People save for different reasons. For instance, you may want to save for emergencies, or for your children’s education, or for your old age. Having goals for your savings helps to keep you motivated. You sleep better knowing you have some money set aside. Saving accounts earn interest. That...

The ballooning cost of living has had a disproportionate impact on low-income households, 77.6% of whom are financially vulnerable or extremely financially vulnerable. Prosper Canada's recently commissioned study from the Financial Resilience Institute, shows the unarguable deteriorating state of...

When it comes to investing, there are many considerations to make before choosing if and what types of investments are best for your situation. This webinar explores the topic of investor education and consumer protection for financially vulnerable Canadians. We'll start by discussing the basics...

How we define financial vulnerability ultimately determines what supports are created and for whom. Is the current definition aimed at helping everyone who needs it? This webinar explores the conception and redefining of financial vulnerability in Canada based on the research and findings from the...

This collection of financial empowerment tools and resources is intended to support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations working to build financial wellness in First Nation communities. It was created as part of the Financial Wellness in First Nations project (2021-2023) where...

Prosper Canada has submitted a budget to highlight that a plan is needed to ensure that vulnerable people are not made to repay unmanageable CERB/CRB debts, to pay back the income people lost when their refundable tax benefits were clawed back because of CERB, and to guarantee that CRB and CWLB are...

Financial empowerment (FE) is an approach to poverty reduction that focuses on improving the financial security of people living on low income. Evidence shows that embedding FE interventions into municipal welfare, employment, housing, shelter and health services can significantly boost service...

In 2016, Prosper Canada partnered with the Ontario government and nine non-profit organizations through the Ontario Financial Empowerment Champions and Financial Empowerment and Problem Solving projects, to pilot delivery of community financial help services for low-income Ontarians. Third-party...

Recover and Rebuild: Helping Canadians build financial security during the pandemic and beyond  The 2021 ABLE Financial Empowerment (FE) virtual series is a collection of online financial empowerment events designed to provide frontline FE practitioners, FE...

Canada’s external complaint handing structures and processes play a critical role in levelling the playing field for consumers and financial service providers, helping to offset the inevitable imbalance of power between large financial institutions and individual consumers. Prosper Canada...

The National Financial Empowerment Champions (NFEC) Project supported leading non-profit community organizations and their local partners to develop, implement and scale proven financial empowerment (FE) interventions across Canada with the aim of improving the financial well-being of over one...

Amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, community service agencies across Canada have had to rapidly adapt the way they engage and support people in the community. ​ A growing number of Canadians need (or soon will need) support as they deal with the financial strain brought on by an unprecedented global...

Recover and Rebuild: Helping Canadians build financial security during the pandemic and beyond The 2021 ABLE Financial Empowerment (FE) virtual series is a collection of online financial empowerment events designed to provide frontline FE practitioners, FE...

As practitioners continue to deliver important client-centred services during the COVID-19 pandemic, this can be accompanied by feelings of burnout or compassion fatigue. It can be helpful to establish or renew your practice of self-care, fostering your own physical and mental health during...

The Financial Relief Navigator is an online tool that can help you find support to raise your income or lower your expenses in these challenging times. The tool will suggest income benefits or other support programs you may be eligible for in your province/territory in...

On March 9th, 2018, leading American and Canadian researchers and policy makers from all sectors gathered in Toronto to explore the question: Growing household financial instability: Is income volatility the hidden culprit? The policy research symposium was an invitational event co-hosted by the...

This report, Roadblocks and Resilience Insights from the Access to Benefits for Persons with Disabilities project, provides insights on the barriers people with disabilities in British Columbia face in accessing key income benefits. These insights, and the accompanying service principles that...

Canada ranks consistently as one of the best places to live in the world and one of the wealthiest. When it comes to looking at the financial health of Canadian households, however, we are often forced to rely on incomplete measures, like income alone, or aggregate national statistics that tell...

This toolkit has been created to support the Virtual Self Filing tax filing model piloted in 2020 by community agencies in Ontario. In this model, individuals file their own tax return but receive support from community agency staff or volunteers to do so.  This resource was made possible through...

During 2020, alternative approaches to the traditional community tax clinic model have become even more valuable as COVID-19 lockdown measures prevented in-person program delivery. In response to the growing demand for alternative ways to deliver tax-filing support, Prosper Canada partnered...

This tax season, community tax clinics across Canada will be preparing to support clients virtually rather than in person amidst physical distancing measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adapting to a virtual tax clinic model means preparing for different ways of volunteer preparation, client...

Household debt levels in Canada have been rising since the 1990s, which poses increasing risks for Canada’s economy and Canadians’ financial health. However, the debt ‘picture’ for an average low- or moderate-income household is likely to be quite different from higher income...

Almost half of low-income households and 62 per cent of moderate-income households carry debt, with households on low incomes spending 31 per cent of their income on debt repayments, according to a new report published by national charity, Prosper Canada. This report analyzes the distribution,...

This resource offers a set of common indicators that community organizations can use to measure the reach and impact of their financial empowerment (FE) programming. It is intended for any community organization that works to foster greater financial well-being for economically disadvantaged...

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many Canadians were having difficulty making ends meet, and the pandemic has further impacted the financial well-being of financially vulnerable Canadians.  In this webinar, we present research on how COVID-19 has impacted the financial security of Canadians...