—Financial Technology Firm Recognized For Innovations In Philanthropy—
DUBLIN, OH (October 5, 2021)—T-CETRA, a leading financial technology solutions provider, was named a 2021 Vanguard Award winner by Columbus Business First for co-conceptualizing the NeighborRelief™ crowdfunding platform. Columbus Business First’s Corporate Citizenship Awards program was launched in 2018 to quantify the giving by Central Ohio companies and their employees. The Vanguard Award, a category within the awards program, promotes innovation in philanthropy for Central Ohio companies who work with nonprofit partners to find creative solutions to critical needs.
T-CETRA partnered with Groundwork Group and co-conceptualized the NeighborRelief™ program, a revolutionary new crowdfunding platform that allows neighbors to directly pay for the essential needs of their neighbors. NeighborRelief addresses COVID-19’s multiplicative effect on underserved communities living with food insecurity, rising medical costs/bankruptcies and need for financial support. For the first time ever, donors can directly pay for an essential service on a neighbor’s behalf, providing 100% transparency into the donation process, unlike other crowdsourced donation platforms.
Through T-CETRA’s technological integration, a donor can receive real-time confirmation that their tax-deductible gift was transferred directly to the appropriate service provider, such as cell phone companies, to avoid service shutoffs. At the time of award application, the NeighborRelief community had donated over $120,000 that was used to pay 1,202 essential service bills for approximately 500 unique families.
“Being recognized as a corporate citizen is one of the highest honors we could earn. Compassion and innovation are two cornerstone values for T-CETRA and the T-CETRA Foundation. Bringing NeighborRelief to fruition was the perfect application of both those values,” says Gus Hashem, Co-founder and CIO of T-CETRA. “Since our founding in 2007, we have built technology solutions for underserved communities. We are thrilled to be named alongside other Columbus business leaders in applying our tech prowess for good.”
T-CETRA will join other community leaders such as Cardinal Health, CoverMyMeds and Turner Construction at the annual Corporate Citizenship Awards reception on November 17, 2021. To read the full list of Corporate Citizen honorees, click here.
About T-CETRA
T-CETRA is a leading financial technology enabler that converts cash payments into secure, auditable, cashless transactions at over 10,000 retail locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico that primarily serve cash preferred customers. Our payment solutions bridge the digital divide for these underserved communities and are used by Fortune 500 companies within the wireless, online marketplace, subscription based premium service, transportation, healthcare, charitable, and government sectors, connecting them to the 84.8 million un/derbanked individuals in the U.S. For more information about T-CETRA, visit www.tcetra.com
About The T-CETRA Foundation
Launched in 2020 by the leadership team of T-CETRA, LLC, the T-CETRA Foundation is a donor advised fund housed within the Columbus Foundation. Headquartered in Dublin, OH, the T-CETRA Foundation seeks to improve the lives of the un/derbanked population across the United States. For more information about the T-CETRA Foundation, please visit www.tcetrafoundation.org
Media Contact: Heidi Ames, Communications Manager
press@tcetra.com
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