With Over $2,400 Saved in Fees, True Blue 1881 Invests More in HBCU Students' Futures.

Earning admission into college is a monumental achievement, yet for many students, the journey doesn’t end there. Tuition costs, housing, and food often present insurmountable challenges for even the most driven learners. True Blue 1881 was founded to alleviate these financial pressures, empowering students across all 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to focus on their education instead of their economic insecurities.

True Blue 1881 strives to create a world where students can succeed without worrying about essential needs like food or shelter. The organization’s mission is to provide direct aid, mentorship, and resources that enable students to complete their studies and unlock their full potential.

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Background

True Blue 1881’s founder, Tiombé O’Rourke, understands firsthand the obstacles HBCU students face. As a proud graduate of Spelman College, she was heartbroken to learn in 2017 that many HBCU students were skipping meals or going hungry to afford their education. Determined to make a difference, Tiombé began with a simple yet impactful idea: providing Thanksgiving meals to students who couldn’t go home for the holiday.

“I wanted to feed students who couldn’t go home for the Thanksgiving break,” Tiombé recalls.

That first initiative included chef-prepared meals, gift bags, five $2 bills, and a $250 scholarship.

However, the need went far beyond holiday meals. By 2019, True Blue 1881 was helping students cover tuition balances so they could register for their next semester. In 2020, the initiative officially became a nonprofit, named after Spelman’s colors and its founding year, 1881.

Since its inception, True Blue 1881 has raised over half a million dollars to support HBCU students. The organization’s focus remains on eliminating obstacles to graduation, including food insecurity, housing instability, and financial hardships.

“We understand that students who are working full-time or facing basic needs insecurities may not have perfect GPAs,” Tiombé explains. “That’s why over 95% of our support is not based on academics. Our goal is to remove barriers and help students succeed.”

To make donating as easy as possible, True Blue 1881 initially embraced a variety of payment platforms, including PayPal, Eventbrite, Network for Good, CashApp, and Venmo. While these platforms offered flexibility for donors, their varying fee structures created significant challenges.

Administrative complexity quickly became an issue, as managing donations and event ticketing across multiple platforms required significant time and effort. Eventbrite, in particular, lacked the features needed for efficient event management.

However, the biggest hurdle was the fees. Each platform deducted a portion of donations, reducing the funds available to support students.

“I never felt good about asking our donors to cover fees on top of their generous gifts,” Tiombé says. “At the same time, paying those fees ourselves meant less money for students. Hundreds of meals could have been provided with the fees we paid to PayPal alone.”

Determined to find a better solution, Tiombé and her team researched other nonprofits’ processes and eventually discovered Zeffy—a fee-free platform for fundraising and event management.

“I didn’t need convincing once I saw there were no fees,” Tiombé recalls. “It was an easy decision to give Zeffy a try.”

Zeffy’s platform not only eliminated fees but also consolidated essential features, simplifying True Blue 1881’s operations.

The impact of switching to Zeffy was immediate and transformative. Over $2,416 in fees were saved within the first year. These funds were redirected to provide meals, rent assistance, and tuition support for students.

Zeffy also saved the team countless hours by automating receipts and streamlining campaign creation.

“Being able to make campaigns and links for specific initiatives has helped a ton,” Tiombé says. “We were doing all our receipts manually before, so this has been a huge time saver. So many of the things we needed to work more efficiently were all in one place—and at no cost.”

Every dollar saved represents a tangible investment in a student’s future. By eliminating fees and reducing administrative burdens, True Blue 1881 can focus on its mission: helping HBCU students thrive.

“Thank you, Zeffy, for saving True Blue 1881 over $2,416 in less than a year!” Tiombé says. “With these savings, we can pay rent, feed students, and cover outstanding balances. Every bit of savings goes straight to supporting our students.”

True Blue 1881’s story is a testament to how cost-saving tools like Zeffy can empower nonprofits to maximize their impact. By removing unnecessary fees and streamlining operations, True Blue 1881 is better equipped to ensure that no student has to choose between their education and their basic needs.