Operate like a philanthropic VC
Bring the thesis and the picks, and we're your fund admin, compliance, and reporting layer. Regrant $10M across hundreds of initiatives without building a back office.
For funders
Deploy your capital as grants. In days, at any scale.
HCB by Hack Club is a financial technology platform, backed by a 501(c)(3), that turns your capital into tax-deductible grants for established nonprofits and brand-new initiatives that aren't 501(c)(3)s yet, with you directing every dollar. Whether it's $10,000 for one project or $10M across many, we have the software and team to move money fast and compliantly. Built by engineers, funded by tech leaders.
Your capital
You pick who gets funded
- Open-source projects
- AI research labs
- Mutual aid groups
- New initiatives
- $110M+
- moved through HCB
- 6,900+
- organizations
- 40+
- countries
- 501(c)(3)
- since 2018
A shift in giving
A new generation of funders is giving differently.
Philanthropy is changing. Technologists, founders, and institutions want to put capital to work now: back fast-moving projects, fund them at any scale, and see the work happen in the open. Private foundations and donor-advised funds serve traditional giving well, but weren't built for that pace. We built HCB to counter that, so you can move fast, adapt, and fund the projects you believe in.
Why funders choose HCB
Built for conviction, speed, and transparency.
Fund the same week you decide.
No new legal entity, no IRS waiting period, no committee cycle. When conviction strikes, the grant goes out that week, not whenever the next board meeting allows.
Days
to your first grant
versus months to stand up a private foundation
versus months to stand up a private foundation
The legitimacy of a foundation, without becoming one.
Every grant is compliant and accountable. You give to a registered 501(c)(3), so your deduction is immediate and the compliance, recipient checks, and paperwork are ours to handle, not yours.
HCB by Hack Club501(c)(3) nonprofit · EIN 81-2908499
See every dollar the moment it moves.
Balances, grants, card swipes, and transfers stream into dashboards in real time. Not a year-end PDF, but a live ledger you and your team can open any time.
Live
across your whole portfolio
drill into any organization, export anytime
drill into any organization, export anytime
Seed one idea or run a portfolio of thousands.
The workflow is the same whether you're backing a single builder or regranting across hundreds of organizations. There's no back office to staff as you grow.
$10K → $10M+
on one platform
the same software, at every size
the same software, at every size
How it works
From capital to grants, in four steps.
-
1
Fund your account
Contribute cash, appreciated stock, crypto, check, wire, or ACH. Your tax deduction is immediate, because you give to HCB by Hack Club, a 501(c)(3).
-
2
Direct your grants
You choose exactly where every dollar goes, whether established nonprofits or brand-new initiatives, one or hundreds.
-
3
We handle the rest
Compliance, recipient checks, paperwork, and money movement, all handled for you, with grants out the door in days, not quarters.
-
4
Track it live
Real-time dashboards on every dollar. Keep your giving public or private, including anonymous. It's your call.
Total visibility
See exactly where every dollar goes.
Every grant, card swipe, and transfer shows up in real time. Track spend across your whole portfolio, drill into any organization, and get reporting built with the rigor engineers expect.
- Real-time transaction feeds
- Per-organization and portfolio-wide views
- Exportable reporting, no spreadsheets required
What you can fund
Your giving isn't limited to established 501(c)(3)s.
The next wave of charitable work doesn't always fit the 501(c)(3) timeline or structure. Fast-moving projects, new labs, and builder-led teams often can't wait for incorporation. With HCB, you can fund them now, tax-deductibly, without waiting.
Back a builder's project
Fund the work, even a team of one, almost anywhere in the world.
Fund AI research & education
Seed the labs, fellowships, and programs shaping the next decade.
Launch a new initiative
Go from idea to an operating, fundable program in days.
Fund the next generation
Young builders and student-led teams are already the heart of what runs on HCB.
How it compares
The agility of a fund. The legitimacy of a foundation.
| Capability | HCB | Private foundation | Donor-advised fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | $0 | Legal & accounting fees | Low |
| Time to first grant | Days | Months | Days |
| Fund brand-new initiatives | Yes | Limited | No |
| Real-time transparency & reporting | Real-time | Annual | Limited |
| Ongoing admin | We handle it | High | Low |
| Tax-deductible · 501(c)(3) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Already give through a donor-advised fund or foundation?
You don't have to choose. Keep your existing vehicle and use HCB as the fast, transparent layer it grants into, reaching the projects and brand-new initiatives a DAF isn't built to fund.
Case study · Argosy Foundation
Supporting hundreds of organizations shouldn't require managing hundreds of grants.
The Argosy Foundation, founded by John Abele (co-founder of Boston Scientific), set out to fund FIRST Robotics teams nationwide. Today, thanks to HCB's financial infrastructure, more than 500 teams receive funding every year through a single, transparent grantmaking program.
Beyond handling grant distribution, administration, and compliance, HCB gives the Argosy Foundation something a year-end report never could: a real-time, grant-by-grant view of where their funding goes and the impact it's creating, with less overhead, not more.
- Skip the grantmaking staff and back-office admin
- See how every team spends its grant, in real time
- Fund 500 teams with the effort of funding one
500+
FIRST Robotics teams funded every year
- One grantmaking program
- Nationwide reach
- Real-time reporting on every grant
Founded by John Abele, co-founder of Boston Scientific
On HCB · Reboot
The organizations serious funders back already run on HCB.
Reboot is a nonprofit publication and community on technology and society.
- Since 2020: a newsletter and five print issues of its magazine, Kernel
- More than $400,000 raised on HCB
- Run by volunteers, with no back office to staff
“HCB’s platform has made it possible to scale Reboot’s team and operations in a way that would be otherwise impossible. The platform is extremely transparent and easy to use; and the team is incredibly kind and responsive.”
Backed by
Where it lands
Capital that reaches real builders.
GhosttyA fast, open-source terminal by
HashiCorp co-founder Mitchell Hashimoto, sustained by tax-deductible community
donations.
Miami Hack Week4,000+ engineers and
founders building for a week across dozens of themed hacker houses in Miami.
Backed by Founders Fund
Mutual Aid LA NetworkMobilized for the
2025 LA wildfires, channeling $1M+ in donations to 50+ groups responding on the
ground.
In good company
Major funders already back organizations on HCB.
Built to be trusted
Serious infrastructure for serious capital.
HCB is operated by The Hack Foundation (Hack Club), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Since 2018 we've run the financial back office for thousands of organizations. It's the same infrastructure, proven at that scale, now open to funders. Funds are held and moved through established partners, Column N.A. (Member FDIC) and Stripe. Transparency is optional: publish your giving or keep it private, including anonymously.
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- Public or private giving
- Open source
Put your capital to work.
HCB pairs modern financial software with a hands-on team. You get a partner who helps map your giving and runs the operations behind it, not just a login. Tell us what you want to fund.
- 1Send us a note about what you want to fund.
- 2A real person replies, usually to set up a short call.
- 3We map out your giving together. You decide, with no commitment.
You'll hear from one of us
-
Melanie Smith
-
Paul Spitler
-
Gary Tou
HCB. The modern infrastructure for funding the future.