First of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to Accept Bitcoin for Social Good
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Dec. 3, 2013 — GoCoin, a leading payment platform for the Bitcoin economy,today announced it is participating in Giving Tuesday by asking the Bitcoin community to contribute to its #GO4Good campaign and raise money for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica (BGCSM).
Through its online campaign to highlight the positive uses of Bitcoin, GoCoin’s #GO4Good campaign asks participants to tweet using the hashtag on Giving Tuesday and the GoCoin founders will donate $10 per tweet and match Bitcoin donations up to $10,000. Donations to the BGCSM will benefit at-risk youth and under-privileged families in the same community where the GoCoin US team resides: Santa Monica, Calif. Last year, Giving Tuesday involved more than 2,500 partners, raising $10 million via online charitable giving.
“Some of the most progressive retail brands are joining the Bitcoin revolution,” said Steve Beauregard, GoCoin’s founder and CEO. “We are opening the playing field for charitable and political campaign contributions as well. Giving has never fully recovered from the financial crisis of 2008, but people want to give, and that’s especially true for Bitcoin investors.”
BGCSM is the first of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to take donations in the revolutionary peer-to-peer digital currency. Bitcoin donations to the Clubs will be instantly and securely converted into U.S. dollars. GoCoin’s trusted payment platform has been in private beta with a targeted client base of e-commerce and charitable merchants since early November.
“We are thrilled to be the first of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and one of the first non-profits in Los Angeles to welcome Bitcoin users,” said Aaron Young, BGCSM CEO. “Not only is our goal to stay on the cutting edge of technology, but to also provide as many options as possible for our community to support and contribute to our efforts to help those in need.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica
Founded in 1944, Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica currently serves approximately 8,000 youth through memberships and community outreach. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica now has nine sites, with two more opening up in 2013. Youth come to the Clubs from all over Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, Culver City, Venice, West Los Angeles and Inglewood. Members pay a $20 annual fee for access to all Club amenities and programs that span across education, leadership, recreation and more. The Club operates with the objective of serving children from all backgrounds, regardless of economic circumstances—ensuring that youth ages 6 to 18 have a safe and nurturing environment to develop socially, succeed in school, stay physically active and prepare for positive futures. For more information, visit us at www.smbgc.org, or follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/smbgcfan) and Twitter (twitter.com/SMBGC).
About GoCoin
The GoCoin international payment platform makes it easier than ever for online and retail merchants to accept Bitcoin as a payment method. While payments infrastructure over the last half-century was designed to hold funds for as long as possible, while extracting maximum fees from consumers and merchants, GoCoin enables merchants to reap the benefits of accepting Bitcoin. GoCoin takes all of the perceived risk of accepting the digital currency on behalf of merchants. Founded in July 2013, GoCoin will process Bitcoin payments for online and brick and mortar retailers, bypassing the often cumbersome and insecure options of virtual exchanges and other third parties. For more information, please visit http://www.gocoin.com.
