Discover financial empowerment resources
Discover financial empowerment resources
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...
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...
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...
Disability Alliance BC supports people in British Columbia with disabilities through direct services, community partnerships, advocacy, research and publications. Their website provides information on disability benefits including the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), CPP Disability, Registered...
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a guide to assist intermediaries in serving individuals to access their Economic Impact Payments (EIPs). The guide, Helping Consumers Claim the Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations , provides step-by-step...
In 2020, The Behavioural Insights Team partnered with United Way and Oak Park Neighbourhood Centre to develop and test an email intervention to increase participation in tax filing clinics. An "active choice" email (sample email) significantly increased response rate and attendance to virtual...
This is the second brief in a new series from The Financial Clinic. Change Matters leverages the data gathered through our revolutionary financial coaching platform, Change Machine, alongside the voices, wisdom, and lived experiences of Change Machine customers. We hope that our action oriented...
The Investor Protection Clinic, the first clinic of its kind in Canada, provides free legal advice to people who believe their investments were mishandled and who cannot afford a lawyer. The Clinic was founded together with the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights (FAIR Canada),...
This resource provides a directory of community legal clinics in Ontario. Community legal clinics provide information, advice, and representation on various legal issues, including social assistance, housing, refugee and immigration law, employment law, human rights, workers' compensation,...
In this toolkit you'll find materials to help you learn about what's involved in tax filing, and some materials to support setting up your own community tax clinic. Updated April 13, 2023 Tax season checklist: take a look at your portfolio Updated February 14, 2023 Find the income tax package...
In this presentation, Simon Brascoupé, Vice President, Education and Training, AFOA Canada, explains the financial wellness framework and how tax filing presents opportunities for building financial wellness in Indigenous communities. This presentation is from the session 'Closing the tax-filing...
In this presentation, John Silver, Executive Director, Community Financial Counselling Service (CFCS), Winnipeg, shares insights from the low income tax program at CFCS. This program files almost 10,000 returns each year, and also provides tax clinic support to other agencies and delivers detailed...
In this presentation, German Tejeda, National Director of Financial Programs, Single Stop USA, shares results from the Virtual VITA Program in the United States since 2012. This presentation is from the session 'Innovations in tax filing assistance', at the tax research symposium hosted by...
The research symposium "Overcoming barriers to tax filing for people with low incomes" was held in Ottawa on Thursday, February 7, 2019, hosted by Prosper Canada and Intuit. The symposium presents research results and insights from practitioners in the field on barriers to tax filing experienced...
This infographic by Prosper Canada features advice to help Indigenous communities and organizations set up free income tax clinics. Advice was shared by clinic volunteers through a roundtable and interviews as part of the First Nations Financial Wellness...
This report shares remarks by Mae Watson Grote, Founder and CEO of The Financial Clinic, at the Coin A Better Future conference in May 2018. The journey from financial insecurity to security, and eventually, mobility—what we conceptualize and even romanticize as the quintessential American...
In this report, The Common Cents Lab and MetLife Foundation share findings from the experiments we have run over the past several years with VITA providers to improve tax-related outcomes. We encourage you to consider implementing these ideas and engaging in additional conversations about how to...
This is one video in a series of videos catered to Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program volunteers on how to introduce the savings conversation to tax filers during the tax filing process. This video shows what the savings conversation could look like at different points in the tax...
This is one video in a series of videos catered to Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program volunteers on how to introduce the savings conversation to tax filers during the tax filing process. This video shows what the savings conversation could look like at a specific point in the tax...
The CFPB has undertaken a broad array of education initiatives this year, as well as continued or expanded upon prior initiatives. These initiatives are described in more detail in various sections of this report. The CFPB’s financial education research is focused on identifying the knowledge,...
Recognizing the need to address the increasing vulnerability of families and individuals in their communities, several local governments and nonprofit organizations across the country are implementing innovative financial security and asset-building strategies that seek to expand the financial...
In recent years, there has been growing academic and media attention regarding income inequality—the disparity in the distribution of income across households. This report focuses on a less studied issue, how income varies within households even over relatively short periods of time....
This brief overview of the financial literacy needs of people living on low incomes was generated through consultations with experts in the field and insights shared by TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund recipients. Its aim is to share knowledge with ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference participants...
In 2012, The Financial Clinic (the “Clinic”) and Branches had the opportunity to influence the emerging financial coaching sector by putting its philosophies and model to test through a random control trial study report titled “An Evaluation of the Impacts and Implementation Approaches of...
Every year there is one key and predictable moment – tax time – when many consumers who are struggling to make ends meet have an opportunity to choose to build savings that will insulate them from some of the financial stress that may occur later in the year. In 2013, nearly 93 million...