zahnyc
On Tuesday, May 19th, the Zahn Innovation Center will host another Founders' Spotlight Speaker! This time we'll meet Stephen Garten, a social entrepreneur and founder of Charity Charge, a Texas-based company empowering cardholders to earn and donate one percent of every purchase to the charities and causes they love.
Charity Charge founder Stephen Garten, 28, has always been a firm supporter of local Austin charities and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore (the institution treated his late father for cancer). After one round of donations, he checked his credit card statement online to make sure all the transactions had processed and noticed his cache of unused rewards points. The money was technically his, but only if he wanted a gift card or air miles. He didnt. He wanted to supplement his existing donations and make a larger impact. Research followed and he learned that his own unused points were just part of the $16 billion problem of wasted rewards dollars each year in the U.S. Two years and numerous iterations of the concept later, Charity Charge became what it is today €” a credit card company that will enable consumers to seamlessly support any charity of their choice with their reward points.
We're super excited to learn more about public benefit corporations and how to operate under a for-profit model while serving society. Join in the conversation in the Zahn Center @ Marshak at 12:15!