How does CREDO’s donations program work?
For 35 years, CREDO’s fundamental mission has been to make positive social change. We do that by not only giving our members an alternative to doing business with big corporations that don’t share our values, we also donate each month to progressive nonprofits.
It’s been more successful than we ever thought possible. Since 1985, we’ve been able to donate over $94 million to nonprofit groups fighting for civil rights, equality, the environment, women’s rights and more.
But we always get the question: How is CREDO able to donate every month to groups that share our values at no extra cost to our members? Here’s an inside look at how it all works.
Every CREDO member is a philanthropist
Whenever someone joins CREDO Mobile, they become a philanthropist to the progressive causes we all care about. Just by using CREDO services, each one of our members contributes to our mission of progressive social action, at no extra cost to them. Here’s how:
Our monthly donations to nonprofit groups are generated primarily from our company revenue and are one of our most powerful tools for change. Many CREDO Mobile members also make additional donations by rounding up their monthly bills by a few dollars to send extra support to the causes we fund. Then, at the end of each month, we distribute these donations to the three nonprofit groups we’re supporting that month.
Which groups does CREDO fund?
We fund progressive nonprofit groups that believe in our values and fight along with us for greater social change. We primarily fund organizations that fall generally within six broad categories: Civil Rights, Climate Justice, Peace, Women’s Rights, Economic Justice and Voting Rights. Some recent grantees include Sunrise Movement, Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International, March For Our Lives, Brennan Center for Justice and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. We’re also proud to be one of Planned Parenthood’s largest corporate donors, having donated more than $3.6 million since 1986.
How much does CREDO donate?
Each month, split a donation among three groups. Some months, we increase the amount we donate or the number of groups we fund. We sometimes also create special donation funds during times of crisis or during important moments, where funding and action is urgently needed and can make real change right away. In 2020, we established two emergency COVID-19 funds (here and here) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and in June, we made an extra $50,000 donation to our long-time allies at Color of Change after the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer in Minneapolis.
We let you vote how to distribute funding
Here’s what makes CREDO’s philanthropy truly special and different from other companies: We let you vote to decide how we distribute the donations among three nonprofit groups. It’s truly democratic. Each month, CREDO members, activists, supporters and the general public visit CREDODonations.com to vote for the group (or groups) they’d most like to see funded. Donations are then distributed according to their votes.
Monthly voting is open to anyone who wants to take a few seconds to vote on our ballot and direct funding to the progressive nonprofit(s) of their choice.
How nonprofit organizations are chosen
The groups we support are also chosen democratically. Throughout the year, CREDO customers, CREDO employees and members of the general public nominate nonprofit groups to receive donations funding. Additionally, the CREDO team invites organizations to apply to our Donations Program and also vets other potential organizations for our donations ballot. Each month, we present a handful of those organizations to all CREDO employees who then vote on the final three organizations that appear on our monthly ballot to receive a donation.
You can nominate a group for funding here.
You can vote now
Here’s your chance! If you’ve voted for a group in the past, you know how this works. If you haven’t, it’s very easy. Just visit CREDODonations.com and vote for one, two or all three nonprofit groups on our ballot to help us distribute funding to this month’s nonprofit grantees.
