Charity Charge, a Public Benefit Corporation out of Austin, TX has recently announced it’s new nonprofit credit card.

The company already works with nonprofits all across the country as large as $100 million in revenue including chapters from United Way, Junior League, YMCA, and many others. After months of testing and feature build outs the company is now offering the nonprofit credit card program to all organizations.

“When we learned that we could shift our business expenses to a Charity Charge nonprofit credit card, it was an easy decision. We like that using the card integrates giving back into every purchase we make. The automatic cash-back rebates are great, and the fact that no personal guarantor is required allows us to further reduce our organization’s risk and liability.”



Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet

About the Nonprofit Credit Card

The company designed the nonprofit credit card after finding that so many are paying high fees and oftentimes unknowingly putting their staff and employees at risk with their traditional business credit card provider.

The top benefits nonprofits find the most compelling:

• Access to Mastercard’s global network, travel and security/theft protection programs
• No annual fees
• 1% cash rebates on a monthly basis directly to nonprofits’ credit card statements
• Custom-branded cards with the organization’s logo
• Discount program to access more than 200 vendors, such as FedEx, Enterprise, and Staples.

Nonprofit, academic, and religious organizations can also benefit from advanced expense management features in the Charity Charge Nonprofit Business Mastercard platform that are not typically available to smaller organizations.

These tools enable built-in online expense reporting and employee card limits, ensuring that nonprofits can effectively manage expenses.

Nonprofits can add as many cardholders as they wish at no cost and manage everything online including setting spend limits. On top of this, nonprofits get a real person dedicated to their nonprofit that’s easily accessible by phone, email, or text.

“Today marks an exciting step forward as we roll out the first business credit card designed for nonprofits,” said Stephen Garten, founder and CEO of Charity Charge.

“There are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. spending more than $1.8 trillion dollars each year, which shows how much nonprofits can benefit from a new credit card model that helps them manage expenses and earn cash back.”

Nonprofits with a two-year history of revenue and spending can request to be pre-qualified for the new card in just a few days by visiting the Charity Charge website.

The Charity Charge Nonprofit Business Mastercard is underwritten by Commerce Bank, a commercial credit card issuer since 1968.

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Interview Transcript

00:00

Grant: What’s up, everybody? This is Grant from Causeartist. Today, we’re chatting with a good friend of mine, Stephen Garten, the founder and CEO of Charity Charge. Some of you might know that I’ve worked with Charity Charge as a business partner for a few years now.

It’s been a joy and a wild ride. Stephen came to Kansas City, and we decided to record this podcast while having a beer. It’s a far-reaching conversation about doing good every day and using credit cards wisely.

For those unfamiliar with reward points or who might not use them professionally, Charity Charge offers a way to give back every day through your credit card. We just released the nonprofit business credit card, which is interesting because it’s designed for nonprofits to use as their business card for expenses.

We’ll dive into how banks and credit card companies haven’t really catered to nonprofits and what Stephen has built to provide them with a product that never existed before.

02:25

Grant: Let’s start with your journey. Specifically, the lightbulb moment when you got frustrated trying to redeem your points. That was probably in 2015, right?

Stephen: Actually, that was in December of 2011, I believe. We officially incorporated Charity Charge, originally called Austin Card Inc., in 2012, but the idea was born in December 2011. At that time, I was really proud of myself. I had moved to Austin, didn’t know anyone, and had worked hard to get a job after the recession.

I wanted to get my finances in order and figure out how to maximize every dollar. I started using an American Express card, thinking it would give me better benefits than my old Bank of America Cashback Card.

I was earning points throughout the year, and when I tried to redeem them, I got frustrated with the process. I spent nearly an hour trying to pick out something I wanted and ultimately logged off in frustration. Right after that, I got an email from a nonprofit I was supporting in Austin, asking for donations. That’s when it hit me: What if there was a way to give back every time I swiped my card?

08:43

Grant: And that idea stuck with you as something that could be really interesting. People think they can donate their cashback, but often don’t set it up, or they’re limited in who they can give to. Charity Charge involves every nonprofit, which was what intrigued me when we first connected. What were the next few months like as you navigated the process of making this idea a reality?

Stephen: Initially, I thought this concept must already exist. I started Googling nonprofit credit cards and found that Bank of America had partnerships with organizations like Texas Exes and Susan G. Komen. I realized that these co-branded credit cards existed, but they were limited to big national nonprofits.

The problem was that local nonprofits, which really needed the support, were left out. That’s when I realized the potential for Charity Charge to fill that gap. However, creating a credit card geared toward nonprofits was a different level of difficulty. The big banks weren’t interested in catering to smaller nonprofits, so we had to figure out how to build this product ourselves.

14:25

Grant: You saw that there were only a few big nonprofits benefiting from cashback programs, leaving out the vast majority of the 2 million nonprofits in America. One statistic that amazed me when I first learned about Charity Charge was that $16 billion worth of reward points go unused every year.

Imagine if we could channel that money to even 10,000 nonprofits. It would make a huge difference. What was the process of actually getting the company started?

Stephen: I quickly realized that there wasn’t a model like this in place. The existing co-branded credit cards were only available to the biggest nonprofits because banks saw them as profitable. They weren’t interested in partnering with smaller, local nonprofits.

This realization pissed me off because it didn’t seem right that banks were dictating which causes people should care about based on profitability. So, we set out to create a credit card that would allow people to support any nonprofit they cared about, regardless of size.

The initial concept for Charity Charge involved no tech at all; I thought each group should have its own branded card. But we quickly evolved into a model where one card could support any nonprofit, simplifying the process for consumers and nonprofits alike.

21:08

Grant: When you looked at the landscape and saw that there were only a few big nonprofits benefiting from these programs, it was clear that many others were left out. The idea of redirecting that $16 billion in unused points to local causes is powerful. Can you explain the process of creating the credit card and how it works?

Stephen: Charity Charge is a no-annual-fee MasterCard credit card issued by Commerce Bank. Every time you make a purchase, 1% cashback is automatically routed to any nonprofit of your choice.

You can support multiple nonprofits, and the cashback is sent directly to them without any breakage—meaning you don’t have to log in and redeem it yourself. The card is designed to be simple and automatic, making it easy for consumers to give back without changing their lifestyle.

36:01

Grant: This seems like a perfect time to get into what the product is and how it works. How does Charity Charge meet the needs of both consumers and nonprofits?

Stephen: Charity Charge allows consumers to give back 365 days a year without even realizing it. For nonprofits, this means they can receive donations consistently, rather than relying on one or two major gifts a year.

On the consumer side, it’s a straightforward process:

You apply for the card, choose your nonprofit, and then every purchase you make generates cashback for that nonprofit. There’s no need to change your spending habits, and there’s no cost to you or the nonprofit. It’s all about making giving back as easy and automatic as possible.

44:47

Grant: The consumer card was the initial product, but now you’ve expanded into a nonprofit business card, which launched in June 2019. Can you explain what that is and how it benefits nonprofits?

Stephen: The nonprofit business card is the first of its kind, designed specifically for nonprofits. It functions similarly to the consumer card, with 1% cashback on every purchase, but it’s tailored to the unique needs of nonprofits. We don’t require a personal guarantor, there are no annual fees, and nonprofits can add multiple authorized users to the account.

This product addresses the pain points we heard from nonprofit leaders who were frustrated with the lack of suitable financial products for their organizations. It’s all about providing a solution that’s as easy and beneficial as possible for nonprofits.

52:57

Grant: As you look back on the last five years of your journey with Charity Charge, what have been some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned, both personally and as an entrepreneur?

Stephen: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the importance of being 100% authentic and open. When you’re not authentic with yourself, you’re not authentic with others, and that creates stress in your life. I’ve found joy in being completely who I am, and that’s been key to my journey as an entrepreneur.

Another lesson is that you have to be willing to do the unscalable things, especially in the early stages of a business. It’s about being close to your customers, understanding their needs, and providing more value than anyone else could possibly imagine. That’s what I strive to do with Charity Charge every day.