Best Credit Cards for Nonprofits, and Who Is Liable

The best credit card for most nonprofits is one that does not make a board member personally liable for the debt. The U.S. Bank Community Card is open only to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations and needs no personal guarantor. Ramp welcomes nonprofits with at least $25,000 in the bank and has no personal guarantee or annual fee. The familiar business cards from Amex and Chase make the officer who applies responsible for the balance together with the charity.

That last point is the one most card roundups skip, and it matters more for a charity than for a business. A business owner who guarantees their own company’s card is guaranteeing their own debts. A volunteer treasurer who applies for a card for a food bank is guaranteeing the debts of an organization they do not own, for spending by staff they may not supervise, and the liability does not end when their term does. This page sorts the cards by that question first, then by cost and rewards, using each issuer’s own pages read on 28 October 2026.

The cards at a glance

Who is personally liable

Business card applications ask for a person as well as the organization. What that person signs up to depends on the card, and the issuers say so in plain terms. American Express’s terms for the Blue Business Cash card say the applicant is “agreeing to be jointly and severally liable with the Company for all charges to the account”, and its Business Gold terms say the same. Chase’s Ink Business Cash page says: “You, together with the business, are responsible for repaying all balances on the account.” Jointly and severally liable means the issuer can collect the whole balance from you if the charity cannot pay.

The cards with no personal guarantee are mostly corporate cards from fintech companies, which decide your limit from the charity’s own finances. Ramp’s support page answers the guarantee question directly: “No. Ramp does not require founders to personally guarantee your expenses.” Brex’s card page says “Brex does not require a personal guarantee.” The trade-off is that these cards are charge cards in practice: limits follow your bank balance or revenue, and most expect the balance paid in full each month. That suits a charity with reserves; it does not suit one that wants to borrow. If your organization needs credit to cover a gap, that is a board decision about debt, and a line of credit from your bank, covered in banks for nonprofits, is usually the better tool.

If your board does decide on a card that needs a guarantee, record it. A board resolution naming who may apply, the overall limit and what happens when that officer leaves protects the person who signs; wording is in the board resolution templates. Do not assume your directors and officers policy would pay a debt an officer guaranteed; ask your insurer in writing, and see D&O insurance for nonprofits for what these policies are built to cover.

The cards

U.S. Bank Community Card

The only card we found from a major bank built for nonprofits. U.S. Bank’s nonprofit page says “Only 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits (or municipalities) are eligible”, offers a rewards program with “no personal guarantor required”, and adds that “your credit card program will remain the same even if officers and users change.” That last line is the volunteer-board problem solved: a new treasurer does not mean a new application. U.S. Bank does not publish the fees, rewards rate or how it sets the limit; the page says “Some restrictions and fees may apply.” It is arranged through a banker rather than online, so ask for the fee schedule and card agreement in writing. Best for an established 501(c)(3) that already banks with U.S. Bank or is willing to.

Ramp

Ramp’s eligibility page asks you to “Be a corporation, limited liability company, or LP (nonprofits welcome)”, hold at least $25,000 in cash in a linked US business bank account, and have an EIN and a physical US address. Its card page says there are “no personal credit checks or personal guarantee” and “no annual fees or interest charges”, with limits “based on financial factors such as revenue or dollars raised” and unlimited physical and virtual cards. Spending can be locked by vendor and category, which is how you stop a program card being used for anything else. Rewards can be taken as a statement credit or a deposit, but Ramp does not state a cash-back rate. Its pricing has a free plan that connects to QuickBooks Online and Xero; NetSuite and Sage Intacct need the paid Plus plan at $15 a user a month plus a platform fee. Aplos lists Ramp as an integration partner. Best for charities with $25,000 or more in the bank and several people spending.

Charity Charge

Charity Charge sells a card only to mission-driven organizations. It says it underwrites on “your organization’s financial health and business credit history” and that “your board members and executives are not personally liable”, with no annual, setup or per-card fees, and integrations with QuickBooks Online, Sage Intacct and NetSuite. It quotes 1.5% cash back for its Corporate Card. Charity Charge is a financial technology company, not a bank, and its own pages name different issuing banks and give different eligibility rules, including minimum years in operation and revenue on some pages and none on others. Ask which bank issues the card and what the requirements are before you apply. Best for charities that want a card built for nonprofits and do not meet Ramp’s cash minimum.

Brex

Brex’s eligibility page says “We work with nonprofits on a case-by-case basis” and that it may ask for board information, bylaws, your 501(c)(3) determination letter and articles of incorporation. There is no personal guarantee and no check of, or reporting to, personal credit bureaus. Rewards run up to 7x points on rideshare and lower multiples elsewhere, redeemable as cash back. Its Essentials software plan is $0 a user a month and Premium $12; we did not find an annual card fee stated. Brex’s thresholds for businesses, such as $50,000 in cash for funded startups, are written for companies, so expect the nonprofit review to look at your reserves and revenue. Best for larger charities with travel spending.

BILL Divvy Card

BILL’s card requirements page says “The BILL Divvy Card does not require a personal guarantee”, uses a soft credit inquiry to apply, and charges no annual, per-card or monthly fees. Approval is “subject to credit approval and underwriting” and the card is “designed for businesses with an established credit profile”, so a young charity may struggle. The page gives two different maximum credit lines, $15 million and $5 million; at charity scale it will not matter. Rewards are points, worth more on a weekly billing cycle than a monthly one, and the rewards terms say no points can be redeemed in the first 12 months, points require using at least 30% of the credit line in a month, and bonus categories are capped at $5,000 a month. BILL’s Spend & Expense software has a nonprofit section for tracking spending by grant and program, but its software price is by quote. Best for charities already paying bills through BILL.

Expensify Card

The Expensify Card is “available to registered businesses of all sizes” and Expensify says it needs “No platform fees, deposits, personal guarantees, or credit checks”. It pays 1% cash back, or 2% if you spend over $250,000 a month across your cards, on US cards. The limit is tied to your connected bank account. Cards can be locked by merchant, category, amount and date, and receipts are matched automatically. It syncs with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Sage Intacct. Expensify calls it a charge card rather than a credit card. Best for charities that already run expense reports through Expensify.

Mercury IO

Mercury’s supported structures article says it supports “LLCs, corporations, partnerships, and non-profits”, and asks nonprofits for ID for board members or officers with significant operating control. The IO card pays “Unlimited 1.5% cashback on all spend”, has no annual fee, needs no personal guarantee and sets the limit from “the total balances you hold with Mercury”. It is available only to Mercury account holders. Mercury does not say in so many words that nonprofits can get IO; we infer it because nonprofits can open the account it requires. Nonprofits cannot use Mercury Treasury. Best for a charity happy to move its main account to Mercury.

Chase Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited

Ink Business Cash has no annual fee and pays 5% on the first $25,000 a year at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services, 2% on the first $25,000 a year at gas stations and restaurants, and 1% on everything else. Ink Business Unlimited pays 1.5% on everything, also with no annual fee. Employee cards are free. Neither page mentions nonprofits, though Chase’s own guidance on applying lists nonprofit among business structures and warns “You could be asked to sign a personal guarantee”. Both card pages say the applying officer, “together with the business”, is responsible for the balance. Best for a charity whose board accepts that liability and wants rewards on office and phone bills.

American Express Blue Business Cash and Business Gold

Blue Business Cash has a $0 annual fee and pays 2% on the first $50,000 of eligible purchases each calendar year, then 1%, credited automatically to your statement. It connects to QuickBooks Online, and its terms list a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. The Business Gold card costs $375 a year, with Employee Gold cards at $95 each or no-fee Employee Expense Cards, and earns 4X Membership Rewards points in the two of six categories where you spend most each cycle, on the first $150,000 a year. Points are not cash, which makes Gold a poor fit for a charity that wants every dollar back. Both carry the joint and several liability clause. Neither page mentions nonprofits.

Capital One, Bank of America and U.S. Bank Triple Cash

Capital One Spark Cash Plus pays unlimited 2% cash back, costs $150 a year with the fee refunded in any year you spend $150,000 or more, and is “designed to be paid in full” with no preset spending limit. Capital One’s applying guide lists nonprofit among legal structures and says “most small-business credit cards still require a personal guarantee”. Bank of America Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards has no annual fee and pays 1.5% on all purchases, with free employee cards. U.S. Bank’s Business Triple Cash has no annual fee and pays 3% at office supply stores, on cell phone bills, at restaurants and on gas and EV charging, 1% elsewhere. None of the three product pages says whether a person must guarantee the debt; read the card agreement before you apply.

Prepaid cards for volunteers

If what you need is a way to let volunteers buy supplies without anyone taking on debt, a prepaid card is simpler. Aplos, the accounting software, includes five prepaid Visa cards with its subscription and charges $2 a month for each extra card. It says the card “is not a credit card”, issued by Fifth Third Bank, and staff and volunteers can get one “without extra credit applications”. You load the money you choose, so the most anyone can spend is what is on the card. It needs an Aplos account; see nonprofit accounting software for how Aplos compares.

Card controls the board should set

Every card on this page lets you issue cards to named people with their own limits. Use that. The California Attorney General’s guidance, summarized in our internal controls checklist, says the person submitting credit card charges must never be the one who authorizes paying them. In practice:

• One card per person, never a shared card. A charge on a shared card has no owner.
• A limit on each card, set by the board or the finance committee and written into a resolution.
• Receipts within a set number of days, with the card frozen if they are late. Ramp, Brex, BILL and Expensify do this automatically.
• Someone other than the cardholder reviews each statement, and the executive director’s card is reviewed by the treasurer or board chair.
• Charges coded to a grant or program as they happen, using your chart of accounts, so restricted funds stay traceable for the audit.
• Cards cancelled the day someone leaves. With a guaranteed card, the account itself may need to move to a new officer.

Rewards are the charity’s money, not the cardholder’s. If a personal card is ever used for charity spending and reimbursed, the points belong in your conflict of interest policy discussion; it is simpler to keep charity spending on charity cards.

Which card to choose

• Established 501(c)(3), wants a bank card with no guarantee: U.S. Bank Community Card. Ask for the fees in writing.
• $25,000 or more in the bank, several staff spending: Ramp, which is free and needs no guarantee.
• Under $25,000 in the bank: Charity Charge, after checking its current eligibility, or prepaid cards through Aplos.
• Already on BILL or Expensify: their own cards, since receipts and coding flow straight in.
• Board accepts a personal guarantee and wants rewards: Chase Ink Business Cash or Amex Blue Business Cash, with a board resolution recording who signed.
• Volunteers buying small supplies: a prepaid card, not a credit card.

Whatever you choose, apply in the charity’s legal name with its own EIN, never a board member’s Social Security number alone, and keep enough in reserve to pay the balance in full; our figures on nonprofit cash reserves show how thin many charities run. The officer roles that usually hold card authority are set out in nonprofit board positions.

How this list was made

We read each card’s product page, terms or eligibility page on the issuer’s own site on 28 October 2026, and rechecked the key quotes on the live pages. Card terms change, and the rewards rates above are as published that day. Where an issuer’s pages contradict each other, as BILL’s and Charity Charge’s do, we say so. Where a page does not say whether a guarantee is needed, we say that too rather than guess. No issuer paid to be included and we take no referral fees; there are no affiliate links on this page. We have not applied for any of these cards, so approval decisions for a particular charity may differ.