The Charity Charge Show - Nonprofit Podcast

In episode 20 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Kathryn Engelhardt Cronk, Founder & CEO at MissionBox.

Kathryn has over 25 years in the nonprofit service arena. First, as a direct service provider with adults suffering from mental illness and later as an executive director of nonprofits in the areas of substance abuse treatment, child abuse prevention and grief and loss support. She has also served as VP of Community Impact for United Way and developed the first 211 for Central Texas.

After CTK, Kathryn founded Mission Box.

MissionBox recognizes that nonprofit work is critical to the well-being of us all, everywhere around the globe. MissionBox founders, staff, board members and advisers have deep and long experience in working in, and serving, nonprofits of all types and sizes, over the last 30 years.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In episode 19 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Jessica Reeves, Entrepreneur and former COO of Voto Latino.

Jessica is an experienced professional with a history of working in politics, marketing, and nonprofits. Skilled in Nonprofit Management, Digital Strategy, Media Relations, Fundraising, Spanish, and Partnerships, Jessica holds a strong focus on Latino Issues, Voting rights, Innovation, Government Relations and CSR. She also holds a B.A. from Boston College and an M.A. from Georgetown University.

Voto Latino is a pioneering civic media organization that seeks to transform America by recognizing Latinos’ innate leadership. Through innovative digital campaigns, pop culture, and grassroots voices, the organization provide culturally relevant programs that engage, educate and empower Latinos to be agents of change. Their mission is to build a stronger and more inclusive democracy.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In episode 18 of The Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Steve Wanta, Co-founder and CEO of JUST.

JUST invest in female entrepreneurs with access to capital and coaching within a supportive community of peers. Their goal is to help their entrepreneurs build stronger businesses, build better money habits, and increase their social capital. Beyond the repayment of a loan, improved client outcomes will lead to their entrepreneurs increasing their savings. The goal is to instill the confidence around their own capacity to change and improve. This skill of learning and doing will result in more resilient communities. JUST's role continues to evolve to offer new, more, and better services for our community. These are positive steps forward toward a more just world where people can live with less stress and more joy.

Steve is also the Co-founder of Impact Hub Austin and was tech Global Impact Director for nearly a decade at the Whole Planet Foundation(the nonprofit arm of Whole Foods).

Topics covered:

1)How he got the inspiration to leave a global nonprofit at his role at Whole Planet Foundation and venture out to start his own nonprofit. 

2)what is micro-credit and what has he learned in 15 years of doing micro-credit.  what works, what doesn't, and how to do it properly.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 17 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Shannon Meyer, the Executive Director of Response.

Response is an Aspen-based nonprofit agency that supports victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. 

Their  mission is to work with communities to end domestic and sexual abuse and to support survivors in achieving safety and empowerment.

Response’s services include a 24-hour crisis line, individual advocacy, emergency short-term shelter, help with safety planning and protection orders, referrals to other community organizations, and immigration assistance.  Prevention education programs are presented in area schools on subjects such as healthy relationships, teen dating violence, gender stereotypes, and sexual assault bystander intervention.

Shannon has a strong background working in the conservation profession. volunteer management, environmental policy, public speaking, and environmental education.

Shannon holds a M.S. in Environmental Policy fro the University of Montana.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 16 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Matt Stephenson, the Co-founder of Code2College.

Central Texas is facing a crisis. Despite its regional reputation for innovation, the nearly 5,000 technology companies with offices in the Austin area and several world-class research institutions, there remains a shortage of skilled, local talent to fill a wide variety of technical roles. Companies continue to source technical talent from outside of Texas and abroad, and as the explosive (and consistent) growth of the area would indicate, the pace is far from slowing down.

What’s worse, there is a huge population of students in Central Texas who remain underserved. Facing a talent surplus and opportunity deficit, many girls, students of color and low-income students lack two of the most critical factors to entering pathways into STEM careers: exposure and practical experience. Students who haven’t met a data scientist, don’t have an anesthesiologist in the family, nor heard of the investment banking industry, are unlikely to pursue these or other technical fields. And those who do will find themselves behind the curve once matched against their affluent and/or well-resourced counterparts.

Herein lies an opportunity to develop a pipeline of diverse, local technical talent for the region. Code2College is a multi-year, career prep and college access program that leverages local volunteer technical talent to teach coding and web development skills to traditionally underrepresented students in order to push them to and through college, and into STEM careers.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 15 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Shayna Dunitz, the former Director of Operations at 3 Day Startup and the current Chief Operations Officer at Central Athlete. 

3 Day Startup (“3DS”) teaches entrepreneurial skills to university students in an extreme hands-on environment. This proven program provides students the tools they need to start successful companies. Over 12,000 3DS alumni from 400+ programs across 6 continents–at over 150 schools including Harvard, MIT, WHU (Germany), Technion (Israel), and the University of Texas–have launched more than 90 companies that have collectively raised $130 million in investor capital. 

Over 38 companies emerging from 3DS have been accepted to prestigious accelerators such as Y Combinator, TechStars, and Capital Factory. While early programs focused strictly on technology- and web-enabled startups, demand has led the team to expand the program to function across broader entrepreneurial endeavors. Schools have hosted 3DS programs focused on themes such as social innovation, energy, culinary, hardware, and more.

Foregoing a grant-supported model, the founders developed an earned-revenues strategy—3DS charges universities, governments, and corporations to deliver programs—which allowed the organization to grow in a scalable and sustainable way while preserving mission autonomy. Running 3DS as a successful business operation keeps entrepreneurship in the organizational DNA and allows the organization to remain faithful to the philosophy of learning-by-doing.

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

Wanted to give a short thank you. 

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

Eugene Sepulveda is the CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation, a director and partner in Capital Factory. He also serves as a senior advisor & the campaign treasurer for Austin Mayor Steve Adler. He previously served as the President and CEO of Marfa Public Radio and as co-chair of President Obama's LGBT Leadership Council. He currently serves on the national finance council for former HUD Secretary Julian Castro’s presidential campaign.

Eugene has over 30 years experience from banking, high tech startups, and higher education. He taught in the MBA and undergraduate programs at the University of Texas' McCombs School of Business, served as CFO for an Austin-based semiconductor startup, and was Austin's first technology banker. He currently serves as vice chair of Austin’s Airport Advisory Commission, on the board of the Barton Springs Conservancy, on the executive committee for the McDonald Observatory’s Board of Visitors, on the advisory board of the Sustainable Food Center, as chairman emeritus of People Fund, and as chair of Jolt Texas’ leadership council.

Eugene's rewards and recognitions include being recognized as the Best Austin Booster (Austin Chronicle), Best Professor (Alpha Kappa Psi), as a nominee for Outstanding Elective Professor (UT MBA), the Human Rights Campaign’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the HRC Bettie Naylor Visibility Award, 2014 honoree by the Mex Net Alliance, an Austin Under Forty award winner, the Austin Business Journal Heavy Hitter in Finance, and honored by the Austin City Council by the declaration of a Eugene Sepulveda Day in 1994 and Eugene Sepulveda and Steven Tomlinson Day in February 2015. Eugene is married to Dr. Steven Robert Tomlinson. They have 6 nieces and nephews and 13 godchildren.

Eugene can be reached at: [email protected] 

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

This weeks Testimonial Tuesday comes from Alyssa Ikner, the Finance & Administration Manager at United Way of Blount County.

“Our previous credit card was severely outdated. There were no rewards, rebates, points, or any other benefit. We were limited to one card and that card only had the organization’s name printed on it. Any time an employee needed to make a purchase, they would have to “check out” the card from a secured drawer. Sometimes merchants would question the authority of the employee signing for the purchase. This did not put us at ease. Also, if an employee was away at a conference, they would have the physical card and everyone back at the office would be without it. We also didn’t have online access to our account. We had to wait for the statement to come in the mail before we could reconcile all the transactions and pay the bill. I can’t tell you how much easier it is to have our new Charity Charge cards for each employee, with their name and organization name printed on them. The statement is available online and I can see right away who has made which purchases.

We (United Way of Blount County) were looking to replace our old corporate credit card with a card that had the modern features we needed. We were struggling to meet our financial and internal control needs with only one physical card with a low limit. After researching several credit cards offered by our community banks, we still felt like there was something missing. We weren’t ready to commit to anything yet. Then, we learned about the Charity Charge Nonprofit Business Card, and it just made sense. We are always looking at ways to supplement our revenue and decrease expenses. After seeing the passion behind the founder of Charity Charge and seeing its mission align with ours, we knew we wanted to be a part of this on the ground level.”

-Alyssa Ikner, Finance & Administration Manager at United Way of Blount County

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.

In Episode 13 of the Charity Charge Show, Stephen Garten chats with Kate Williams, the CEO of One Percent for the Planet.

1% for the Planet is a global organization that connects dollars and doers to address the most pressing issues facing our planet. They are a network of 1,200 member companies and thousands of approved nonprofit partners located in more than 40 countries. Started in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, former owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, members have given more than $150 million to environmental nonprofits to date. Learn more at onepercentfortheplanet.org.

Kate can be reached at: [email protected]

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About Charity Charge

Charity Charge is a financial technology company serving the nonprofit sector. From the Charity Charge Nonprofit Credit Card to bookkeeping, gift card disbursements, and state compliance, we help mission-driven organizations streamline operations and stay financially strong. Learn more at charitycharge.com.