Flipcause bankruptcy leaves Denver nonprofit without more than $18K in donations

In a small classroom in Denver, a small group of women is discussing credit scores, budgeting, and when it makes sense to ask for financial help.

It's one of several free group classes offered by The Empowerment Program, a nonprofit that for nearly 40 years has helped people rebuild their lives after homelessness, incarceration, and poverty.

"We try to make our services holistic," Executive Director Julie Kiehl said.

But while participants focus on financial stability, the nonprofit itself is facing a sudden financial setback.

"Unfortunately, it's seeming less and less hopeful that we'll see any of that almost $20,000," Kiehl said.

The Empowerment Program is out more than $18,000 in community donations after its online fundraising platform, Flipcause, filed for bankruptcy late last year. Flipcause, based in California, was used by thousands of nonprofits nationwide to process online donations, allowing money to be collected on the platform before being transferred to individual organizations. Last year, the company was ordered to shut down by California's Office of the Attorney General for stiffing nearly 3,000 nonprofits out of millions of dollars.

According to Kiehl, their attempted fund transfers never happened.

"The donations would be collected and sit in the platform, and then we're supposed to be able to go in there and collect the money, and we tried to do that at one point and were unable to," Kiehl said. "So, the funds were essentially frozen."

For a small nonprofit, Kiehl said, the loss is significant.

"Every dollar really matters here," she said. "That money means ultimately less services provided to participants."

Those services include emergency food assistance, hygiene supplies, and other basic needs that help stabilize people during critical moments. Kiehl said losing that funding forces difficult decisions about what services they can afford to provide.

Beyond the financial impact, there's also damage to donor confidence.

"Of course, that leads to questions like, 'oh wow, can I trust to donate to this nonprofit? Is this money really going to where I'm told it's going?'" Kiehl said.

She emphasized that the lost funds were not the result of mismanagement by The Empowerment Program, but rather the collapse of a third-party company the nonprofit had relied on for years. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Flipcause's bankruptcy case — which was supposed to wrap up in March, but the company filed for an extension to September — Kiehl said the organization remains committed to transparency and to continuing its work in the community.

"We really want to assure people," she said, "when they donate to The Empowerment Program, their money is really going to help individuals who are living in their community."