FLIC needed a banking partner that could protect millions in community funds without compromising access or responsiveness
FLIC, a Miami-based nonprofit, stewards $7-8M in community funds. In 2024, finding a banking partner whose operations, values, and responsiveness aligned with their mission was a priority, not a luxury.
Their previous banks offered minimal interest on reserves and standard FDIC coverage of $250,000, well short of what an organization operating at FLIC's scale requires.
When issues or questions arose, reaching the right person was slow. The finance team was doing the work of protecting community dollars without the infrastructure to match.
When FLIC began evaluating new banking partners in 2024, the executive director and director of finance led the search. Edwin Castro, FLIC’s accountant, applied additional layers of scrutiny; his concern sharpened by a high-profile bank failure in 2023. His central question: how does the money move, and how is it protected beyond the standard FDIC cap?
Crescent combined FDIC coverage†, layered financial controls, and real-time payments in a single platform1
Crescent’s plug into the IntraFi network distributes deposits across multiple institutions, allowing clients to access millions in aggregate FDIC coverage.† FLIC moved from earning minimal interest at its previous banks to a competitive yield on its full operating reserves with Crescent.
Beyond yield and coverage, the platform addressed two operational gaps FLIC had lived with for years.
The first was financial controls. Crescent’s layered permission structure separates creation from approval: Edwin can add vendors, but only the executive director can authorize payments. That separation reduces fraud exposure and creates a cleaner audit trail.
“The financial control with Crescent is one of the most important things for our nonprofit. Separating approvals, permissions, and access helps strengthen accountability, reduce the risk of fraud, and improve the audit process.” — Edwin Castro, Accountant, FLIC
The second was payment speed. RTP (Real-Time Payments) is a 24/7 instant payment network that processes transactions in seconds, regardless of bank holidays or weekends. Built directly into Crescent, it reaches nearly 1,200 financial institutions as recipients.
“I feel more secure using the RTP feature directly within Crescent than using Zelle or Cash App.” —Edwin Castro, Accountant, FLIC
Responsiveness from the Crescent team closed the gap that previous banking relationships had left open. Access to the team directly and reliably gave FLIC’s finance team confidence that when something needed attention, it would get it.
“Anything I need, I just reach out, and they answer immediately. That was one of the issues we had before.” — Edwin Castro, Accountant, FLIC
Putting reserves to work gave FLIC greater flexibility to support its community
Since joining Crescent, FLIC has earned $357,991 in interest on funds that would have otherwise sat largely idle. The impact became clear when a foundation pulled funding from an active project. That interest served as bridge funding, allowing FLIC to continue supporting its community without interruption. The remainder has been allocated to cash reserves and ongoing programming.
Edwin is actively moving away from ACH for vendor payments and encourages other organizations he works with to adopt RTP. He regularly introduces Crescent to nonprofits seeking banking and financial tools built specifically for the sector, and has referred two additional clients to Crescent to date.
For FLIC, the decision ultimately came down to trust and alignment with the mission. FLIC needed confidence that the institution holding community dollars understood the responsibility that came with them.
“Before we made a decision, we had to make sure our banking partner would be aligned with our mission. (...) Crescent has supported us and said, 'You are welcome here.'” — Edwin Castro, Accountant, FLIC