The following selection attempts to provide a flavour of some of the main developments in new philanthropic vehicles and tools and some examples of their use. While online platforms, DAF providers and the like have proliferated in recent years, we have tried to pick out examples that illustrate a wider aspect of the general development and the debates surrounding it.

Pineapple Fund

Launched in 2017 by an anonymous donor, known only as Pine, with immediate donations of $7,550,000 in bitcoin to charities and causes around the world. The launch was a landmark event in crypto-philanthropy. Recipients of the largest bitcoin charitable donations are non-profits whose work includes medical research, basic needs provision and technology-related causes such as advocacy and open-source projects. ‘It was a wonderful surprise,’ says Karen Gullo, a spokesperson for one of the recipients, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organisation that defends people’s rights online. ‘The $1m donation will support the work we do standing up for user privacy and free expression, and defending civil rights in the digital world.’ The collection of charities also includes Watsi, a platform committed to taking the US towards universal healthcare, the SENS Research Foundation that works to develop cures for degenerative diseases, and the Water Project which helps to establish safe water sources in sub-Saharan Africa.

tinyurl.com/guardian-pineapple-fund