Where Her Rising Initiative Started
The Her Rising Initiative is a nonprofit that works to close the opportunity gap for girls and help them rise into positions of leadership. To achieve this, the organization has chapters throughout the United States, hosts events, and has created a curriculum.
Chelsea, the COO, has to keep tabs on the many student-run chapters using the organization’s one EIN. Each chapter runs its own activities, and therefore needs to process payments for member dues, selling merchandise, or fundraising, and then spending those funds on chapter initiatives.
Before Crowded, all of this money movement was happening from the central organization’s account, making accounting and money tracking much harder than it needed to be.
Chelsea sought a solution and searched for a platform that would allow the organization to have accounts for each chapter, while also providing oversight to the leadership team. She also wanted a digital-first platform for easy management. She picked Crowded for its ability to support multiple accounts under one EIN, provide visibility, and for its financial tools for chapters.
How the Her Rising Initiative Unified Chapter Management with Sub Accounts
Sub Accounts for each Chapter
For every Her Rising chapter that needed a bank account, Chelsea easily opened a Sub Account. She invited the chapter presidents and treasurers to run the account, and from there, she could be hands-off, knowing that the chapters could function autonomously and compliantly.
The chapter treasurers got access to a full-service bank account instantly, without any of the headaches that normally come with opening a bank account for a small nonprofit chapter – no trips to the bank, no paperwork, no documents required. Meanwhile, the national level gains clean fund separation between chapters and their own funding.
Unlimited Payment Links and Debit Cards for Chapters
Her Rising Chapter treasurers use the Crowded platform to run all aspects of their chapter finances. They fundraise and collect payments for dues, events, merchandise, etc., within the platform. Once they have funds, they use Crowded cards to spend those funds seamlessly with digital debit cards.
The autonomy of the chapters is especially appreciated by the COO, Chelsea, as she can tune out of the chapter management as she wishes.
Audit Ready Finances
Every year, the Her Rising Initiative team conducts an audit of all chapters. This year, the audit should be simpler – all transactions and money movement in one platform. The treasurer can either hand over the monthly statements, or the audit team can get read-only access to the platform and check the transactions from the inside.
Our chapters are run by students all over the country, and Crowded makes it feel manageable. Everyone has what they need, and I have the oversight to make sure everything stays on track. Crowded takes that burden off my plate entirely.
Digital Account Handover
For volunteer student-led groups, it is especially important that chapter accounts can easily roll over from year to year, from treasurer to treasurer. Because all chapter accounts are under the umbrella of the national organization, the national level can switch the admin on an account in just a few clicks. No lost logins or trapped funds!
Summary
By moving from a single account to Sub Accounts for chapters, Her Rising Initiative gained fund separation, chapter autonomy, and oversight. Administrative burdens like audits and leadership transitions, once headaches, are now straightforward processes.
For a growing nonprofit managing student-led chapters across the country, Crowded proves to be the financial backbone that lets the Her Rising Initiative focus less on logistics and more on its mission.
