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In the News
latest news and resources from the Rellevate News Desk
Press Releases
Rellevate Partners with Catholic Relief Services and Caritas de Venezuela to Support Venezuela Earthquake Relief Efforts
STAMFORD, CT, August 10, 2025 — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas de Venezuela to support humanitarian relief efforts for victims of the devastating earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, 2026 On June 24, two powerful earthquakes—a magnitude 7.2 foreshock followed 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock—struck near the coast west of Caracas, causing widespread destruction across the capital, La Guaira, and surrounding states. The disaster has claimed thousands of lives, left many more injured, and displaced countless families across the region. CRS, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in
Rellevate Partners with HAPevolve to Enhance Healthcare Staff Financial Wellness
STAMFORD, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services—including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services—today announced a strategic partnership with HAPevolve, a subsidiary of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). This collaboration introduces Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day service to hospitals and health systems, providing healthcare professionals with flexible, anytime access to their earned wages. Through this partnership, Pennsylvania’s healthcare employers can offer their entire workforce a modern, mobile-first financial tool to reduce financial stress and improve retention. Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day lets employees access up to 50% of their earned wages before scheduled paydays, with no loans, interest, or fees on eligible advances. These funds can be accessed via the Rellevate Mastercard® Pay
Rellevate Wins “Digital Payments Innovation” Award at FinTech Week Dubai 2026
STAMFORD, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, announced it has been honored with the “Digital Payments Innovation” award at the 2nd FinTech Week: Payments, Security & Beyond, which took place 16–17 February 2026 at the Radisson Blu in Dubai. The award recognized Rellevate’s leadership in delivering flexible, real-time digital payment solutions. Stewart Stockdale, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rellevate, served as a keynote speaker at the summit, delivering a featured presentation titled “Helping Those That Need It the Most.” A Mission of Empowerment Central to Stockdale’s presentation was Rellevate’s core mission: “Empowering Americans to affordably access, move, and use their money—anytime, anywhere.” By focusing on eliminating excessive and often
Rellevate and Kentucky Hospital Association Partner to Advance Financial Wellness for Kentucky’s 95,900 Hospital Employees
Stamford, CT, December 2025 — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services—including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services— today announced its partnership with the Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA). Hospitals are vital employers in Kentucky, ranking as the #5 industry subsector in the state, with over 95,900 people employed by hospitals across the Commonwealth. “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Kentucky Hospital Association, a respected leader dedicated to supporting hospitals and the health status of Kentuckians,” said Stewart Stockdale, Chairman and CEO of Rellevate. “This partnership reflects our commitment to making secure, immediate, and accessible money movement possible for more Americans. Together, Rellevate and KHA will bring innovative financial solutions to healthcare organizations and
Rellevate and Atlas Wholesale Food Announce Agreement, Showcasing Value for Golbon Distributors
Stamford, CT, October 13, 2025 – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Atlas Wholesale Food to bring flexible, modern payment solutions to the food distribution industry. This partnership marks a significant milestone: Rellevate’s first agreement generated through its collaboration with Golbon, the national foodservice sales and marketing group. By enabling Atlas Wholesale Food to offer Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day and suite of digital banking products to its workforce, the companies are providing improved financial access, security, and convenience for foodservice employees across the region. Stewart A. Stockdale, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rellevate, stated, “Rellevate is proud to enter into this partnership with Atlas
Clayton County Public Schools Partners with Rellevate to Expand Employee Financial Wellness
Clayton County Schools teachers, custodial, and administrative staff now gain Pay Any-Day and digital banking—improving financial wellness for all employees. STAMFORD, CT, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Clayton County Public Schools, a prominent public school district based in Jonesboro, Georgia. Through this collaboration, CCPS employees will have access to Rellevate’s Digital Account with the Pay Any-Day benefit, which enables individuals to access up to 50% of their earned wages before their traditional payday, offering greater flexibility and control over personal finances. This initiative underscores CCPS’s commitment to supporting its dedicated workforce by providing resources that
Rellevate Partners with Golbon to Bring Innovative Digital Banking to Independent Food Distributors
Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Golbon, a premier national foodservice sales and marketing group, to deliver cutting-edge digital banking and payment solutions tailored for independent food distributors.This collaboration combines Rellevate’s innovative financial technology with Golbon’s strong industry network to meet the specific financial needs of independent food distribution businesses. Golbon’s support will help speed up Rellevate’s growth in the food distribution market, enabling distributors to give their employees instant access to earned wages through Rellevate’s fee-free Pay Any-Day solution, along with streamlined digital payroll disbursements and convenient features like online bill pay and sending money, all provided via an easy-to-use digital account
Rellevate and Therapy 2000 Partner to Empower Caregivers with Pay Any-Day
Rellevate and Therapy 2000 partner to offer Pay Any-Day, giving Texas caregivers flexible access to wages and tools to improve financial well-being. STAMFORD, CT, UNITED STATES, August 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Rellevate, Inc., a fintech empowering consumers with innovative services for flexible money access, today announced a new agreement with Therapy 2000, Texas’s leading provider of pediatric home health therapy, to offer Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day solution to its employees and caregivers. This partnership will provide Therapy 2000’s workforce with faster, more flexible access to their earnings—supporting financial wellness and enhancing the overall employee experience. Therapy 2000 provides in-home pediatric occupational, physical, and speech therapy to children across Texas. By adopting Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day solution, Therapy 2000 will empower its team with secure, real-time wage access
Rellevate Partners with University of Illinois System to Deliver Modern Digital Payment Solutions Across Three Campuses
Stamford, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with the University of Illinois System, which comprises the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and University of Illinois Springfield, to deliver a modernized payment and disbursement solution for the university community. Through this partnership, the University of Illinois System will utilize Rellevate’s digital payment platform to facilitate a range of payments, including clinical trial reimbursements for research participants and disbursements to students traveling with faculty and staff. The solution offers a user-friendly payment workflow, robust tax reporting capabilities on an as-needed basis, and the flexibility to support the diverse needs of the
Rellevate Partners with Catholic Relief Services to Enhance Aid Disbursement Globally
Rellevate, Inc., Rellevate, a fintech empowering consumers with innovative services for flexible money access, has been selected through a competitive solicitation by Catholic Relief Services to provide reloadable or non-reloadable pre-paid card services, including virtual card services, to CRS Country Programs, Program Offices, and Outreach Countries. This strategic partnership will enable CRS to disburse funds to vulnerable populations worldwide more efficiently and securely, ensuring timely access to critical aid. “We are incredibly proud and honored to partner with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an organization renowned globally for its tireless efforts in humanitarian aid and sustainable development,” said Stewart A. Stockdale, Rellevate Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO. “This collaboration underscores Rellevate’s commitment to leveraging our innovative financial technology for social good. Our prepaid and virtual card solutions
Insights
5 Ways To Keep Your Volunteers in 2026
Every program director knows the feeling of watching a trained volunteer walk away after just a few months. Volunteer retention has become one of the biggest operational headaches for nonprofits heading into 2026, and the reasons rarely stem from a single bad experience. Between competing time commitments, unclear expectations, and programs that never quite show volunteers the impact of their work, turnover adds up fast. The good news is that most of it is fixable. These five approaches focus on what program directors, grant managers, and other decision-makers can actually control, from onboarding to how compensation gets handled when it applies. Key Takeaways Why Volunteer Retention Matters More Than Ever Nonprofits are competing for a shrinking pool of consistent volunteers. Recent volunteer data from AmeriCorps
Nonprofit Prepaid Cards vs Checks: Why More NGOs Are Making the Switch
For nonprofit finance and program leaders, the way funds are delivered affects workload, fraud exposure, reporting, and the speed at which a program reaches the people it serves. The choice between nonprofit prepaid cards vs checks is becoming an operational decision for NGOs managing grants, stipends, emergency aid, travel funds, and recurring payments. Key Takeaways Why NGOs are moving away from checks Checks are familiar, but the process is often slow. Staff may collect addresses, approve and mail checks, confirm delivery, answer status questions, stop lost payments, issue replacements, and reconcile each item. Recent check payment trends from the Federal Reserve show that check payments continued to decline in both number and value, while cards accounted for more than three-quarters of noncash payments by number
Clinical Trial Participant Compensation vs Reimbursement
For sponsors, contract research organizations, research sites, and institutional review boards, participant payments can appear to be a single administrative category. They are not. Clinical trial participant compensation vs reimbursement separates money paid for a person’s time and effort from money that repays study-related expenses, and that distinction affects consent language, budgets, review, tax handling, and payment operations. Key Takeaways What Compensation Means in a Clinical Trial Compensation acknowledges the time, effort, inconvenience, or discomfort associated with research participation. It may be calculated by visit, hour, task, procedure, diary entry, or another approved milestone. The amount should reflect the burden of participation, but it should not be described as a clinical benefit or used to justify higher study risk. FDA guidance on payment and reimbursement
Volunteer Compensation: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Stipends & Reimbursements
Nonprofits rely on volunteers to stretch limited budgets, and many want to say thank you with more than a certificate. A stipend, gift card, or reimbursement feels like a natural next step, but the law treats volunteer pay differently than most organizations expect. Cross an invisible line, and a beloved volunteer can become a legal employee, complete with wage claims and lost liability protections. This guide covers what volunteer compensation means and how to reward volunteers without a compliance headache. Key Takeaways What Is Volunteer Compensation? Volunteer compensation includes any payment, reimbursement, or benefit that a nonprofit provides to someone who serves without an employment relationship. It includes cash stipends, gift cards, reimbursed expenses, and perks like free event tickets. What separates compensation from a
The Hidden Burden on Clinical Trial Participants (And How to Reduce It)
Clinical trials only work if people show up, and keep showing up, through months of visits, tests, and follow-ups. But for many participants, showing up costs real money. Gas, parking, missed shifts, a babysitter for the afternoon. Sponsors, CRO finance teams, and site administrators often underestimate the extent to which these costs shape who enrolls, who drops out, and who never applies at all. Key Takeaways What Participation Actually Costs A trial visit rarely costs just the visit. Participants often pay for parking, mileage, or a flight if the site sits hours away. Add a hotel stay for an overnight protocol, a missed day of hourly wages, or a few hours of paid childcare, and a single visit can run into the hundreds of dollars.
7 Ways to Boost Employee Financial Empowerment
Fifty-nine percent of employees say they’re stressed about their finances right now, according to PwC’s 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, and that stress doesn’t stay at home when they clock in. The same survey found financially stressed employees are five times more likely to be distracted at work, with many spending hours each week dealing with money worries during work time. Financial stress isn’t just an employee problem. It’s an employer productivity, retention, and engagement problem, one that shows up in exit interviews, absenteeism, and disengaged performance long before it shows up in an HR dashboard. “Financial empowerment” has become a common phrase in benefits strategy conversations, but it’s often left undefined, or worse, reduced to a single financial literacy webinar. Financial empowerment isn’t simply
Hospital Support Staff Retention: Why CNAs, Aides, and Hourly Workers Are Quitting
Doctors and nurses get the retention headlines. But a hospital doesn’t run on physicians and RNs alone. It runs on certified nursing assistants, patient care technicians, environmental services staff, food service workers, and transport teams, the hourly employees who keep patients fed, rooms clean, and units staffed around the clock. Registered nurses account for less than a third of total hospital employment, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which means the majority of the hospital workforce sits in roles that rarely make it into a board presentation. These are also the roles most exposed to rigid, bi-weekly pay cycles and the predatory lending products that fill the gap when a paycheck doesn’t stretch far enough. For HR and workforce leaders building a 2026 retention
How Earned Wage Access Works for Hospitals (Without Disrupting Payroll)
Hospital leadership is under constant pressure to control recruitment spend. According to the 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital now loses between $4.2 million and $6.2 million a year to RN turnover alone, with the cost of replacing a single bedside RN sitting at $60,090 once recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, and temporary staffing are factored in. That math is exactly why earned wage access keeps coming up in retention conversations. It’s also exactly why many CFOs hesitate to adopt it: the assumption that giving staff faster access to their pay requires rebuilding payroll processes or setting aside new operating cash. That assumption doesn’t hold up once you understand how the mechanics actually work. This benefit is most commonly
Are Nurse Sign-On Bonuses Worth It? What Hospitals Should Try Instead
A five-figure sign-on bonus can fill an open req within weeks. It rarely keeps that nurse around long enough to justify the spend. According to the 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital now loses between $4.2 million and $6.2 million a year to RN turnover, with the cost of replacing a single bedside RN sitting at $60,090. Sign-on bonuses were supposed to be the fix. Increasingly, the data suggest they address immediate hiring needs rather than the underlying drivers of retention. The real driver of turnover isn’t the offer letter. It’s the accumulation of day-to-day operational workforce pressures: short-staffed weekends, extra shift coverage, and compensation that lags behind the effort a nurse puts in that week. Hospital leaders
Which Payment Solutions Help Hospitals Reduce Administrative Costs?
How Pay Any-Day on-demand pay is reshaping recruitment, retention, and financial wellness for clinical and hourly healthcare staff Ask any hospital CFO where labor budgets are under the most pressure, and the answer is rarely complicated. Staffing costs continue to rise through agency premiums, travel staffing, overtime coverage, and repeated onboarding cycles that never fully stabilize. These are not isolated expenses. They are the downstream result of a more persistent operational challenge in healthcare systems: workforce turnover in shift-based roles. But within that conversation, there is a cost driver that is often underestimated in financial planning. It is not compensation levels. It is compensation timing. For healthcare organizations managing nurses, CNAs, medical technicians, and home health aides, the standard payroll cycle introduces a delay between
Press Releases
Rellevate Partners with Catholic Relief Services and Caritas de Venezuela to Support Venezuela Earthquake Relief Efforts
STAMFORD, CT, August 10, 2025 — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Caritas de Venezuela to support humanitarian relief efforts for victims of the devastating earthquakes that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, 2026 On June 24, two powerful earthquakes—a magnitude 7.2 foreshock followed 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock—struck near the coast west of Caracas, causing widespread destruction across the capital, La Guaira, and surrounding states. The disaster has claimed thousands of lives, left many more injured, and displaced countless families across the region. CRS, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in
Rellevate Partners with HAPevolve to Enhance Healthcare Staff Financial Wellness
STAMFORD, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services—including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services—today announced a strategic partnership with HAPevolve, a subsidiary of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP). This collaboration introduces Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day service to hospitals and health systems, providing healthcare professionals with flexible, anytime access to their earned wages. Through this partnership, Pennsylvania’s healthcare employers can offer their entire workforce a modern, mobile-first financial tool to reduce financial stress and improve retention. Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day lets employees access up to 50% of their earned wages before scheduled paydays, with no loans, interest, or fees on eligible advances. These funds can be accessed via the Rellevate Mastercard® Pay
Rellevate Wins “Digital Payments Innovation” Award at FinTech Week Dubai 2026
STAMFORD, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, announced it has been honored with the “Digital Payments Innovation” award at the 2nd FinTech Week: Payments, Security & Beyond, which took place 16–17 February 2026 at the Radisson Blu in Dubai. The award recognized Rellevate’s leadership in delivering flexible, real-time digital payment solutions. Stewart Stockdale, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rellevate, served as a keynote speaker at the summit, delivering a featured presentation titled “Helping Those That Need It the Most.” A Mission of Empowerment Central to Stockdale’s presentation was Rellevate’s core mission: “Empowering Americans to affordably access, move, and use their money—anytime, anywhere.” By focusing on eliminating excessive and often
Rellevate and Kentucky Hospital Association Partner to Advance Financial Wellness for Kentucky’s 95,900 Hospital Employees
Stamford, CT, December 2025 — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services—including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services— today announced its partnership with the Kentucky Hospital Association (KHA). Hospitals are vital employers in Kentucky, ranking as the #5 industry subsector in the state, with over 95,900 people employed by hospitals across the Commonwealth. “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Kentucky Hospital Association, a respected leader dedicated to supporting hospitals and the health status of Kentuckians,” said Stewart Stockdale, Chairman and CEO of Rellevate. “This partnership reflects our commitment to making secure, immediate, and accessible money movement possible for more Americans. Together, Rellevate and KHA will bring innovative financial solutions to healthcare organizations and
Rellevate and Atlas Wholesale Food Announce Agreement, Showcasing Value for Golbon Distributors
Stamford, CT, October 13, 2025 – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Atlas Wholesale Food to bring flexible, modern payment solutions to the food distribution industry. This partnership marks a significant milestone: Rellevate’s first agreement generated through its collaboration with Golbon, the national foodservice sales and marketing group. By enabling Atlas Wholesale Food to offer Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day and suite of digital banking products to its workforce, the companies are providing improved financial access, security, and convenience for foodservice employees across the region. Stewart A. Stockdale, Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Rellevate, stated, “Rellevate is proud to enter into this partnership with Atlas
Clayton County Public Schools Partners with Rellevate to Expand Employee Financial Wellness
Clayton County Schools teachers, custodial, and administrative staff now gain Pay Any-Day and digital banking—improving financial wellness for all employees. STAMFORD, CT, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Clayton County Public Schools, a prominent public school district based in Jonesboro, Georgia. Through this collaboration, CCPS employees will have access to Rellevate’s Digital Account with the Pay Any-Day benefit, which enables individuals to access up to 50% of their earned wages before their traditional payday, offering greater flexibility and control over personal finances. This initiative underscores CCPS’s commitment to supporting its dedicated workforce by providing resources that
Rellevate Partners with Golbon to Bring Innovative Digital Banking to Independent Food Distributors
Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with Golbon, a premier national foodservice sales and marketing group, to deliver cutting-edge digital banking and payment solutions tailored for independent food distributors.This collaboration combines Rellevate’s innovative financial technology with Golbon’s strong industry network to meet the specific financial needs of independent food distribution businesses. Golbon’s support will help speed up Rellevate’s growth in the food distribution market, enabling distributors to give their employees instant access to earned wages through Rellevate’s fee-free Pay Any-Day solution, along with streamlined digital payroll disbursements and convenient features like online bill pay and sending money, all provided via an easy-to-use digital account
Rellevate and Therapy 2000 Partner to Empower Caregivers with Pay Any-Day
Rellevate and Therapy 2000 partner to offer Pay Any-Day, giving Texas caregivers flexible access to wages and tools to improve financial well-being. STAMFORD, CT, UNITED STATES, August 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Rellevate, Inc., a fintech empowering consumers with innovative services for flexible money access, today announced a new agreement with Therapy 2000, Texas’s leading provider of pediatric home health therapy, to offer Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day solution to its employees and caregivers. This partnership will provide Therapy 2000’s workforce with faster, more flexible access to their earnings—supporting financial wellness and enhancing the overall employee experience. Therapy 2000 provides in-home pediatric occupational, physical, and speech therapy to children across Texas. By adopting Rellevate’s Pay Any-Day solution, Therapy 2000 will empower its team with secure, real-time wage access
Rellevate Partners with University of Illinois System to Deliver Modern Digital Payment Solutions Across Three Campuses
Stamford, CT – Rellevate, Inc., a leading fintech company leveraging advanced technology to deliver innovative digital banking services, including streamlined disbursements, secure payment platforms, and comprehensive employer services, has partnered with the University of Illinois System, which comprises the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and University of Illinois Springfield, to deliver a modernized payment and disbursement solution for the university community. Through this partnership, the University of Illinois System will utilize Rellevate’s digital payment platform to facilitate a range of payments, including clinical trial reimbursements for research participants and disbursements to students traveling with faculty and staff. The solution offers a user-friendly payment workflow, robust tax reporting capabilities on an as-needed basis, and the flexibility to support the diverse needs of the
Rellevate Partners with Catholic Relief Services to Enhance Aid Disbursement Globally
Rellevate, Inc., Rellevate, a fintech empowering consumers with innovative services for flexible money access, has been selected through a competitive solicitation by Catholic Relief Services to provide reloadable or non-reloadable pre-paid card services, including virtual card services, to CRS Country Programs, Program Offices, and Outreach Countries. This strategic partnership will enable CRS to disburse funds to vulnerable populations worldwide more efficiently and securely, ensuring timely access to critical aid. “We are incredibly proud and honored to partner with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), an organization renowned globally for its tireless efforts in humanitarian aid and sustainable development,” said Stewart A. Stockdale, Rellevate Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO. “This collaboration underscores Rellevate’s commitment to leveraging our innovative financial technology for social good. Our prepaid and virtual card solutions
News Desk
5 Ways To Keep Your Volunteers in 2026
Every program director knows the feeling of watching a trained volunteer walk away after just a few months. Volunteer retention has become one of the biggest operational headaches for nonprofits heading into 2026, and the reasons rarely stem from a single bad experience. Between competing time commitments, unclear expectations, and programs that never quite show volunteers the impact of their work, turnover adds up fast. The good news is that most of it is fixable. These five approaches focus on what program directors, grant managers, and other decision-makers can actually control, from onboarding to how compensation gets handled when it applies. Key Takeaways Why Volunteer Retention Matters More Than Ever Nonprofits are competing for a shrinking pool of consistent volunteers. Recent volunteer data from AmeriCorps
Nonprofit Prepaid Cards vs Checks: Why More NGOs Are Making the Switch
For nonprofit finance and program leaders, the way funds are delivered affects workload, fraud exposure, reporting, and the speed at which a program reaches the people it serves. The choice between nonprofit prepaid cards vs checks is becoming an operational decision for NGOs managing grants, stipends, emergency aid, travel funds, and recurring payments. Key Takeaways Why NGOs are moving away from checks Checks are familiar, but the process is often slow. Staff may collect addresses, approve and mail checks, confirm delivery, answer status questions, stop lost payments, issue replacements, and reconcile each item. Recent check payment trends from the Federal Reserve show that check payments continued to decline in both number and value, while cards accounted for more than three-quarters of noncash payments by number
Clinical Trial Participant Compensation vs Reimbursement
For sponsors, contract research organizations, research sites, and institutional review boards, participant payments can appear to be a single administrative category. They are not. Clinical trial participant compensation vs reimbursement separates money paid for a person’s time and effort from money that repays study-related expenses, and that distinction affects consent language, budgets, review, tax handling, and payment operations. Key Takeaways What Compensation Means in a Clinical Trial Compensation acknowledges the time, effort, inconvenience, or discomfort associated with research participation. It may be calculated by visit, hour, task, procedure, diary entry, or another approved milestone. The amount should reflect the burden of participation, but it should not be described as a clinical benefit or used to justify higher study risk. FDA guidance on payment and reimbursement
Volunteer Compensation: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Stipends & Reimbursements
Nonprofits rely on volunteers to stretch limited budgets, and many want to say thank you with more than a certificate. A stipend, gift card, or reimbursement feels like a natural next step, but the law treats volunteer pay differently than most organizations expect. Cross an invisible line, and a beloved volunteer can become a legal employee, complete with wage claims and lost liability protections. This guide covers what volunteer compensation means and how to reward volunteers without a compliance headache. Key Takeaways What Is Volunteer Compensation? Volunteer compensation includes any payment, reimbursement, or benefit that a nonprofit provides to someone who serves without an employment relationship. It includes cash stipends, gift cards, reimbursed expenses, and perks like free event tickets. What separates compensation from a
The Hidden Burden on Clinical Trial Participants (And How to Reduce It)
Clinical trials only work if people show up, and keep showing up, through months of visits, tests, and follow-ups. But for many participants, showing up costs real money. Gas, parking, missed shifts, a babysitter for the afternoon. Sponsors, CRO finance teams, and site administrators often underestimate the extent to which these costs shape who enrolls, who drops out, and who never applies at all. Key Takeaways What Participation Actually Costs A trial visit rarely costs just the visit. Participants often pay for parking, mileage, or a flight if the site sits hours away. Add a hotel stay for an overnight protocol, a missed day of hourly wages, or a few hours of paid childcare, and a single visit can run into the hundreds of dollars.
7 Ways to Boost Employee Financial Empowerment
Fifty-nine percent of employees say they’re stressed about their finances right now, according to PwC’s 2026 Employee Financial Wellness Survey, and that stress doesn’t stay at home when they clock in. The same survey found financially stressed employees are five times more likely to be distracted at work, with many spending hours each week dealing with money worries during work time. Financial stress isn’t just an employee problem. It’s an employer productivity, retention, and engagement problem, one that shows up in exit interviews, absenteeism, and disengaged performance long before it shows up in an HR dashboard. “Financial empowerment” has become a common phrase in benefits strategy conversations, but it’s often left undefined, or worse, reduced to a single financial literacy webinar. Financial empowerment isn’t simply
Hospital Support Staff Retention: Why CNAs, Aides, and Hourly Workers Are Quitting
Doctors and nurses get the retention headlines. But a hospital doesn’t run on physicians and RNs alone. It runs on certified nursing assistants, patient care technicians, environmental services staff, food service workers, and transport teams, the hourly employees who keep patients fed, rooms clean, and units staffed around the clock. Registered nurses account for less than a third of total hospital employment, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which means the majority of the hospital workforce sits in roles that rarely make it into a board presentation. These are also the roles most exposed to rigid, bi-weekly pay cycles and the predatory lending products that fill the gap when a paycheck doesn’t stretch far enough. For HR and workforce leaders building a 2026 retention
How Earned Wage Access Works for Hospitals (Without Disrupting Payroll)
Hospital leadership is under constant pressure to control recruitment spend. According to the 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital now loses between $4.2 million and $6.2 million a year to RN turnover alone, with the cost of replacing a single bedside RN sitting at $60,090 once recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, and temporary staffing are factored in. That math is exactly why earned wage access keeps coming up in retention conversations. It’s also exactly why many CFOs hesitate to adopt it: the assumption that giving staff faster access to their pay requires rebuilding payroll processes or setting aside new operating cash. That assumption doesn’t hold up once you understand how the mechanics actually work. This benefit is most commonly
Are Nurse Sign-On Bonuses Worth It? What Hospitals Should Try Instead
A five-figure sign-on bonus can fill an open req within weeks. It rarely keeps that nurse around long enough to justify the spend. According to the 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital now loses between $4.2 million and $6.2 million a year to RN turnover, with the cost of replacing a single bedside RN sitting at $60,090. Sign-on bonuses were supposed to be the fix. Increasingly, the data suggest they address immediate hiring needs rather than the underlying drivers of retention. The real driver of turnover isn’t the offer letter. It’s the accumulation of day-to-day operational workforce pressures: short-staffed weekends, extra shift coverage, and compensation that lags behind the effort a nurse puts in that week. Hospital leaders
Which Payment Solutions Help Hospitals Reduce Administrative Costs?
How Pay Any-Day on-demand pay is reshaping recruitment, retention, and financial wellness for clinical and hourly healthcare staff Ask any hospital CFO where labor budgets are under the most pressure, and the answer is rarely complicated. Staffing costs continue to rise through agency premiums, travel staffing, overtime coverage, and repeated onboarding cycles that never fully stabilize. These are not isolated expenses. They are the downstream result of a more persistent operational challenge in healthcare systems: workforce turnover in shift-based roles. But within that conversation, there is a cost driver that is often underestimated in financial planning. It is not compensation levels. It is compensation timing. For healthcare organizations managing nurses, CNAs, medical technicians, and home health aides, the standard payroll cycle introduces a delay between