This brief uses the experiences of participants in a service design process called the Savings Innovation Learning Cluster (SILC) to gather key insights into client perspectives and how it can be used to better program design. Four human insights research and design methods are explored—client...

This brief describes the data collected and lessons gleaned from the Financial Coaching Impact & Evaluation Fellowship, which took place over the course of 10 months in 2017. Ultimately, this brief argues that the Financial Well-Being Scale and the Financial Capability Scale are promising...

This brief is the fourth of a five-part series that highlights the need and opportunity for integrating financial capability services into social service programs. The goal of this integration is to improve overall financial outcomes that lead to financial security for low- and moderate-income...

From January 2014 through June 2015, ten community-based organizations from around the United States embarked on an 18-month journey to develop new ways for their low-income clients to progress toward financial security. This document highlights the lessons and successes from that Learning Cluster...

Indicators are the data that help you assess whether or not you are on track to achieve the desired results identified in your logic model. They are also useful to communicate your program’s potential impact to funders and stakeholders. Programs that consistently collect and review data to track...

A well-designed logic model can provide the foundation to support your efforts to collect the data necessary to answer important questions about the performance of the program. A logic model can be developed and formatted in many ways. In this document, we are not prescribing the “best...

This brief summarizes research into the theories underlying financial coaching and the effects of financial coaching on participant behaviors and outcomes. In practice, financial coaching remains an unregulated field, and individuals and organizations use the term “financial coaching” to refer...

Creating Communities Where We Live - A Good Practices Guide is a locally-driven community-based researched project conducted in Edmonton, Alberta, by e4c and the University of Alberta Community Service-Learning program. The project seeks to add to the knowledge and practice of community care around...

Young adults of color, particularly those who are Black and Latinx, have borne a disproportionate share of economic hardship, as decades of systemic racism have made their communities more vulnerable to the effects of these crises. This report shares new data on the financial lives of young adults,...

This is a brief New York Times article on income volatility and paying the bills, discussing 2013 Federal Reserve survey data and US Financial...

Millions of small-dollar credit borrowers are set back by predatory lending practices. There is a critical need for high-quality products designed for both borrower success and lender profitability. This report shares an analysis of practices of 16 installment lenders that have adopted some of the...

As a greater share of modern life is encoded into data streams, Big Data tools can enhance the capabilities of a wide range of financial service companies through machine-learning algorithms that get smarter over time, building stronger predictive models as they gather customers and data points....

After more than a year of dedicated research, analysis, and outreach, CFSI has developed eight indicators to measure financial health. For each indicator, we provide benchmarks, financial data proxies, survey question alternatives, and data sources, among other things. This is the final report on...

Developmental evaluation is a work-in-progress; an evolving methodology. This guide builds on the contribution of an earlier booklet by Jamie Gamble entitled A Developmental Evaluation Primer, published by the Foundation in 2008. It contains the lessons and insights of a group of practitioners who...