Great question! While the names are similar, we’re separate organizations with distinct purposes:

Zult Inc. is a Delaware-based fintech company that operates a commercial blockchain platform for tokenizing private credit. They provide the underlying technology infrastructure.

Zult.org is an independent nonprofit public charity (with an application for recognition of exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code currently pending) that focuses on the public good: conducting research, creating open-source tools, setting industry standards, and building networks that make capital access more equitable. We ensure that the benefits of financial innovation reach underserved communities.

Zult Inc. has provided limited in-kind startup support (below-market office space) as a donor during our launch phase. However, Zult Impact’s programs, research, and tools serve the entire industry equally, and all outputs are published under open licenses available to any organization. Zult Inc. has no governance rights, no programmatic control, and no preferential access to Zult Impact’s work. We maintain strict governance boundaries, including a formal conflict-of-interest policy that requires annual disclosures and mandates recusal from any deliberation involving related parties. All related-party transactions are approved exclusively by disinterested directors. This structural independence is similar to widely recognized nonprofit/for-profit pairings such as the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation.

Our work creates impact at multiple levels:

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) gain access to affordable technology, research insights, and shared standards that reduce operational costs and increase their lending capacity.

Underserved small businesses and entrepreneurs benefit from improved access to capital as we help lenders reach them more efficiently and assess their creditworthiness more fairly.

Impact investors and foundations can deploy capital more effectively with better data, reduced friction, and increased transparency about social outcomes.

The broader financial inclusion ecosystem benefits from our research, standards-setting work, and convening efforts that advance the entire field forward together.

Ultimately, we measure our success by how many more people in underserved communities gain access to the capital they need to build businesses, create jobs, and strengthen their neighborhoods.

Our work is organized around five interconnected strategic pillars:

Research, Standards & Ecosystem Stewardship: We develop and publish impact measurement frameworks, responsible tokenization standards, and digital impact protocols that promote transparency and comparability across markets. We establish accreditation tools like Zult Impact Scores and convene partnerships across industry, academia, and regulators to strengthen market integrity.

Open-Source Tools, AI & Digital Infrastructure: We build, fund, and maintain public-good technology that expands access to transparent financial infrastructure. This includes open-source data tools, AI-powered analytics, and standardized API frameworks that increase visibility, efficiency, and inclusivity in impact-aligned markets. All tools are published under open-source licenses. We also develop standards and guidance for digital and crypto donations directed toward verified impact initiatives.

Market Innovation & Capital Mobilization: We conduct grant-funded research and demonstration projects to study innovative financing approaches, including liquidity mechanisms, secondary-market structures for impact credit, and catalytic capital models. Through collaborations with CDFIs and mission-aligned nonprofits, we document and publicly share findings to advance field knowledge of blended and recyclable capital models that amplify community investment.

Fellowships, Education & Advocacy: We strengthen human capital through academies, residencies, and fellowships for emerging asset managers, technologists, and community-finance leaders. Our educational initiatives build literacy around inclusive finance, tokenized markets, and AI innovation, while our regulatory advocacy advances responsible innovation and equitable access to digital financial tools.

Community Capital Pilots & Grants: We catalyze experimentation and proof of concept through grants, recoverable grants, and program-related investments to CDFIs, impact funds, cooperatives, and mission-aligned institutions developing new market infrastructure. We document and share results publicly to accelerate field learning and replication.

All of our programs are designed to work together: our research informs our tools and standards, our pilots generate real-world insights, and our network helps us understand what’s needed most.

We’re building a diversified funding model to ensure long-term sustainability:

Foundation Support: We work with corporate foundations, family foundations, and financial institutions through grants, sponsorships, and other forms of charitable support. Supporters are invited to convenings and may receive early notice of new research releases. Standards development is conducted through open and inclusive processes; no donor or funder receives preferential influence over the substance of any standard.

Grant Funding: We pursue grants from federal agencies, private foundations, and corporate giving programs focused on financial inclusion, economic development, and technology innovation.

Program Revenue: A modest portion of our revenue derives from educational workshops and training that we deliver to nonprofit organizations, CDFIs, community banking organizations, and public agencies. Where fees are charged, they are set on a cost-recovery basis covering only direct delivery costs and are intended only to make programs financially sustainable; the substantial majority of our educational outputs are available without any fee.

Earned Revenue: We generate modest revenue through educational convenings, training programs, and publications, all in furtherance of our charitable and educational mission.

We’re starting with a foundation-supported model in Year 1, then building toward greater sustainability through recurring support and earned income streams over time.

We take governance and transparency seriously. Here’s how we’re structured:

Board of Directors: Our volunteer Board provides strategic oversight, ensures mission alignment, and maintains fiduciary responsibility. Board members represent diverse expertise across finance, technology, community development, and social impact.

Independence: We maintain clear boundaries between Zult Impact and any related organizations through a formal conflict-of-interest policy, arm’s-length transaction requirements, and independent decision-making on all programs and engagements.

Financial Transparency: We are organized as a Delaware nonprofit public charity. Once recognition under Section 501(c)(3) is received from the Internal Revenue Service, we will file annual Form 990 returns that will be made publicly available. We will also publish annual reports detailing our activities, finances, and impact.

Stakeholder Input: Our governance includes mechanisms for input from the communities we serve, including advisory councils and regular convenings with CDFI leaders and practitioners.

We’re committed to operating with the highest standards of nonprofit excellence and accountability.

There are several ways to support our mission:

For Donors: Tax-deductible contributions help us expand our research, develop new open-source tools, and reach more community lenders. Visit our donations page to contribute online or contact us about major gifts and planned giving opportunities.

For Funders and Sponsors: If you’re a foundation, financial institution, or technology company interested in advancing financial inclusion, we’d love to explore ways to support our work. Contact info@zult.org.

For CDFIs and Community Lenders: For CDFIs and Community Lenders: Information about how to participate in our open educational and research programs is available by emailing partnerships@zult.org. There is no membership fee or paid tier of participation.

For Advocates: Follow our work, share our research, and help amplify the voices of community-focused lenders in policy conversations. Sign up for our newsletter to stay informed.

A note before we explain the technology: Zult Impact does not operate any blockchain platform. The discussion below describes general public-benefit characteristics of blockchain and AI technologies in community-lending and impact-measurement contexts, in furtherance of our educational mission. Operational deployment of these technologies is undertaken by other organizations, including for-profit fintech providers.

We get this question a lot! Here’s our perspective:

The technologies themselves aren’t the point; reducing costs, increasing transparency, and improving decision-making is what matters. Blockchain and AI happen to be very good at addressing specific challenges in community finance.

Blockchain excels at creating shared records that multiple parties can trust without expensive intermediaries. For community lenders, this means lower costs for tracking and reporting on loans, easier ways to pool smaller loans together for investors (which creates more capital for lending), better data for proving impact to funders, and reduced paperwork burden that lets them focus on relationships instead of administration.

AI helps make sense of complex data, identify patterns that traditional credit scoring might miss, and automate time-consuming processes like compliance reporting and impact measurement. This is especially valuable for assessing creditworthiness in underserved markets where traditional data may be limited, and for scaling operations without proportionally scaling overhead costs.

We’re technology-agnostic in our mission. We work with blockchain and AI because they’re currently among the best tools for certain problems in community finance. If better solutions emerge, we’ll explore those too. Our commitment is to financial inclusion first, technology second.

What we won’t do is assume that technology solves social problems on its own. That’s why our work always combines technical innovation with deep understanding of community finance, regulatory requirements, and the real barriers that underserved entrepreneurs face.

Impact measurement is central to everything we do. We track success at multiple levels:

Direct Outputs: Number of community lenders using our tools, downloads of our open-source software, attendees at our convenings, publications released, and standards adopted by the industry.

Capacity Building: Changes in operational efficiency for CDFIs using our tools (measured by time saved, cost reductions), number of lenders reaching new markets or customer segments because of our work.

Capital Flow: Dollar volume of loans made by institutions using our infrastructure, leverage ratios showing how much additional capital flows because of our field-building work.

Systemic Change: Policy changes influenced by our research, industry standards adopted, new cross-sector collaborations formed, and shifts in how the financial inclusion ecosystem operates.

Community Impact: Ultimately, we measure success by outcomes in communities—jobs created, businesses sustained, neighborhoods strengthened. We track these metrics through our partners’ reporting and independent evaluation.

We publish an annual impact report with detailed metrics, case studies, and transparent methodology. We also commission third-party evaluations to ensure we’re measuring what matters and staying accountable to our mission.

We’re building partnerships across several categories:

Foundation Supporters: Corporate foundations and family offices that want to advance financial inclusion through technology innovation. We welcome multi-year support and co-convening engagement, structured to advance our shared educational and research goals.

Financial Institution Supporters: Banks, credit unions, and investment firms interested in supporting the CDFI ecosystem, piloting new approaches to community lending, or contributing expertise to our standards development work.

Technology Contributors: Software companies and infrastructure providers interested in contributing tools, engineering talent, or technical expertise to our open-source projects in support of financial inclusion.

Academic and Research Collaborators: Universities and research institutions interested in collaborative research on financial inclusion, fintech, and community development finance.

Implementation Allies: Intermediaries and technical assistance providers that support adoption of our open educational resources and frameworks within community-lending contexts.

Government and Policy Collaborators: Federal agencies, state programs, and international development organizations interested in piloting innovative approaches to capital deployment in underserved markets.

If your organization is interested in supporting our work, we’d love to start a conversation. Email info@zult.org.

Zult Impact is a Delaware nonprofit corporation that has applied for recognition of exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The application is currently pending with the Internal Revenue Service. Once recognition is received, donations made on or after the organization’s effective date of exemption (as determined by the Service) will be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Until determination is received, please consult your tax advisor regarding the deductibility of any contribution.

When you make a donation, we’ll send you a receipt for your tax records that includes our EIN (Employer Identification Number) and confirms that no goods or services were provided in exchange for your contribution, unless otherwise noted.

For donations of $250 or more, we provide written acknowledgment as required by IRS regulations. For non-cash donations (securities, real estate, equipment), please contact us at donations@zult.org to discuss the process and documentation requirements.

We also accept donations through donor-advised funds, workplace giving programs, and matching gift programs. If you have questions about maximizing the tax benefits of your charitable giving, we recommend consulting with your tax advisor.

Zult Impact may receive distributions from donor-advised funds maintained by other sponsoring organizations; Zult Impact does not itself operate or sponsor any donor-advised funds.

You can make a secure online donation at zult.org/donate, or contact us about other giving options including recurring donations, planned giving, and gifts of appreciated securities.

We’d love to hear from you! Here’s how to connect:

Website: Visit zult.org for our latest research, tools, events, and news about our work.

Email: For general inquiries, email hello@zult.org. For specific departments:

• Partnerships: partnerships@zult.org
• Donations & development: development@zult.org
• Press & media: hello@zult.org

Social Media: Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Zult_org for real-time updates and conversation about financial inclusion, community finance, and technology innovation.

Whether you’re a community lender looking for resources, an investor interested in supporting our mission, a researcher wanting to collaborate, or simply someone who cares about economic justice; we want to hear from you. Reach out and let’s explore how we can work together to advance financial inclusion.