Start-up Beyond Processes Its First Batch of Transactions - $80,000 in Donations to Give Something Back to Fund College Scholarships to Working-Class Students

The batch of transactions includes $39,127 in donations from employees at Beyond and Give Back and other supporters of the Illinois-based organization; their donations were matched dollar-for-dollar – and then rounded up to $80,000 – by Robert O. Carr, Beyond's CEO and Give Back's founder, who has made Give Back the beneficiary of his majority shareholder position in the new company.

"With this first batch of transactions, Beyond is making a powerful statement about our corporate principles and priorities," Carr said. "When we announced the launch of Beyond a few weeks ago, we said that this new enterprise has corporate responsibility in its DNA. Today, we're literally putting our money where our mouth is. These donations make it possible for Give Back to send four talented young people to college and set them on a path to success."

The inaugural batch of transactions includes a joint donation of $1,000 given by the six members of Give Back's inaugural scholarship class, from 2003.  

Beyond, which launched on May 1, provides the point-of-sale, payment processing, lending, and integrated HR tools & services that small and mid-size business owners need to simplify operations, reduce costs, and streamline payments. Processing the first batch of transactions represents a milestone for the new company; "going live" with a batch of transactions for Give Back captures the essence of Beyond – doing business and doing good, simultaneously.

Carr – who built Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) from a $2 million startup in 1997 to a $4.3 billion enterprise – launched Beyond to offer small and medium-sized business a trusted, reliable partner to help them handle a wide range of business operations affordably, without sacrificing security and customer service.

The company underscores its commitment to transparent, customer-first service with the Beyond Promises: Ten principles setting out the company's commitment to fair treatment, plain language (instead of unintelligible fine print) and full disclosure, with no hidden fees and no unexpected surcharges.

To recruit and retain a loyal, professional salesforce, Beyond has created a compensation model that offers portfolio ownership, a full slate of benefits, and uncapped earning potential. In addition, every Beyond employee hired in 2017 will have the opportunity to own part of the company. Beyond's recruitment strategy is working: In the weeks since the company launched, its staff has grown to almost 100 full-time employees.

"We know that this is a keenly competitive marketplace," Carr said. "We are setting ourselves apart from the rest of the marketplace through our commitment to our core principles of fairness and transparency and our ongoing partnership with Give Back. Already, we're seeing that this unique emphasis on doing business the right way is attracting top-quality employees and drawing a loyal and engaged customer base. Our commitments to our customers and to GiveBack are two sides of the same coin; this first batch of transactions shows the world that we mean what we say."

Created by Carr in 2003, GiveBack serves students who have faced economic hardship and other adversity, including the incarceration of a parent or placement in the foster care system. So far, Give Something Back has provided more than $35 million in scholarships to more than 1,500 scholars at partner colleges and universities across the country.

"At Beyond, we know that our success is based on the success of our customers and our communities," Carr added. "We are very proud that our new company's first batch of transactions represents a meaningful investment in the minds and futures of smart, capable young people. With our innovative partnership with Give Back, we're going beyond the traditional definitions of corporate social responsibility and creating a new model of philanthropy with the power to change lives." 

Beyond provides the POS, payments, lending, and integrated HR tools and services that small to mid-sized companies need to make their business operations simple, streamlined, and secure. Beyond was founded in 2017 by Robert O. Carr, a prominent businessman and philanthropist whose track record of success reflects his deep belief that "doing the right thing" for customers and employees ultimately produces the best bottom-line results. Carr is the author of two books: Through the Fires: An American Story of Turbulence, Business Triumph and Giving Back and Working Class to College: The Promise and Peril Facing Blue-Collar America.

SOURCE Beyond Inc.

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