How to Donate Solana (SOL) to Charity

Sending SOL takes seconds and costs a tiny fraction of a cent in network fees. Most problems come from Solana’s own rules rather than from the transfer itself, so it is worth knowing them before you send.

Native SOL only

Solana hosts thousands of tokens as well as its own coin, SOL. Many of them, including USDC, are sent to the same kind of address. For a donation to us, send SOL itself, on the Solana network. We don’t accept:

• Other tokens on Solana, such as USDC on Solana. We accept USDC only on Ethereum; our guide to choosing the right network explains why.
• Wrapped SOL (wSOL), a token version of SOL used by some trading apps. Some wallets unwrap it automatically after a swap, but if yours shows Wrapped SOL (wSOL) as a separate balance, unwrap it first.
• “SOL” on BNB Smart Chain, a token some exchanges issue to represent SOL. It lives on a different network and can’t reach a Solana address.

How to send

From an exchange

1. Pick a cause on our homepage, select Solana, enter the amount and copy the donation address.
2. Start a SOL withdrawal and choose the Solana network (usually labelled “Solana” or “SOL”). Don’t pick BNB Smart Chain or any other network.
3. Paste our address and check it in full. Solana addresses are long strings of letters and numbers with no fixed prefix, so compare the whole address.
4. Enter the amount; your exchange shows its withdrawal fee and minimum before you confirm.
5. Confirm, then submit the transaction ID on the donation screen. On Solana it is called a signature: a string of about 87 or 88 letters and numbers.

From your own wallet (Phantom, Solflare and others)

Select SOL (not a token), tap Send, paste our address, enter the amount and review the fee before approving. After it is sent, the wallet links to the transaction on an explorer such as Solscan or Solana Explorer, where you can copy the signature.

Fees: a base fee and an optional priority fee

Every Solana transaction pays a base fee of 5,000 lamports per signature. A lamport is a billionth of a SOL, so a simple transfer with one signature costs 0.000005 SOL. Half of the base fee is burned and half goes to the validator that processes the transaction.

Wallets can add a priority fee to move a transaction ahead in busy periods. Most set it automatically, and for a simple transfer the total usually stays a tiny fraction of a cent. If your wallet offers a choice, the normal setting is fine. Exchange withdrawal fees are set by the exchange and are usually much higher than the network fee.

Why your wallet won’t send your full balance

Solana requires every account to hold a minimum balance, known as the rent-exempt minimum, to stay open. For an ordinary wallet it is less than 0.001 SOL, and it is being lowered in stages during 2026. A transfer that would leave your wallet with less than that minimum but more than zero is rejected, often with an error mentioning “insufficient funds for rent”.

In practice: either leave a little SOL in your wallet, or use your wallet’s Max option, which works out the right amount for you. Our receiving address is already open, so any amount you send will arrive.

“Transaction expired”: what it means

Each Solana transaction includes a reference to a recent block, and it is only valid for about 150 blocks after that, roughly 60 to 90 seconds. If the network doesn’t process it within that window, it expires and will never be processed. Your SOL hasn’t moved. Wallets sometimes show a similar message when they simply lost track of a transaction that did go through, so before sending again, check your wallet balance or search the signature on an explorer.

Once processed, a transaction is normally confirmed within a few seconds and finalized shortly after: currently about 13 seconds, though a 2026 network upgrade called Alpenglow is set to shorten this to under a second. You can submit your signature as soon as you have it; we verify the donation once it is finalized.

Spam tokens and fake airdrops

Solana wallets often receive unsolicited tokens and NFTs, sometimes with names that look like rewards or messages. Solflare’s guidance is that an airdropped token in your wallet isn’t dangerous on its own; the danger comes from following its links or connecting your wallet to the website it promotes. Ignore or hide these tokens.

Tax (US donors)

Donated SOL follows the usual rules for crypto: held more than a year, it is generally deductible at fair market value; held a year or less, at the lower of cost and market value. A qualified appraisal is needed once your deduction for similar crypto gifts passes $5,000 in a year, and from 2026 you need to itemize to deduct a crypto gift at all. If your SOL came from staking rewards, the IRS treats rewards as income when you gain control of them (Revenue Ruling 2023-14), and that value becomes your cost basis. Each reward is a separate lot with its own date, which matters for the one-year test. This is general information, not tax advice; see our US crypto donation tax guide.

Common questions

Can I donate staked SOL directly?

No. Staked SOL sits in a stake account and has to be deactivated and withdrawn to your wallet before you can send it, which happens at the end of the network’s current epoch, usually within two or three days.

My wallet says the transaction failed but the fee was taken. Did the donation go through?

No. A failed transaction still pays its small fee, but no SOL moves. Check the signature on an explorer: if it shows an error, send again. If it shows success, submit the signature to us.

Do I need a memo?

No. Leave any memo field empty when sending SOL to us.