A local company called Gratis Gives donated $20,000 to local nonprofits on Wednesday night. They work with businesses to turn a portion of credit card fees into donations.

"We do credit card processing for local businesses," said Gratis Gives President Kirk Allaire. "We work with small, medium and large companies and what we've done is identified and removed the fees that are unwanted and unnecessary, and instead of just removing them we've turned them into funding for local nonprofits."

In the last eight months they raised money for The Children's Cabinet, For Kids Foundation, Nevada Diabetes Association, CARE Chest of Sierra Nevada, Safe Embrace, and Safe Talk for Teens.

"It's fantastic; we wouldn't survive without Gratis Gives, without our foundations and donors," said Joe Dufur, Director of Safe Talk for Teens. "That's what keeps our lights on and helps us help kids and families in our community."

The company is doing the same thing in New Hampshire and expanding to Las Vegas.

"We try to work with safety net organizations that are helping people that can't help themselves," said Gratis Gives Vice President Andy Lafreniere.   "Organizations that are local in nature and don't have the help of a national brand."

It's a way for businesses to give back without ever having to write a check - and they can choose the nonprofits they donate to.

"Some pick one, some pick more than one -  there are merchants that picked all of them; I didn't see that coming," Allaire said.

"It's all about taking unnecessary credit card fees - the ones all businesses hate to pay - and turning them into vital funding for local nonprofits in a way that is meaningful and everybody wins," Lafreniere said.   "It's that simple."

The program is adding four more non profits here locally. Click here for more information: www.gratisgives.com

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