{"id":20863,"date":"2026-02-07T13:35:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/a-collectors-guide-to-non-cash-museum-donations\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:35:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:35:57","slug":"a-collectors-guide-to-non-cash-museum-donations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/a-collectors-guide-to-non-cash-museum-donations\/","title":{"rendered":"A Collector\u2019s Guide to Non-Cash Museum Donations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Crypto philanthropy is emerging as a meaningful funding stream, particularly among younger and wealthier donor demographics. Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the past year, the Toledo Museum of Art received several dozen works on paper by the Pop artist Marisol<\/a>, a series of black-and-white photographs by Brett Weston<\/a>, two sculptures by Roxy Paine<\/a>, a painting by Richard Diebenkorn<\/a>, four sculptural works by Martin Puryear<\/a> and a linoleum-cut print by Kara Walker<\/a>, among other artworks. Most donations to the museum, of course, came in the form of cash\u2014such as the gift from one local family that funded free parking for visitors for 10 years\u2014but not all. Other gifts included shares in startup businesses (a pharmaceutical and a tech company among them), an estate and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Solana, and others.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is a lot of flexibility in the kinds of donations we will accept,\u201d Adam Levine, the museum\u2019s director<\/a>, told Observer. The museum\u2019s board determines the types of gifts the institution will accept, and it becomes the development department\u2019s job to figure out what to do with donations that aren\u2019t artworks or cash. \u201cWe don\u2019t have people on staff with expertise in real estate and crypto and startup companies,\u201d he said, adding that the museum can \u201caccept a variety of things, generally liquidating them immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The estate, for instance, was turned over to realtors who sold the house and property for $800,000, while the crypto was deposited in an account at The Giving Block, a Pennsylvania-based platform that helps nonprofits convert cryptocurrency donations into usable cash. The Toledo Museum of Art began accepting crypto in 2023, with donations amounting to more than $100,000 in 2025, \u201cand that amount has been growing every year,\u201d Levine said.<\/p>\n

A growing percentage of gifts to museums arrive in the form of \u201creal estate, pension plans, life insurance payouts, boats, cars, crypto\u2014you name it,\u201d said Ken Cerini<\/a>, managing partner of Cerini & Associates, which helps not-for-profit groups value and make use of non-cash donations. \u201cI tell people who want to donate crypto to a nonprofit to reach out to the organization to see if they will take it. Most organizations will find a way to make it happen, particularly if it will be a sizeable donation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among high-profile museums that accept non-cash donations are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which accepts cryptocurrency; the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, which accepts appreciated securities; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which accepts real estate. All three, along with others such as the Guggenheim, accept donations of stock.<\/p>\n

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, according to a spokesperson, accepts stock (\u201cseveral times each month\u201d) and real estate (\u201cthat\u2019s a bit more rare\u201d), as well as wine donations from winemakers for its annual wine auction. \u201cBut at this time we don\u2019t accept Bitcoin,\u201d the spokesperson added. As one might expect, the online-only Museum of Crypto Art does.<\/p>\n

Receiving a crypto or other non-cash donation requires more than simply deciding to accept it. The Giving Block, a crypto fundraising platform, works with close to 30 museums and cultural institutions across the U.S., including the Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Over $1.2 million in crypto was donated to museums and cultural institutions in 2025\u2014a nearly 50 percent increase from 2024. \u201cWhen a crypto donation is received, we instantly convert the crypto to U.S. dollars to capture the full donation value and then send the U.S. dollars directly to the organization\u2019s bank account,\u201d a spokesperson told Observer. Unsurprisingly, crypto donors tend to \u201cskew younger than traditional major donors\u201d\u2014millennials and younger Gen X\u2014\u201cbut they also tend to be meaningfully wealthier than the average online donor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making non-cash gifts offers tax benefits to donors, Cerini said, noting that \u201cwith the uptick in the stock market and cryptocurrencies realizing significant gains, there is real value in the donation of these assets, as donors get the benefit of a charitable contribution for the fair market value of the asset\u201d without having to sell it and incur capital gains tax.<\/p>\n

Chris Haydon<\/a>, founder of Crypto Appraisal Pro, which provides IRS-compliant appraisals for cryptocurrency donations, stated that more than 70 percent of the top charities in the U.S., as ranked by Forbes, accept cryptocurrency donations. \u201cThat\u2019s up from just 12 percent in 2020.\u201d Donations of crypto have more than tripled in the past year, driven by the fact that cryptocurrencies have \u201ccreated enormous wealth. Bitcoin alone has gone from under $1,000 in 2017 to over $90,000 today. Early holders are sitting on massive unrealized gains.\u201d He added that \u201cfive years ago, accepting crypto was a novelty. Today, for major charities, universities and hospitals, it\u2019s becoming standard practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with any other non-cash charitable donation\u2014such as artwork or an antique\u2014donors may receive a tax deduction (usually 30 percent of the item\u2019s fair market value) if the asset has been held for more than one year, with the value assessed at the time of the gift. According to IRS rules, if the charitable contribution deduction claimed exceeds $5,000, a qualified appraisal is required.<\/p>\n

Finding an appraiser with crypto expertise who is qualified to submit an IRS-compliant valuation is not easy. None of the members of the two largest appraiser associations\u2014the Appraisers Association of America and the American Society of Appraisers\u2014list crypto as a specialty. While some nonprofit staff may suggest a name, most follow Adam Levine<\/a>\u2019s policy: \u201cWe don\u2019t recommend appraisers for art or crypto or anything. That\u2019s something for the donors to take care of\u2026 we don\u2019t want to get embroiled with the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda Selvin<\/a>, executive director of the Appraisers Association of America, recommends seeking out individuals identified as \u201cbusiness appraisers\u201d to conduct qualified crypto appraisals. Some companies that offer appraisal services for non-cash assets include Charitable Solutions, Havenwood Holdings, AppraiseItNow.com and Sickler, Tarpey & Associates. Platforms that enable crypto donations\u2014such as The Giving Block, Dechomai and Fidelity\u2014can also provide recommendations. Appraisal fees vary with the value of the gift: Randy Tarpey<\/a>, a CPA and partner at Sickler, Tarpey & Associates, charges $120 for donations in the $5,000 range and $995 for donations above $500,000. Joe Kattan<\/a>, owner of AppraiseItNow.com, said his fees range from $400 to $2,000.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the defining features of crypto is its volatility, rising and falling in value rapidly since\u2014unlike the U.S. dollar\u2014it is not pegged to other currencies or backed by a central bank. Still, Haydon argued, \u201ccrypto is easier to appraise than art or collectibles. With a Picasso or a rare antique, you\u2019re making subjective judgments about condition, provenance and comparable sales that may be years apart. With Bitcoin or Ethereum, you have transparent, real-time pricing market data across multiple exchanges, 24 hours a day. The asset\u2019s value at any given moment is publicly verifiable.\u201d CNBC provides daily pricing data for Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies; no one can tell you what that Picasso is worth today versus tomorrow.<\/p>\n

More for art collectors<\/b><\/h3>\n

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