, for example, pays its grants in BTC. Others hold bitcoin and pay grants in dollars. A few run matching programs that add bitcoin to gifts a church or ministry receives.

A grant is different from a donation. A grant comes through a program, with criteria, an application, and a report at the end. A donation is a gift someone gives you directly. Most bitcoin that reaches nonprofits comes as donations. The Giving Block, which processes crypto gifts for nonprofits, handled more than $100 million in 22,343 crypto donations in 2025, with an average gift of $11,019 (The Giving Block, 2026 Crypto Philanthropy Report (opens in a new tab)).

So if you want bitcoin to support your work, being ready to receive bitcoin gifts may matter more than finding a grant. We cover that below.

Which Organizations Give Bitcoin Grants to Nonprofits?

These programs were taking applications or announcing grants in 2025 or 2026. Criteria and cycles change, so check each funder's site before you apply.

Sources are listed at the end of this page. We don't run or represent the HRF, OpenSats, or Paystand.org programs.

Notice what the crypto programs have in common. They fund work that uses Bitcoin or builds on it. A food pantry asking for general support is unlikely to fit. A ministry teaching refugees to use a bitcoin wallet, or a local project building a bitcoin circular economy, might.

Does Brilliance Labs Give Bitcoin Grants?

We have, as pilots. Each one taught us something about getting bitcoin into the hands of people who had never used it:

• Micro grants to field workers (2024). We sent $50 to $100 in bitcoin to cross-cultural workers in developing countries, and each worker exchanged it for local currency. For people used to sending money through banks, that one exercise showed how bitcoin works (read how it worked).
• Lausanne 4 congress (September 2024). With Frontier Ventures, we set aside $5,000 to send in small amounts to missionaries and church leaders in the Global South (read the announcement).
• Matching bitcoin grants for churches and ministries (2024 to 2025). With Thank God for Bitcoin and Magnalia Foundation, we raised 5,000,000 sats (0.05 BTC) to match the first bitcoin gifts to 21 eligible ministries. We matched gifts a ministry held as bitcoin for at least nine months, up to 210,000 sats or $225, whichever was worth more at the time. Applications for that program are closed (read about the program).

We still give bitcoin grants to missionaries and international partners, but that granting is private and by invitation only. There is no open application. If you'd like us to know your work, email hello@brilliancelabs.org to introduce it.

How Do You Apply for a Bitcoin Grant?

1. Read the funder's priorities and past grants

   HRF and OpenSats both announce the projects they fund. Read a few. If nothing on the list looks like your work, that tells you something before you spend a week writing.

2. Check eligibility first

   Most programs want a 501(c)(3) or an equivalent charity in your country. Some fund individual developers or educators. If you aren't sure you fit, ask the funder before you write the whole application. We say the same thing about our own grants.

3. Show why Bitcoin matters to the project

   Say plainly what the project does, who it serves, and why bitcoin is part of it. If Bitcoin is a small add-on to the project, say so honestly, or look for a different kind of funder.

4. Gather the usual documents

   Expect to need your IRS determination letter (or your country's equivalent), a line-by-line budget, a timeline, expected outcomes and how you'll measure them, and the names of the people who will lead the work.

5. Plan how you'll receive the funds

   If the grant is paid in bitcoin, decide before you apply who will hold the keys, whether you'll keep it as bitcoin or sell it, and how you'll record it. Some funders ask.

6. Plan your reporting

   Most funders want a short report on what you did, what it cost, and what changed. Set up a simple way to track that from the first day.

What Should a Nonprofit Set Up Before It Receives Bitcoin?

Whether bitcoin arrives as a grant or a gift, the same four things make it manageable:

• A gift acceptance policy your board has approved. It should say whether you hold bitcoin or sell it right away, and who decides.
• A custody plan. Pick the wallet or service you'll use, and require more than one person to move large amounts (a multi-signature wallet does this).
• An accounting plan. Decide how you'll record the gift and its value. Your CPA should help you set this up, and the IRS page on digital assets (opens in a new tab) covers the basics.
• A way for donors to give. That might be a crypto giving platform or your own bitcoin and Lightning setup. Our Give page shows how we accept bitcoin ourselves.

What Are Brilliance Labs Portland Micro-Grants?

Portland micro-grants are grants of $1,000 to $7,000 for churches, nonprofits, and grassroots projects in the Portland metro area. They pay for specific projects, not general operations. We run two rounds a year, in spring and fall. Round ten, the Fall 2026 round, is open now and closes Friday, October 23, 2026. We send decisions 4 to 6 weeks after the round closes.

Since our first round in 2022, we've given $263,710 through 53 grants to 42 organizations over nine rounds. The grants are paid from an endowment created from the sale of the Central Bible Church property, and they carry that church's legacy forward in Portland. You don't need any bitcoin, a wallet, or knowledge of crypto to apply.

There are two tracks with the same review and the same pool: one for 501(c)(3) nonprofits, fiscally sponsored projects, and grassroots projects, and one for churches and church plants. Each asks for a project proposal PDF with a line-by-line budget, expected outcomes, how you'll measure them, a timeline, and any partners.

"As is always the case with our micro-grants, we want to hear about what it is that you're doing to bless the greater Portland area."Andrey Gorban, opening the Fall 2025 round

Read the Fall 2026 round announcement for the full details, or send Andrey your questions.