Zelle and BofA target faster charitable disbursements

The new capability allows nonprofits to receive charitable grant funding in near real time, replacing the traditional multi-week, paper-based process with the Zelle network.

A proof of concept is being carried out through Bank of America’s Charitable Gift Fund, allowing donors to send charitable grants to a select group of nonprofits via Zelle. It could then be expanded to other financial institutions that have donor advised fund programmes.

Zelle says that the speed and security of this delivery could help transform how charitable dollars flow from routine, planned donations to urgent situations like natural disasters and community‑level crises, helping nonprofits access resources more quickly when they are needed most.

Denise Leonhard, general manager, Zelle, says: “By bringing the speed and reliability of Zelle to charitable grant delivery, we are helping funds reach nonprofits faster so organisations can stay focused on their missions.”

Americans now send more than $1.2 trillion annually using Zelle and increasingly rely on it for everyday needs like rent and childcare. But the operation is bidding to find more use cases, with the charitable disbursements trial part of a larger innovation agenda.

Last year it emerged that the network was working to tap into the power of stablecoins to enable users to make cross-border payments.