- Key takeaway: Climate First Bank is hoping to lure more primary-checking customers with an account that combines high yield with the opportunity to steer a donation to a worthy cause.
- Supporting data: The Florida bank grew its loans by 83% in 2025.
- Expert quote: "We're investing more on the front end to recruit these [depositors], but we do feel it's a recipe for success. These are types of customers that we feel are going to support us well into the future." —Climate First Chief Sustainability Officer Chris Castro
Climate First Bancorp in St. Petersburg, Florida, has previously offered deposit accounts that enable customers to make donations to nonprofit organizations. It has also offered high-yield products. Now, the $1.75 billion-asset company is merging those concepts into a single account it hopes will prove more potent at gathering the deposits it needs to support a growing lending operation.
The bank's new Impact Checking initiative provides a 3.26% yield, as well as the ability to steer a $100 donation to one of the approximately 200 nonprofits that bank with Climate First. Customers nationwide can qualify by linking a $500 direct deposit to their account.
The account is an example of the kind of out-of-the-box value proposition that other banks may need to consider in order to fund
Lex Ford, CEO of Climate First Bancorp's bank subsidiary, Climate First Bank, touted Impact Checking's "game-changing" potential. The account "gives consumers the opportunity to earn a nationally competitive yield while also supporting the causes they believe in," Ford said in a press release.
Climate First should certainly be able to use the cash injection that typically follows the rollout of a successful deposit product.
The company, which has emerged as one of the nation's leading solar lenders, has expanded rapidly since opening in June 2021. Indeed, Climate First grew loans by 83% in 2025, ending the year with $1.39 billion of loans in its portfolio, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. statistics. The trend continued into the first three months of 2026, with loans growing 8.9% on a linked-quarter basis to $1.52 billion.
Last year, Climate First reported $11.5 million of net income, according to FDIC data. The bank earned $5.4 million in the first quarter of 2026.
In June, Climate First raised $67 million from investors in a strategic financing round led by Wellington Management. Throughout its five-year history, the bank has raised $222 million.
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Chris Castro, Climate First's chief sustainability officer, said the company expects Impact Checking, which features a debit card made from recycled plastic, to resonate because it eliminates the "paradox of choice" that had previously confronted customers.
"They were like, 'I get an opportunity to do good in the world and support a cause, but I don't necessarily get to do well for myself,'" Castro told American Banker in an interview.
At the same time, Castro acknowledged Impact Checking's cost — in terms of the high yield and the $100 donation the bank has agreed to pay. But Climate First intends to make that up by converting Impact Checking customers into primary checking customers, he said.
"We're investing more on the front end to recruit these [depositors], but we do feel it's a recipe for success," Castro said. "These are types of customers that we feel are going to support us well into the future."
Accounts offering charitable donations are relatively common, but few institutions have taken the extra step of connecting them to a high yield.
The $1.2 billion-asset Forward Bank, for example, maintains a Charitable Money Market Account offering depositors the opportunity to channel a donation equal to 0.10% of their average annual balance to one of 500 participating organizations. The account's yield ranges from 0.35% to 1.36%, depending on balance size.
In a March 19 press release, Forward stated it has donated $2.8 million since rolling the Charitable Money Market Account out in 2006, including more than $305,000 in 2025.
Similarly, the $993.4 million-asset Taylor Bank in Berlin, Maryland, offers a For Good checking account program that donates to local charities based on debit-card usage. The For Good account yields 0.35%.
Preston Afrank, senior executive vice president at Haberfeld, a consulting and marketing firm based in Lincoln, Nebraska, said Impact Checking's simplicity makes it an "intriguing" product.
"Often, when you see a high rate, it tends to come with a bunch of different hoops," Afrank told American Banker in an interview. "With this one … you're given a pretty good yield with a very low bar, just a $500 direct deposit."
Even considering that low amount, the direct-deposit feature could prove critical, since accounts with a direct-deposit link are three times more likely to evolve into primary operating accounts — which is Climate First's ultimate goal — according to Afrank.
The $100-donation feature acts as a "cherry on the top," Afrank said, attracting an added layer of depositors attracted by Climate First's environmental bent.
"Incentives like this combined with a really attractive product could be the difference-maker for some individuals" that align with its mission focus, Afrank said.
