Center of Resources of for Economic Education and Development

What Center of Resources of for Economic Education and Development does

CREED, Inc. (Center of Resources for Economic Education and Development) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation founded in 2007 and headquartered in McKinney, Texas. The organization operates a portfolio of charitable programs rather than a technology product: it distributes physical school kits (cloth bags, notebooks, pencils, rulers, scissors, and erasers priced at $10-12 each) to children in developing countries and post-disaster areas; it develops and disseminates a library of short micro-enterprise business plans (maximum 10 pages with three-year financial projections) translatable into local languages; it runs a crowdfunding Business Plan Contest that awards a $5,000 startup prize funded by donor votes (minimum $50 entry / $10 per additional vote); and it administers scholarship programs including the Andrew J. Aviles Award for Marine Corps members and the Jim Anson Memorial Fund for student athletes. CREED also operates a Legacy Gift Fund Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) enabling donors to make tax-advantaged grants to other charities, and runs a Belize-based micro-lending project in partnership with Atlantic Bank Ltd. and The Word at Work with a $5,000 revolving fund.

The organization's go-to-market is direct-to-donor and direct-to-beneficiary, conducted without a sales force or technology platform. Beneficiaries include children in Haiti, Belize, Uganda, India, and Peru; aspiring micro-entrepreneurs in developing economies; Marine Corps members pursuing higher education; and student athletes. Fundraising channels include the CREED website with JustGive.org-powered tax-deductible donation processing, a blog covering financial education and microfinance topics, and a Twitter presence (@CREEDNow). Leadership is led by Executive Director Wendell W. Brock (MBA, ChFC), who is also Principal of De Novo Strategy, a Dallas-based financial institution consulting firm. Programs are delivered through local partner networks rather than CREED-owned field operations.

Name

Center of Resources of for Economic Education and Development

Legal name

CREED, Inc. - the Center of Resources for Economic Education and Development, Inc.

Website

https://creedinc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Economic Education and Charitable Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship, Business & Innovation Camps (EDAMALAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC), Development Finance, Guarantees & Blended Finance Programs (BPADABAM)

Keywords

• Economic education
• Microenterprise development
• School supply donations
• Charitable giving
• Nonprofit financial literacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Tax-Deductible Donations: CREED operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to donors. The organization receives donations to fund school kits, micro-enterprise development, scholarships, and operational expenses.
2. Legacy Gift Fund (Donor-Advised Fund): CREED offers a Legacy Gift Fund DAF that allows donors to create flexible charitable giving vehicles. Donors can conduct grant-making through this DAF for administrative convenience, cost savings, and tax advantages.
3. Crowdfunding Participation Fees: CREED's crowdfunding initiative requires minimum $50 donation for entry/voting rights, with additional votes purchasable at $10 each. These donations fund both the startup awards and CREED's mission.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CREED is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that provides economic education through public seminars and workshops on personal finance and business development. The organization distributes school supply kits to children in developing countries and disaster-affected areas, and develops a database of micro-enterprise business plans (max 10 pages with 3-year financial projections) for aspiring entrepreneurs in underserved communities. It also administers scholarships and offers a Legacy Gift Fund Donor-Advised Fund for charitable giving.

Product overview

CREED is a nonprofit organization offering economic education and development programs. Its core offerings include humanitarian school kits distributed to children in developing countries, a database of micro-enterprise business plans for entrepreneurs in developing nations, a crowdfunding business plan contest awarding $5,000 to startup businesses, and a Donor-Advised Fund for charitable giving. Supporting programs include scholarships for Marines and student athletes, micro-enterprise projects like chicken coops for orphanages, and financial education workshops on topics such as retirement planning, estate planning, and investment management.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• School Kits Humanitarian school kits containing basic educational supplies (notebooks, pencils, colored pencils, ruler, scissors, eraser, pencil sharpener, and cloth bag) distributed to children in developing countries and disaster-affected areas such as Haiti and Belize.
• Micro-Enterprise Business Plans A library of simple, short business plans (maximum 10 pages with sample 3-year financial projections) for micro businesses that can be started with little or no capital, distributed to people in developing countries and translated into local languages.
• Crowdfunding Business Plan Contest A crowdfunding initiative awarding $5,000 in startup funding to the most viable one-page business plan, funded by donor votes with a $50 minimum donation per entry/vote.
• Legacy Gift Fund Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) A charitable giving vehicle allowing donors to create an easy-to-establish, low-cost, flexible fund for making grants to charities and non-profits, offering administrative convenience, cost savings, and tax advantages.
• Financial Education Workshops Public seminars and workshops covering cash flow management, tax issues, securities and investments, debt management, retirement planning, estate planning, and healthcare cost strategies, taught to thousands of attendees.
• Andrew J. Aviles Award and Scholarship Annual scholarship awarded to a Marine Corps member pursuing higher education, honoring Lance Corporal Andrew J. Aviles who was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Jim Anson Memorial Fund for Student Athletes Scholarship fund for student athletes established to encourage and support them in their pursuit of higher education, with the family underwriting Banning High School Cross Country Team uniforms and donating books to Banning Library.
• Orphanage Chicken Coop Project Income-generating chicken coops provided to orphanages in Uganda and Belize, enabling orphans to earn school fees through egg sales.

Quantifiable outcome

• 130 million children globally lack school supplies needed to attend school

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Marine Corps (United States)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCREED sponsors the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Tampa, Florida, and administers the Andrew J. Aviles Award scholarship for Marine Corps members pursuing higher education. Received Letter of Appreciation from the Marine Corps for their support.
• Jim Anson Memorial FundminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerScholarship fund for student athletes in memory of Jim Anson. The family underwrote Banning High School Cross Country Team uniforms and donates books to Banning Library.
• Atlantic Bank Ltd. (Belize)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusiness Development Manager Pedro Perez leads micro-enterprise lending project. CREED established $5,000 revolving fund for Belize micro-business loans targeting single mothers and youth. Maximum loan Bze$400 with $100 total charges over 5-6 months.
• The Word at Work (Belize)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-profit in Belize teaching sewing skills and providing machines on credit. CREED working to establish funding for micro-business lending project targeting single mothers and young people unable to continue formal education.
• Effect InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUtah State University alumni organization building schools in India. CREED blog featured their work with Huntsman Scholars raising money for schools in developing countries.
• Rising Star OutreachminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization fighting leprosy in India through children's homes, micro-loans, and mobile medical clinics. CREED blog profiled their work helping leprosy-affected families achieve self-sufficiency.
• ACCION TexasminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMicrofinance organization that helped founders like Ted Terrazas start TerraHealth with $10,000 loan. CREED features them as model microfinance organization in blog content.
• Centro Vision Misionero, House of Refuge, Living Hopes Ministry Preparatory School (Belize)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal Belize partners for micro-enterprise training programs. Training materials being developed in Spanish and English.
• JustGive.orgcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party donation platform (EIN 87-0586965) enabling tax-deductible donations to CREED. Powers the donation button on website.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• World Vision: World Vision is a large international humanitarian non-profit that supports child welfare, education, and community development across the same countries CREED serves (Haiti, Uganda, etc.). It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same donor pool.
• Room to Read: Room to Read operates literacy and girls' education programs across developing countries, including India where CREED also works. It is comparable on education-access programming, although at much larger scale.
• Fidelity Charitable: Fidelity Charitable is the largest U.S. Donor-Advised Fund program. As an incumbent DAF sponsor with broad scale, it is comparable to CREED's DAF offering from a competitive positioning standpoint.

Direct peers

• Schwab Charitable: Schwab Charitable is one of the largest national Donor-Advised Fund sponsors. CREED's Legacy Gift Fund DAF competes for donor dollars against established DAF providers, making it a relevant peer on the giving-vehicle side of CREED's model.
• Grameen Foundation: Grameen Foundation supports microfinance institutions and programs fighting poverty through financial inclusion. Its focus on micro-entrepreneurs, financial education, and partner-driven delivery aligns closely with CREED's economic education and lending activities.
• Kiva: Kiva operates a global crowdfunded micro-lending platform for micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries. It directly parallels CREED's micro-enterprise business plan and lending projects in Belize and is the most comparable peer on the microfinance side of CREED's mission.
• Pencils of Promise: Pencils of Promise is a non-profit that increases access to education and quality schools in developing countries, including via school supplies and infrastructure. It is a direct peer to CREED's school-kit distribution model and overall education-access mission.
• ACCION International: ACCION is a global microfinance non-profit that provides loans and financial services to small businesses. CREED has even cited ACCION Texas as a model partner in its blog content, signaling direct conceptual overlap on microfinance and small-business development.
• Opportunity International: Opportunity International provides microfinance, savings, insurance, and training to entrepreneurs in developing countries. It is highly comparable to CREED's micro-enterprise lending work, business-plan education, and entrepreneur-support model.

Emerging players

• AdoptAClassroom.org: AdoptAClassroom.org funds classroom supplies for U.S. schools through donations. It is an emerging player with a similar productized school-supplies funding model, though focused domestically rather than internationally like CREED's school kits.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/creednow
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/creed-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center of Resources of for Economic Education and Development