From Zero to £400k in Crypto Donations
Overview
In December 2024, JustGiving became the first UK platform to launch crypto donations, expanding the feature to the US in March 2025. This was a major milestone for the company, giving people a new, tax-efficient way to support the causes they care about.
My Role
I was the Product Designer, partnering with a Principal PM, Principal Engineer, two Senior Engineers, and the Product Director to bring the product to life.
Impact
£30k
Monthly revenue
£156
Average donation
Annual revenue lift
£400k
the challenge
JustGiving had no way to capture donations from a rapidly growing, high-net-worth segment of crypto holders, leaving significant revenue on the table.
We also wanted to empower donors to make larger, more impactful gifts by providing a direct, tax-efficient donation path, removing the friction and financial penalty of liquidation.
The opportunity
Typically, crypto assets need to be liquidated before they can be donated. That means converting them to fiat currency, paying taxes on the gains, and only then making the donation. This process isn't tax-efficient at all.
Donors want a way to give without losing a big chunk to taxes beforehand. Charities want that too because, on average, it means they can receive up to 20% more from each donation.
We saw a big opportunity to give donors a more tax-efficient way to give while also driving a major boost in JustGiving's revenue.
Where should crypto fit?
The checkout is a crowded space. Before introducing crypto, we already had two tabs you could switch between: One-off and Monthly. The first one would allow you to make a one-off donation, while the Monthly one would allow you to set up a recurring donation.
We initially explored crypto as a separate payment method. You'd see it as soon as you opened the checkout, but it would not be part of the two main tabs.
This felt fine in practice, but it also looked a little bit detached from the rest of the checkout and had more of a promotional thing vibe than something that would stay as part of the core checkout.
After that, we explored crypto as part of the payment method step. This worked quite well and fit naturally among the payment options inside the checkout. But it also introduced a lot of friction at that point in the journey: once you're at the payment method step, you've already picked an amount you want to donate.
Introducing crypto there would give you more to think about right before you're about to donate: which coin should I pick, is the exchange rate correct, etc.
The Solution
We ultimately landed on having crypto as its own tab. We wanted you to decide whether to donate in fiat or crypto when picking an amount, so you wouldn't have to rethink that decision later in the flow.
Introducing crypto near the end of the checkout would mean either going back to a previous screen or switching from fiat to crypto inside the payment method screen. Both felt clunky.
