FreeWill acquires Cocatalyst as donations of appreciated assets to nonprofits surge

NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- FreeWill, a social-good enterprise at the nexus of philanthropy and estate planning, announced today that it has acquired Cocatalyst, a leading platform for donations of appreciated assets including, but not limited to, stock and cryptocurrency donations to nonprofit organizations. The Cocatalyst platform helps liquidate non-cash assets into cash that can be immediately added to nonprofits' balance sheets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

The acquisition comes amid a sea change occurring as more donors are shifting their charitable giving behavior away from donating cash in favor of donating appreciated assets, such as stocks and cryptocurrency. 

Stock giving volume has jumped in recent years, growing 62% from 2017 to 2018, but still accounts for just 7% of all individual charitable giving. According to Cocatalyst's data science team, the average gift of stock was $11,771 for 2019 – the most recent year of complete IRS filings. 

The driving factor behind this growth is that donors can give up to 37% more to the causes they love by donating appreciated assets, rather than selling those assets and donating the proceeds, because federal capital gains taxes are not owed on such donations. Such donors are also eligible to claim a federal income tax deduction for the full value of the donated assets.  However, a cumbersome administrative process for donating appreciated assets is currently a limiting factor that often prevents donors from completing gifts, leaving significant unmet demand.

FreeWill is also immediately putting the acquisition to use through the launch of its new Crypto for Charity site, which allows donors to make cryptocurrency gifts to more than 55,000 U.S.-based nonprofits, effective today. This helps mitigate the fact that more than 90% of nonprofits currently lack a crypto solution, despite growing needs. The Cocatalyst platform will support the new site by helping to receive and liquidate crypto donations, with the proceeds being received by the donors' charity of choice. 

"We're tremendously proud as well as excited to make Cocatalyst part of our value proposition at FreeWill", said Jenny Xia Spradling, co-CEO of FreeWill. "What their team has built as far as simplifying the complex process of donating appreciated assets is in complete alignment with our vision to help nonprofits tap into value in ways they previously could not by making all complex giving easy. We're glad to realize these synergies immediately through the concurrent launch of Crypto for Charity and much more to come in the future."  

Alex Chung, founder of Cocatalyst, added: "I'm thrilled that Cocatalyst can continue to grow within a team as high caliber as FreeWill. We took the idea from $0 to $4M in annual giving, and we see FreeWill's commitment as a public benefit corporation will differentiate themselves as the leader in the charitable space for alternative forms of fundraising."

About FreeWill
FreeWill is a public benefit corporation situated at the nexus of philanthropy and estate planning. FreeWill features a charitable giving platform that makes it easier for nonprofit fundraising teams to unlock transformational non-cash gifts. Through its partnerships with 700+ nonprofits who understand that major gifts often are part of estate plans, the company is also able to provide a comprehensive suite of estate planning and related tools to consumers free of cost. To date, FreeWill has generated more than $4 billion in planned and real-time gifts for more than 10,000 nonprofits while helping more than 400,000 consumers create wills and plan their estates. 

About Cocatalyst
Cocatalyst, LLC and Cocatalyst Impact, Inc is a fully integrated stock giving platform for charities and donors. Charities can set up stock donations through Cocatalyst in less than five minutes that donors can complete entirely online. Individuals can maximize tax benefits using Cocatalyst when donating to any of the 1.7 million 501(c)3 charities and religious groups in the United States. In 2021, Cocatalyst also added cryptocurrency support in partnership with FTX, a top 5 cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. Hundreds of charities have received millions of dollars in stock and cryptocurrency through Cocatalyst since inception. Alex Chung and his family office AW Chung Capital founded Cocatalyst in 2018 as a social impact venture.

Contact
Roger Sauerhaft
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SOURCE Free Will