Best Nonprofit Banking: Holdings vs. Novo for Grant Management

Selecting a bank account for your nonprofit isn’t just about where your money sits—it’s about empowering your mission, streamlining financial management, and fostering greater impact for the communities you serve. The nonprofit landscape is unique: you juggle donations, grant reporting, restricted funds, team spending, and compliance, often with limited time and staff power. The right banking partner should make all that easier.

Holdings and Novo are two digital-first banking solutions designed for modern organizations. Both offer clean user experiences and cut traditional bank fees. At first glance, they seem interchangeable. But digging deeper, their approaches to spend segmentation, integrations, approvals, and value-added features differ in ways that matter for mission-driven teams.

This article will guide you through the key differences, strengths, and considerations for nonprofits choosing between Holdings and Novo. Whether you’re a startup with a handful of volunteers, a mid-sized organization managing multiple grants, or a growing nonprofit with complex reporting needs, you’ll find relevant insights here.

Why Banking Choices Matter for Nonprofits

Every dollar your nonprofit saves and every error you prevent has a direct line to your mission. Unlike for-profit businesses, nonprofits must often track each transaction by fund, grant, or program—with strict compliance requirements. Many teams still lean on spreadsheets and manual processes to bridge the gap between bank statements and grant reports, which can drain time, introduce errors, and complicate audits.

Modern banking platforms, if designed with nonprofits in mind, can solve these frustrations. They should help you:

• Segment funds easily—by grant, program, or department—without complex workarounds.

• Empower staff and volunteers to spend safely, while keeping tight control and visibility.

• Sync seamlessly with your accounting solution or provide built-in bookkeeping.

• Reduce manual data entry and approval bottlenecks.

• Save money that’s better put toward your mission, not bank fees.

At a Glance: Holdings vs. Novo

Here’s a nonprofit-focused breakdown of common features:

How Holdings Gives Nonprofits an Edge

Holdings was built to address the real-world frustrations nonprofit teams face. Here’s how the platform stands out for mission-driven orgs:

Segment Funds Without Spreadsheets

No more hacking together spreadsheets or opening multiple bank accounts to keep grant, program, or board-restricted dollars separate. With Holdings, you can create unlimited virtual accounts. Each account can represent a grant, fund, program, or any custom purpose. Incoming donations or grant payments can be mapped directly into the right “bucket”—and every expense is tracked against the correct fund.

Safer, Smarter Spending for Staff and Volunteers

Equip your team with virtual or physical debit cards that act like “smart P-cards.” Set granular controls: by spend limit, time window, merchant category, or even restrict to specific programs. Volunteers can spend what’s allowed—no expense reports, reimbursements, or risk of commingled funds. Every purchase is tracked and categorized, automatically.

Zero-Fee Banking That Grows Your Balance

Holdings doesn’t just help you protect every dollar. It helps grow it, too. Earn a high, tiered return on all your balances, up to 2.0%—with no strings attached. That means grant dollars awaiting deployment don’t just sit—they generate additional income for your mission, with no risk or extra admin.

All-in-One Platform, No Juggling Necessary

With Holdings, your banking, expense management, approvals, card controls, and even optional bookkeeping live in one place. Reconcile faster, prepare for audits more easily, and cut down on manual data entry. For organizations with Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, or other accounting tools, direct integrations or simple exports mean you won’t break your existing workflows.

Clean, Compliant, and Audit-Ready

Never dread audit season again. Every virtual account, every payment, and every transaction is tracked and easy to report. Attach receipts, require expense notes, and automate approval flows. If staff are new to nonprofit finance, Holdings’ support team is used to walking organizations through audits and compliance needs.

How Novo Serves the Nonprofit Community

Novo has carved out a niche as a digital-first, no-fee banking solution—particularly for freelancers, startups, and small businesses. Many nonprofits find value in Novo’s clean interface, fast payments, and integrations.

Highlights for Lean Nonprofits

Novo makes it easy for new or small organizations to open an account with very few barriers. There’s no minimum ongoing balance and no monthly fee. The platform is especially attractive for groups that don’t handle physical cash or have complex fund segmentation needs.

Key Features at a Glance

• Fast Access to Funds: With Novo Boost, you can receive Stripe payouts within hours and use Express ACH for same-day processing. This helps if you rely on quick, digital donations.

• Budgeting Made Simple: Novo Reserves allow you to create simple, customizable buckets for key expenses like payroll, taxes, or upcoming projects.

• Wide App Integrations: Connect seamlessly to tools like QuickBooks, Xero, Shopify, PayPal, and Stripe to manage donations and expenses in your favorite software.

• ATM Fee Reimbursements: Novo refunds up to $7 per month in ATM fees, offering some flexibility for withdrawing cash (though it does not support direct deposits).

• Unlimited Invoicing and Bill Pay: Easily create and send invoices, pay bills, and keep transaction histories digital.

Limitations Nonprofits Should Consider

While Novo checks a lot of boxes for low-cost banking, it comes with tradeoffs:

• No Interest on Balances: Unlike Holdings, Novo does not pay any interest or returns on your checking account balances.

• No Cash Deposits: If you rely on cash donations or fundraising events, Novo does not offer a way to deposit cash.

• No Native Subaccounting: Novo Reserves are meant for basic budgeting but are not true virtual accounts linked to separate programs, grants, or restricted funds.

• No Bookkeeping or Audit Tools: Novo focuses on banking, not on built-in financial management, compliance, or audit preparation.

Who Should Consider Holdings?

As a nonprofit, the best-fit platform often depends on your organization’s complexity, program mix, and staffing.

Holdings is ideal if you:

• Need to track donations, grants, or programs separately—without manual sorting.

• Want to empower staff and volunteers with debit cards, but need tight controls.

• Expect fluctuating balances and want to grow restricted funds with competitive returns.

• Value having banking, cards, approvals, reporting, and even bookkeeping all together.

• Use (or plan to use) robust accounting tools like Sage Intacct or QuickBooks, but want better spend controls.

• Handle cash donations or deposits and need a platform to support that workflow.

• Want unlimited ACH and wire transfers—with no hidden fees eroding your restricted dollars.

Who Should Consider Novo?

Novo may be a great fit if your nonprofit:

• Is in its earliest stages, handling digital donations only, with basic budgeting needs.

• Doesn’t need to deposit cash or segment funds by program, grant, or restriction.

• Wants to connect to a wide variety of lightweight third-party apps for payments or accounting.

• Operates with very limited transactions, and prefers a clean, mobile-first interface.

• Has no need to earn interest on balances or offer spending cards to teams outside leadership.

Understanding Fees and Spending Limits

Banking fees can eat into your mission dollars and introduce unwanted surprises.

Holdings is truly zero-fee for nonprofits. That means no monthly charges, no transaction or wire/ACH fees, unlimited free money movement, no minimum balance, and no surprise upcharges. Every dollar you deposit and every grant dollar received goes further.

Novo also offers no monthly fees and unlimited free ACH transfers. However, it does not support wire transfers (domestic or international), which could be limiting for organizations with overseas programs or contractors. The only fee to watch with Novo is the ATM surcharge reimbursement cap—it refunds up to $7/month, which could be maxed out quickly if you have frequent cash needs.

Neither platform requires a minimum ongoing balance, though Novo requires a $50 deposit to unlock all features at account setup.

Tracking Program and Grant-Based Spending

For every nonprofit, grant reporting and restricted funds management are huge sources of stress. Traditional business accounts lump all dollars together, so you’re stuck untangling which donation or grant paid for what, often manually.

Holdings solves this with virtual accounts. Every grant or restricted fund can have its own digital subaccount, letting you receive designated funds and track them—from deposit to every expense—without extra bookkeeping. It automates “segregation without spreadsheets,” and gives you simple reports to share with funders, board members, or auditors.

Novo, with its Reserves feature, lets you allocate set amounts into different “buckets” within your main account. While helpful for basic savings or earmarking, Novo Reserves don’t provide the granular program-level segmentation or compliance-ready reporting many nonprofits need.

Staff and Volunteer Spend Control

Empowering your team to spend, while ensuring compliance, is a delicate nonprofit balancing act. Traditional P-cards or reimbursements are often a headache—opening up risk or time-consuming paperwork.

Holdings lets you instantly issue virtual or physical debit cards to staff, program managers, or volunteers, with customizable limits. You can restrict spend amounts, merchant categories, or even timeframes. Receipts can be uploaded and matched automatically. This approach eliminates reimbursement wait times and prevents accidental overspending or unapproved purchases.

Novo’s debit card is single-use per account, meant primarily for leadership. While it permits setting aside funds through Reserves, Novo doesn’t offer granular card controls or the ability to issue multiple debit cards for volunteers or decentralized teams.

Built-In Bookkeeping and Accounting Help

Nonprofits come in all stages—some operate fully in spreadsheets, others run established accounting software ecosystems.

Holdings meets you wherever you are. For lean teams, Holdings can handle bookkeeping for you, ensuring every dollar is tracked, categorized, and prepared for audits. Or you can sync seamlessly with QuickBooks or Sage Intacct for advanced workflows. This flexibility is critical as nonprofits grow and their needs evolve.

Novo, while offering some integration with QuickBooks and other apps, doesn’t provide internal bookkeeping or transaction categorization. You’ll be exporting data for manual reconciliation or relying on your third-party software to fill gaps.

Simplicity, Automation, and Less Admin

At its core, your banking platform should simplify life for your mission. Holdings is designed to automate the “back office,” handling reporting, compliance, and data synchronization so you can focus on impact.

This means:

• One login for banking, cards, approvals, and reporting.

• Automated transaction sorting by grant or restriction.

• Real-time visibility into every dollar.

• Export- or sync-ready data for whatever system you use beyond Holdings.

Novo provides streamlined banking basics, but relies more on external tools for detailed financial management and grant reporting.

Depositing and Handling Cash

Many nonprofits, especially those running events, programs, or in-person outreach, handle cash. Depositing cash should be seamless, not a workaround.

Holdings supports cash deposits through a vast network, making it possible to manage both digital and physical fundraising. Novo, by contrast, does not support cash deposits—meaning organizations handling event funds or petty cash may hit workflow dead ends.

Mobile Access and User Experience

Both Holdings and Novo offer full-featured mobile apps, letting leadership and staff check balances, approve expenses, and manage accounts on the go. For teams working in the field, flexibility and access matter.

However, Holdings layers extra visibility—like seeing which program or grant every dollar lives in—directly into the mobile interface. Novo keeps things ultra-simple, attractive for solo administrators or organizations with very limited needs, but less so for distributed teams or robust tracking requirements.

Security, Compliance, and Audit Readiness

For nonprofits, protecting donation dollars and demonstrating compliance isn’t optional. Holdings was built with this reality at the forefront. You can require receipts, notes, and approval flows, and every change is tracked for easy audits. Security permissions are robust, so board members or external bookkeepers can get the exact access they need.

Novo includes standard banking-grade security and FDIC insurance, but advanced permissions and audit tools aren’t part of their feature set.

Getting Started with Holdings

Opening an account with Holdings is built to be fast, friendly, and focused on nonprofit realities. You can apply online in minutes, with extra support available if you have unique needs—such as multiple signers, fiscal sponsorship arrangements, or custom approval chains.

To make the most of Holdings for your nonprofit, consider these steps:

1. Sign up and verify your nonprofit status.

2. Set up your main checking account and virtual accounts for each grant, program, or restricted fund.

3. Issue debit cards to staff or volunteers, setting spend limits as needed.

4. Map incoming grants or donations directly to the right virtual account.

5. Sync or export transactions to your existing accounting system (or let Holdings handle bookkeeping for you).

6. Use real-time reports and dashboards to prepare for audits, report to funders, or satisfy board oversight.

Support and Community

You won’t be left figuring things out alone. Holdings’ support team is composed of nonprofit finance pros who understand shoestring realities and compliance headaches. They help set up your system, onboard team members, and answer questions about audits, reporting, or integrations.

Novo prides itself on responsive customer service for business users, with chat and email support. However, specialized nonprofit support is not a primary focus.

When Your Needs Outgrow Novo

Novo is an excellent entry point for new organizations with digital-only needs and simple accounting. As your nonprofit grows—adding programs, grants, events, or requiring better spend control—you may find limitations. If you discover the need for more granular fund segmentation, higher interest on balances, or robust audit preparation, Holdings is ready to step in without forcing you to overhaul your systems.

And if you already use platforms like Sage Intacct or QuickBooks, Holdings complements them—no need to “rip and replace.”

Comparing Holdings With Other Nonprofit-Friendly Banks

Nonprofits often consider a range of platforms before making a choice. Holdings stands out for its flexibility, integrations, and compliance focus, but other platforms like Bluevine (for high-interest checking), Relay Financial (for multi-account management), or Bank of America (for branch access) each have niches. The best choice will reflect your organization’s unique blend of digital, cash, and control needs.

Summary Table: Features Nonprofits Care About

Making the Right Choice for Your Mission

The days of treating nonprofit banking as an afterthought are over. Every grant you administer, every audit you pass, and every donor you report to depends on strong, transparent, and secure financial practices.

Holdings stands apart as the banking platform that understands and supports the messy, wonderful reality of nonprofit finance. You don’t have to abandon your favorite accounting tools to boost your program tracking, automate expense control, or keep your team on the right side of compliance.

Novo offers fast, fee-free digital banking basics—often a great fit for startups with simple needs and single decision-makers. As your nonprofit grows, the advanced controls, interest earnings, and audit-ready features of Holdings become invaluable.

Choose the platform that makes your financial life easier—not harder—so you can get back to what matters: advancing your mission.

Ready to get started with Holdings?

If you’re ready to try segmenting funds, empowering your team, and simplifying your compliance and reporting, Holdings is built for you.

Visit the Holdings website to explore features, access nonprofit-focused support, and start your application. If you’re unsure or need to compare deeper, check out detailed comparisons with other leading nonprofit banking solutions. Your mission deserves banking that’s as mission-driven as you are.