MemberDrive vs. The Giving Block
Both platforms accept crypto donations. The similarity ends there. The Giving Block holds your donors' Bitcoin and converts it to cash. MemberDrive sends it directly to your wallet — on-chain, non-custodial, yours.
The honest comparison
The Giving Block is the most established name in nonprofit crypto philanthropy — 1,500+ nonprofits, $200M+ raised, acquired by Shift4 in 2022. They've done more than any other organization to make crypto philanthropy mainstream.
But "accepting crypto" via The Giving Block and "accepting Bitcoin" via MemberDrive are fundamentally different things.
The Giving Block model: Donor sends crypto → it flows through Modern Philanthropy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) intermediary → MPF immediately converts it to USD → MPF distributes USD to your organization via monthly ACH. The nonprofit never touches crypto. The tax receipt comes from MPF, not from you.
MemberDrive model: Donor sends Bitcoin → Bitcoin goes directly to your organization's own non-custodial wallet, on-chain. You hold it, convert it on your own schedule, or keep it as a treasury asset. No intermediary. No forced conversion. Your keys, your coins.
For organizations that want to check a box ("we accept crypto"), The Giving Block is a simpler path. For organizations that specifically want sovereignty over their crypto donations, custody at The Giving Block defeats the purpose.
Pricing Comparison
| MemberDrive | The Giving Block | |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | Free for Bitcoin Cards: 1% + Stripe processing | Cards: 2.95% + $0.25, processing included 3.95% + $0.25 for Amex; crypto fee is quote-based, not published |
| Annual subscription | None | Custom (contact sales) — not publicly disclosed |
| Monthly fee | None | None |
| Donor tip prompt | ✗ | ✗ |
| Annual cost on $25K crypto raised | $0 | Not publicly disclosed — crypto fee + subscription are quoted per organization |
| Annual cost on $50K crypto raised | $0 | Not publicly disclosed — crypto fee + subscription are quoted per organization |
For a nonprofit receiving $50K in Bitcoin annually, MemberDrive costs $0 in platform fees. The Giving Block does not publish what it costs. Bitcoin transactions are completely free on MemberDrive (network fees may apply, paid by the donor). The Giving Block's official Terms of Agreement disclose a 2.95% + $0.25 card processing rate (3.95% for American Express) — but its crypto transaction fee and annual subscription are both set per-organization in a private quote, not published anywhere. Ask them for a number before comparing.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | MemberDrive | The Giving Block |
|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin donations | ✓ Non-custodial, on-chain, free | ◐ Custodial — converts to USD |
| Altcoin / multi-crypto support | ◐ Bitcoin-focused | ✓ Many cryptocurrencies |
| Stock donations | ✗ | ✓ |
| DAF (Donor-Advised Fund) donations | ✗ | ✓ |
| NFT donations | ✗ | ✓ |
| Non-custodial custody | ✓ | ✗ Forced conversion |
| Org holds crypto as treasury asset | ✓ | ✗ Auto-converted to USD |
| Tax receipts from your org | ✓ | ✗ Issued by MPF intermediary |
| Full donor data to your org | ✓ | ◐ Limited — multiple reviews cite this gap |
| Donor marketplace exposure | ✗ | ✓ 1,500-org marketplace |
| Recurring donations (card) | ✓ | ◐ Not core focus |
| Pledge tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
| Matching gifts | ✓ Native engine | ◐ Platform-level campaigns only |
| Peer-to-peer | ✓ | ✗ |
| Memberships | ✓ | ✗ |
| Donor self-service portal | ✓ | ◐ |
| Member CRM | ✓ Basic | ✗ |
| General fundraising platform | ✓ | ✗ Crypto-only |
| Salesforce integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| No 501(c)(3) required | ✓ | ◐ |
| Family-owned / independent | ✓ | ✗ Now owned by Shift4 |
◐ = partial support
The custodial question — why it matters
Post-FTX, post-Celsius, post-a dozen exchange collapses, "custodial" is no longer a neutral term in crypto. When a third party holds your assets and converts them without your input, you have counterparty risk. You don't know their reserves, their security practices, or what happens to your conversion if they face operational problems.
For most traditional nonprofits, this risk feels abstract and the ease of The Giving Block's model feels more important. That's a reasonable tradeoff.
But for a specific and growing segment — organizations whose mission, theology, or philosophy specifically aligns with Bitcoin's properties — custodial conversion is a contradiction. A church that has spent time thinking about sound money and financial sovereignty doesn't want its Bitcoin donations immediately converted by an intermediary into the fiat currency it's skeptical of. A mission organization in a country with currency controls doesn't want USD conversion — it wants the Bitcoin directly, to use as it sees fit. A crypto-native donor who wants to give on-chain specifically doesn't want their gift flowing through a custody layer.
For these organizations and donors, MemberDrive's non-custodial model isn't just a feature — it's the whole point.
Where The Giving Block wins
The Giving Block has built real infrastructure for organizations that want crypto donations without dealing with crypto. Modern Philanthropy Foundation handles all the complexity — tax receipts, conversion, compliance — and the nonprofit receives a clean USD grant. For a development director who wants to say "we accept Bitcoin" without learning anything about wallets, The Giving Block is the easiest path.
They also support asset classes beyond Bitcoin: Ethereum, dozens of altcoins, NFTs, stock donations, and DAF (donor-advised fund) giving. Stock and DAF support in particular represent meaningful philanthropic channels — $234B+ sits in DAFs — that MemberDrive doesn't currently serve.
Their marketplace (thegivingblock.com/donate) provides some discovery exposure for nonprofits. Their platform-level matching campaigns ("Caring with Crypto," #BitcoinTuesday) drive donation volume.
Where MemberDrive wins
Non-custodial sovereignty. This is the core differentiator. Your Bitcoin goes directly to your wallet. No intermediary, no forced conversion, no counterparty. If you want to hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset, you can. If you want to convert it yourself when the rate is favorable, you can. The Giving Block cannot offer this without abandoning their entire model.
Price — dramatically. Free for Bitcoin on MemberDrive, no subscription. The Giving Block's crypto fee and annual subscription are both quote-based and not published — get a number from them before you compare.
Donor data goes to you, not an intermediary. Multiple Giving Block reviews on Capterra cite a recurring complaint: nonprofits don't receive full donor information because the tax receipt comes from Modern Philanthropy Foundation, not the recipient org. With MemberDrive, your donors are your donors — full information, direct relationship.
Integrated into general fundraising. Bitcoin is a tab alongside card, recurring donations, pledges, and matching gifts — not a separate crypto-only platform you run in parallel with your main fundraising tool. Organizations using The Giving Block typically also have a separate platform for card donations, pledges, and memberships. MemberDrive covers all of it.
No annual subscription. MemberDrive charges nothing on Bitcoin donations, and 1% plus Stripe processing on card donations. Nothing until they do.
Mission-aligned independence. The Giving Block is owned by Shift4, a publicly-traded payments company. MemberDrive is family-owned and independently operated. For organizations whose crypto convictions are partly rooted in skepticism of financial intermediaries, ownership structure matters.
Who should choose
Who should choose The Giving Block
- →Nonprofits that want to "accept crypto" without dealing with wallets, custody, or compliance
- →Organizations that want stock donation or DAF support in the same platform
- →Organizations that want multi-coin support (Ethereum, altcoins, NFTs)
- →Organizations that benefit from marketplace discovery and platform-level matching campaigns
Who should choose MemberDrive
- →Organizations that specifically want non-custodial, on-chain Bitcoin — the donation goes to your wallet, not through an intermediary
- →Organizations that want to hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset rather than auto-converting to USD
- →Mission organizations in countries where USD conversion creates regulatory or banking friction
- →Faith communities whose theology or philosophy aligns with Bitcoin's monetary properties
- →Organizations that want Bitcoin integrated into a full fundraising platform — not a separate crypto tool running alongside their main platform
- →Organizations that want a published, verifiable price instead of a quote-based subscription and crypto fee
Non-custodial Bitcoin. Integrated. Free.
MemberDrive sends Bitcoin directly to your organization's own wallet — on-chain, non-custodial — integrated into a full fundraising platform with pledges, matching gifts, and recurring donations. No intermediary, no forced conversion, no annual subscription.
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