Central Payments & Street Charity Are Making Donating Easier

Speaker A: Hey guys. Just wanted to welcome everybody to another episode of Fintech Brews. We are so excited to be back with you and have a really amazing guest today. Uh, John Patton. Welcome to Fintech Brews.

Speaker B: Thank you so much. I tell you, I've been looking forward to this a long time.

Speaker A: Yeah, we have been too. And this is really a unique episode for a couple different reasons. And so we're going to tee that up here in just a minute. But of course Eric, uh, is with us here today too. So say hi, Eric.

Speaker C: Oh, thank you for letting me get a word. And Nikki, I appreciate it so early on in, uh, the episode. So, yeah, we are super, uh, excited to have John on and hear about, uh, the partnership we have and what's going on. So we're super excited.

Speaker A: Cool. Absolutely. John, start off by just introducing yourself and of course the organization of Street Charity.

Speaker B: Super, thanks. So, uh, Jon Patton, I'm the, uh, CEO and founder of, of Street Charity and we're gonna be talking about that today. Uh, but I have a history of communications, uh, media and public health background, um, with a nice smattering of entrepreneurship. So, uh, the birth of Street Charity really is very entrepreneurial. And we'll talk about that.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And entrepreneurship, no doubt, because again, later on we'll get into the guts of this. But the amount of time from idea and conception to launch has been a more than a passion project and an endurance and only entrepreneurs know what that feels like. So kudos to you, first of all.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: Yeah, um, so I want to talk about the first of all, just Street Charity. Anybody who's listening? Street Charity is a financial product, really, but there's a purpose, uh, really behind the surface level. So kind of in your own words, what is Street Charity?

Speaker B: Yeah, so Street Charity is, uh, it's innovative. You know, um, I'm all about, uh, trying to solve things, different societal ills in an out of the box kind of way. And uh, Street Charity, uh, just square on, you know, addresses hunger from homeless people to a lot of people who are just food insecure. As we say in public health. That simply means they're not, uh, sure where their next food, you know, meal is going to come from. And so, uh, we're going to talk a little bit about who those people are. But that is what it is. The innovative use of technology, uh, fintech in particular, and leveraging an infrastructure of food delivery that already exists.

Speaker A: Absolutely. And I think people naturally go down this path, or at least I have heard situations like this before where it's like, oh, food insecure. We live in America. Surely there's enough to go around, yada, yada, yada. How would you respond to that being where you spend all of your time and energy? How do you respond to that?

Speaker B: Yeah, so over 40 million Americans, uh, that's just mind bending. Uh, that's, that's just, uh, about one in ten Americans. So you could just look around your community and find that, um, statistically, these people, uh, for whatever reason, they might live in what's called a food desert, meaning they have liquor stores that serve, you know, an apple or a banana or something like that, but they don't have a grocery store. Um, they certainly are barely getting by with rent and, you know, their electric payment. And so, um, you know, food is unfortunately, is as fundamental as it is in terms of a need, gets, uh, pushed to the bottom. And, um, they rely on donations, on food banks, on the charity of others.

Speaker A: M. Absolutely. So when we think about street charity and the innovation. So we're really talking about a card product that does what?

Speaker B: Yeah, so this card product is so cool. And I don't want to miss the, um, point that we're serving people who are hungry. That's for, for sure. We've talked about that. But we're also serving maybe the people listening here, uh, certainly the three of us. And that means that people come up to us on the sidewalk from time to time and say, hey, will you give me some money? I'm hungry. And at that moment, we're kind of confounded. We're at a dilemma. Either we don't have cash, uh, so we're like, I wish I could help you, but I don't have any cash on me. Um, or we're instantaneously kind of doing a judgment call. If I give you cash, are you really going to use it on food? And that's a terrible place for the generous person to be. Somebody wants to be charitable, and all of a sudden they're really confounded whether they can do that or not. Uh, we've solved this. So it is a card. And it's not just a gift card as it appears to be a plastic card, uh, with a mag stripe on the back that, um, someone can take to a fast food restaurant and use for $5 of food. It's a card that works across brands. Okay? It could work at Chick Fil A, it could work at TACO Bell, at McDonald's, at Arby's. You name it, it's because of the way the card is formed, it will actually work. At any fast food restaurant that has been designated as fast food and it supports the Discover Card brand. So, uh, we're talking hundreds of thousands of outlets. Uh, the card can be used at. And that, that delivers dignity. Right. I mean, I don't want someone telling me where to eat and what to eat. You're gonna like this bologna sandwich, John, even if you don't like mayonnaise. I mean, you should go to Arby's. Well, guess what? There's not Arby's around. So, um, I like to go, you know, get a, get a taco. Well, now people can.

Speaker A: Absolutely. I love it.

Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for that, John. And I mean, you touched on. It is a financial product, undoubtedly. So, uh, you know, as we know, it's not easy to navigate those waters and try and find the right partner to go from idea to actually delivering a product in market. So could you talk a little bit about the challenges of that process from having this idea in your head and saying, okay, where do I start? Who do I talk to? How do I get this thing off the ground?

Speaker B: Sure. I've always been a believer that some of the best ideas are the simplest. And this was a really simple idea. But then bringing simple ideas to market. Yeah, really early, challenging. I tell people all the time, I didn't know how to spell fintech. I didn't understand anything about the world. I certainly, um, just never played in that space. And so I started dialing, uh, for help. Uh, I knew one guy in my network who used, uh, to sell the little terminals, the little merchant, uh, account terminals. And he said, well, John, that's not my space. I don't, you know, I have no idea. But you might call Betty. So I called Betty at a national bank, and Betty said, no, we, you know, we don't do it. And then it was like, you might, you might call Jimmy, you know, and it just went like that. But the, uh, the big punchline, the big, uh, exclamation point is that that went on for five years. And, um, and it was just, you know, people gave me enough hope. I mean, they would say, you know, that should work. I've been in fintech for 20 years. It should work. We don't do it, but keep trying. Um, and that was invaluable fuel to us.

Speaker C: And I'm guessing I can probably guess the answer to this, as can the audience. But what kept you driving? You talked about five years, millions of conversations. What helped you persevere to that end goal of finally delivering that first card in production?

Speaker B: I think it's um, such a oft asked question and it means a lot to me. So a couple answers. One is that I'm a big fan of accountability. You know, if you say you're going to do something, you want to do it, you want to follow through. Uh, and I had told enough people, uh, that I was going to do this. And, uh, my wife, uh, co founded it with me, Antoinette Patton. Uh, she was stalwart in her confidence that this could, we could find a way. Um, and then the second thing is that, um, we live around a lot of hungry people. Uh, I can't come home from work and not pass people with cardboard signs all around me. And so every time I saw those, it was a reminder. You can't give up. People are counting on you. Uh, you know, until someone says this is impossible to do, you've got to keep going.

Speaker A: Amen.

Speaker C: Perfect. And we, you know, just launched, you know, May 2024. What, what have the first. What has that been like again? Short period, short, short Runway so far. But what, what's the feedback you're getting? What is what. How are you feeling about it?

Speaker B: Well, you know, we couldn't be happier. So, so until we found, I mean, everybody again is guessing why we're having this call today. And that's because, you know, uh, we've got the people in the room that made it happen. Um, and once Central Payments made it happen, we finally stopped sitting on our hands, um, in terms of marketing and messaging. And we went to the ABC News and we got on tv, we went to Telemundo. My wife speaks Spanish, she's Peruvian. And what a market in the Latin community for this product. And so, uh, Telemundo was able to broadcast, went to the Christian radio station in Atlanta, they blew it up. And so, uh, the phones have been ringing, the emails have been coming in and the orders have been coming in. And I say that with quotations. You know, we're not selling cards. Let no one be misunderstood. We're a 501c3 nonprofit and people donate to us. And we'll get into that. But as a result of their donations, we ask them to help distribute cards for us, um, in the event they, they just want to make one time donation instead of an ongoing one, a monthly donation, then we'll, we'll send them, you know, bulk amounts of card according to that donation. And uh, they, we've just had, uh, hundreds of orders, requests, donations, and it's just, uh, I'm telling you, this is the tip of the iceberg.

Speaker A: I believe it completely. And I remember in May when we did get to come down to Atlanta and celebrate at the launch party with you guys, that community is on fire for what you're doing. And I said to you, we're going to take this all around the world. Like, I'll bring. South Dakota is where we are. So wherever we can do to socialize this. And every time you see a person in need and recognize that so many people are one bad event away from being in a very similar predicament, so when we make those judgment calls, it's easy to dismiss. That's not me. That's not anybody I know. But there's a, uh, there's a level of compassion that has to touch most everybody in some way, shape or form. And knowing that you can give responsibly, serve and help in a way that is not going to contribute or you don't have to feel like there's something, you know, nefarious that they're going to do with your donation or your gift or whatever. It's like, have a meal, have a, uh, like, give them a smile. Right? And so your guys's heartbeat, your community, and all the way you've rallied people around this. I'm with you, brother. I think it's going to. It's going to take off.

Speaker B: Well, it's just. It's so encouraging to hear that. And you're so right. The Atlanta community has been so supportive, um, our network's been so supportive, uh, because it is a universal need. And so, uh, we can go to South Dakota, we can go to Chicago. Um, you know, it's going to be. There's going to be a response, not only from the recipient, the people that are hungry, but those people that they really want a tool to, uh, help solve the problem, uh, that they want to be part of solving.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So something, uh, came into my head, and this maybe will be a question for Eric. Ready, alert. Ready for it.

Speaker C: I'm really nervous here. Hold on.

Speaker A: All right, so. So you're a 501C3. The listeners know Central Payments and who we are and what we're about. Why was Street Charity as a nonprofit? And one might look at that and go, boy, Central Payments, you know, you're probably not making much, uh, much money on that one. Why was this a. A yes for us? So Eric, being, um, the president of our company, gets to make a lot of the decisions on throughput and partners and revenue opportunities. Why Street Charity?

Speaker C: Uh, I mean, street charity, again, this. This industry never ceases to amaze me. You think, you know, being in it for, you know, I've been at for a long time, let alone, I know, I mean, Nikki, long, long, easy, very long time. So you know, you see a lot of uses of financial products, cards, you know, funds movement and it uh, you know, just when you think, okay, what else could be out there? You know, you get approached by a company like Street Charity, where you just think about, wow, you know, it's easy to think about, okay, there's a convenient way to move money. You can always move money faster and at uh, you know, to save cost. But you know, when you think about laying it out, you know, how you can actually benefit, you know, humans. I mean like people like that are, that are struggling to, you know, give them, you know, a financial product, enable them to feed themselves without, you know, you know, certainly don't maybe have access to mainstream banking. But again what we're, what we're focused on here don't have access to a regular meal, you know, and delivering that, you know, that warm meal through a financial product with a great partner, you know, it was a, is a no brainer. I think it was probably on my desk for about all of eight seconds before he said let's, let's go through with this.

Speaker A: You know, you said something that's really interesting. Um, ah, shoot. That was a compliment. Um, Dang it. Okay, well, um, anyway, that was really interesting. A lot of the audiences John, that we uh, touch for building products for is around the unbanked or underbanked. But what about the underfed, unfed? Like that's even more, you know, hierarchy of needs. And so, you know, this, one of our taglines as a company is making financial lives better. And this really brings that to life in such a way if you could, you know, even hack off the financial part and just say making lives better. So, um, a, another compliment. Thank you for the eight second signing and taking off. And I'm sure John shares in that sentiment as well because it really is uh, quite important. So, so then on the flip side, if I take that to you, John, you hit on a few different things, but is there anything else that. Why was Central Payments, um, in your opinion, the right partner? I know there's a lot of others that could do what we do and maybe it was just happenstance of finding us, but why are we a meaningful part of this?

Speaker B: Well, you know, I think you all are going to have um, a uh, really serious impact on the fintech community as we grow this. We never talk about it without talking about you all. Without Central Payments, uh, we want people to pay attention, to lean in, to say, who are they? What are they doing? Why are they doing this? Um, yeah, there might be some other organizations that could, could pull it off, but I'm not convinced they would be able to do it properly. And what I mean by that is with anything, especially with something that's fairly entrepreneurial and different and innovative, you're going to have hurdles, you're going to have challenges, and you need a partner that is not simply going through the motions. You've got to get a partner that is going to be a problem solver. And that's what Central Payments has been, you know, from every step of the process. And it's because of your passion. Yeah, to make lives better. Um, I mean, it really, I hope, makes other organizations scratch their head and say, you know what, I want that to be our mantra too. Um, because there are other opportunities out there, but it takes that kind of co creation, uh, to make it happen.

Speaker C: Perfect. Very well said. And I think we've delayed this long enough. Uh, we've got the audience excited. Now let's switch to the practical. How do we get our hands on street charity cards? What's the process look like? How can we start, uh, making this thing move nationwide?

Speaker B: Wow, thanks. You know, we're always trying to make it easy, trying to make it frictionless. So we, we know that we're not quite there yet, but we're doing our best. So, uh, the, the website is simply streetcharity.org and you go there, and there are a couple ways to get involved. You either donate on a regular basis, that being every 30 days. And again, it's a donation, it's a, it's a tax deductible donation. And we're gonna ask you then to distribute cards where you see the need is right in your community. It'd be no different than if I had a big rally in Atlanta and everybody came in and donated. I handed out cards and we all hit the streets. Uh, we just wanna do that on national scale. We want people to meet the needs in New York City or to meet the needs in South Dakota when people come up to them. Um, and so the monthly deal is that we want people to have them in their wallet, we want to have them in their car, you know, in their visor, uh, so that they're always equipped. They're not saying, oh, I should have reordered, I should have re donated and gotten more cards. Nope, they're coming to Your house. And you don't have to think about it. Uh, the other way that people do want to participate is they donate at a higher level and they might get cards for their congregation, for their employees, uh, for their membership at their organization. Organization, the, um, Lions Club or the Rotary Club or something like that. I mean there's no, um, limit to who could get involved and pass these out at concerts or just name the venue. These cards are really applicable. We go to Las Vegas for conferences regularly. Uh, I know Money 2020 is there. I'd love for, uh, Money 2020 participants to be handing out cards because right outside the door is a ton of need right on the Vegas streets. So, um, that's how it works. Uh, people get, they donate, they get cards. But the exciting part, um, and we may be jumping ahead here, but uh, the real exciting part, and I'm sure people are wondering, well, what if I get this card out and ah, someone doesn't want to eat, they don't want five bucks of food. Um, well, they throw it in the trash can. Or maybe they're just, you know, it's a complex life they're living. They lose the card. Well, no worries because, uh, that card is going to expire after six months and the majority of the funds are going to be automatically sent to food banks across the country. So you can have confidence, you give it out. No more judgment. Will this be used for food? Yes, it will be. One way or the other. Someone's going to eat because of your donation.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's a key point. And I'm sure a lot of the listeners were like, okay, cool, yeah. What's the common. Because that is, that's the common downfall with, you know, those type of single load cards. Does it get spent, goes back to line the pockets of others. But that is a, a very unique concept that we were, we are happy to, uh, to, to take part in and, and have those unused funds go to those in need.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. That's really cool. Um, what, what's your ultimate vision for street charity?

Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it really, it's big. You know, this was, this is the tip of the iceberg. This was, this was, um, this was a challenge. But man, uh, thanks to you all, we feel empowered, we feel fueled, uh, to go further. So there are people that legitimately need transportation. They got to get to work. They don't have the funds. Uh, they legitimately need shelter. Shelter sometimes just for the night. They've been evicted. Um, they're on the street, maybe they have their kids with them. And while food will give them some comfort and some safety and some security for a little bit, um, we know they need more. So we'd, uh, like to take the next iteration to transportation, um, to metro cards, MARTA cards, BART cards, those kind of things in cities. And then ultimately, uh, perhaps partner with, um, some places of lodging that would accept a, um, larger, uh, donation, um, in the form of a card. Um, additionally, on the food realm, um, I do a lot of work in public health, as I mentioned, and, you know, we're looking at healthy foods. Some people want to go to the grocery store and they want to actually, you know, buy a salad for their family. Um, and so we want to have what's called the UPC level, um, of purchasing power. So they can take it into a grocery store, but they still can't use it for alcohol, cigarettes, things like that. There are just certain things that they can use it on again so that the donor feels confident that they're facilitating health, they're facilitating the positive direction, um, with. With, you know, little to no risk of, um, of, you know, being used, um, you know, for something they didn't intend it to be.

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, we've got some experience in, uh, Metro and different.

Speaker C: I think we. Some. We might know, some people can help

Speaker A: you out with that. So turns out, Turns out, um, what question I'm thinking about, I'm thinking about the listeners. I'm thinking about anybody else that might be entertaining a similar idea or have struggled kind of getting off the ground or hitting roadblocks. What advice would you give to people that are like, in that same space?

Speaker B: So, so definitely, um, you know, interviewing. Well, never giving up. That's the first thing. You just don't stop because there will be, in fact, everybody who's. Who's done something different has always faced incredible, um, barriers. And so never give up. Uh, and then when you find your partners, really interview them, uh, to see if they're passion partners, uh, like central Payments, frankly. I mean, just that's it in a, uh, nutshell. You guys are passionate about this problem. And, uh, that's what we look for. We look for it in every piece, um, of the chain. Um, and then also I would encourage people to keep it simple. As we, uh, talked about this idea, they did move into, well, you know, you should do $10 cards and $20 cards and, you know, transportation cards. And I said, yeah, we want to get there, but we're going to keep it super simple right now. We're going to get proof of concept get adoption. And, um, and then we can, you know, sky's the limit. But that's what I would encourage people to do, too.

Speaker A: I love that so much. Um, was it, gosh, four years ago now when we launched Falls Fintech, our fintech accelerator? Early in the day, the, the question we would always ask founders was, what's your niche? What's your focus? And the feedback we always gave was make the main thing, the main thing. Stay the course to your idea, keep it simple. Because there's one company in particular that jumps out. In my mind, they were trying to kind of boil the ocean, so to speak. We can do this and this and this and this and this and that and all the things. Well, guess what? Nothing got done really well, um, because it was too convoluted. And so I, um. Kudos to you for staying the course and even not deviating from starting simple, keeping it simple, getting that right, and then evolving.

Speaker B: So appreciate that. Yeah, appreciate that. You know, people, we have less attention span than ever today. So as great as the idea might be, you got like, you know, 10 seconds to communicate it. And, um, so if it's too complex, you know, notes you've missed an opportunity.

Speaker A: Yeah, you're not wrong. Um, uh, anything else you can think of, John, that you want to share with the listeners? I think you did a wonderful job articulating how to get to streetcharity.org and what the involvement can be. Anything else that would be important to share?

Speaker B: You know, there are a couple things, and that's simply like, um, we don't have a corner on creativity. Um, I'll give you an example. A guy I met with in Dallas, Texas, who helps the homeless get off the street. Incredible tactical ways. Um, and he said, John, he said, do you think we could maybe at some point put a QR code on the front of the card so that someone who receives it could scan the card and be, oh, my gosh, unleashed with resources, uh, across the city, designed to help people get off the street. I was like, yeah, I mean, that's brilliant. We know that when somebody eats, they're going to be hungry the next day. So we want to be able to, to link to other partners and, um, help people along the continuum. Um, I'd also say, um, bring us your ideas. I got a phone call from the police academy, uh, three states, a very large academy, uh, in the Southeast, and they asked us to come and speak at their event, uh, because police officers are a great, great resource, um, to help those who are hungry and homeless and if they can be armed with a card like this, with a street charity card to really meet the needs, um, of them and the larger community that they serve. How brilliant is that? But I wouldn't have thought of that. So, um, I just say bring it. Uh, we would love to partner influencers. I mean, we want everybody and their brother, um, to use these cards in the way that meet their, the needs of their community.

Speaker A: No question. The other thing, when you said police officers, I thought of teachers. Um, and, you know, there was a story that was shared down there in Atlanta at the kickoff party about, uh, kiddos that don't have access to food. Uh, would you share that, uh, that story and how that turned out for, for that school down in it?

Speaker B: Yeah. Nikki, Brilliant. I would have been a miss. Ah, really, really, uh, Miss Remiss to not mention teachers. There so many. One in, um. Well, I think it's actually one in ten. Kids might be even higher. Are, um, wondering where they're going to get their next meal. They go to school to get free breakfast, they get free lunch, and then good luck because there's no dinner coming. And, uh, the teachers are incredibly, uh, attuned to who in their classroom is in that situation. Um, and so the teacher you're referring to actually would make meals at, uh, Thanksgiving time and go to various trailer parks and hand them out. She knew exactly where they lived. She would get permission from their parents to do that. Um, and now, oh, my gosh, uh, she was on the news in Atlanta handing out cards, 10, 15, 20 cards to kids who were just jumping up and down. You know, uh, my kids like to go to Chick Fil a after school, get a milkshake. It's kind of a social activity. Or go to Starbucks. Well, just imagine the kid that they can't even participate in a social activity like that because they don't have any funds. So this is, um, a game changer in her words. Glad, uh, you brought it up. Teachers are. And I have to say this, I have to say this. So people go to streetcharity.org, this is really important. And they go, love what you're doing. But I don't see homeless people in my community. I live in the suburbs, and frankly, when I do, I'm just not comfortable talking to them, approaching them. I get it. Not a problem. So what they do in that case is they can donate to street charity, and we will distribute their cards on their behalf. And that's how we've gotten, uh, the cards into the hands of so many Teachers already is that people have said, john, you know, we want them specifically to go to elementary schools. And so um, that's what we've done. So a lot of really cool ways. I can't think of a way you couldn't get involved if you want to.

Speaker A: I totally agree. And even as a tool, I get cards and my 14 year old will be out and about and he'll say, hey, that guy's got a cardboard sign. I said, go give him a straight charity card. And so he's getting involved and recognizing again, dignity, humanity, compassion, uh, at every level. And I think our society could definitely benefit from more of that.

Speaker B: I couldn't agree more. I think we're going to find uh, as many testimonies, uh, about that uh, than we will buy, you know, from the folks actually receiving the cards.

Speaker A: Yeah, there's, there's a little idea maybe on your website as you evolve things is scroll some testimonies if you don't already because they are out there. And whether teachers, police officers helping teach kiddos or whatever else like that could be a uh, generation of creativity because like some people like Eric have none. And so they need that like fed to them, for example. Yeah, m. Absolutely. Well, this has been nothing short of an absolute pleasure, John. Your passion, um, we come alive every time we get to talk to you and uh, just game changer change in the world, uh, one meal at a time. And I just, I appreciate your time. This was incredible. Um, so thank you so much.

Speaker B: Wow. Thank you. And please, Central Payments keep up the incredible mission that you have to help people have better lives.

Speaker A: Absolutely.

Speaker C: Thanks John. Thanks for uh, helping us change the world through partnership. Amen.

Speaker A: Take care of.