Company:SaverLife

From HandWiki

SaverLife is a nonprofit financial technology company that works to create prosperity for low-income families. The organization's SaverLife platform provides cash prizes, rewards, articles from financial experts, gamified savings activities, and support to incentivize members to build a savings habit.[1]

History

Origins

SaverLife was originally founded as Earned Assets Resource Network, or EARN, in 2001 by a group including financier F. Warren Hellman,[2] California State Senator Mark Leno,[3] former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Bob Friedman,[4] San Francisco County Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg,[5] San Francisco Foundation CEO Saundra Hernandez,[6] and founding CEO, Ben Mangan.[7]

The nonprofit created an Individual Development Account program[8] and one of the country's first children's savings programs, Triple Boost.[9]

2015–present

Leigh Phillips became SaverLife's President & CEO in 2015.[10][11] In 2017, EARN launched SaverLife, a free online platform designed to help people change their savings habits and build financial security. The platform provides financial incentives, insights, financial coaching, and prizes, to encourage members to save.

EARN changed its name to SaverLife in 2019, uniting its nonprofit services under the SaverLife banner.[12]

SaverLife responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by transforming their online savings platform into a direct cash disbursement tool.[13] By October 2020, the company had given $2.7 million in direct cash payments to its members and small businesses across America. SaverLife also published research[14] on how people used these stimulus checks[15] and tracked people's financial wellness during the pandemic.[16] SaverLife research was used in research papers published by the National Bureau of Economic Research,[17] the University of Chicago,[18] and Columbia University's business school.

In the summer of 2020, SaverLife was chosen by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a Voices for Economic Opportunity Grand Challenge grant recipient.[19]

SaverLife has continued to publish research[20] with various partners including The Brookings Institution,[21] the FINRA Investor Education Foundation,[22] and the Financial Health Network.[23]

Products and services

The SaverLife platform provides incentives to encourage people to save money.[24]

In 2019, SaverLife launched SaverLife Solutions,[25] a custom integration of the SaverLife platform that employers, community-based organizations,[26] and credit unions[27] could offer as a benefit to help their employees build emergency savings.[28] The program was launched with $1.5 million from Prudential Financial.[29] To date, SaverLife Solutions has partnered with Levi Strauss's Red Tab Foundation,[30] the KFC Foundation,[31] Alorica, Concentrix,[32] and United Way of Houston[33] to provide a savings match to their employees.[34]

The SaverLife Solutions platform has also been integrated into Intuit's Prosperity Hubs program[35] and provided its savings platform to communities and employers in Bluefield, West Virginia[36] and Johnstown, Pennsylvania.[37] In 2020, Intuit announced an expanded partnership that will bring SaverLife's platform to Prosperity Hubs across the United States.

References

  1. Burbank, Kyle. "Money at 30: SaverLife Review". Dyer News. https://dyernews.com/saverlife-review/. 
  2. Peter, Lattman. "Warren Hellman, 77, Investor Who Loved Bluegrass, Dies". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/business/warren-hellman-dies-at-77-ex-lehman-president-and-music-festival-founder.html. 
  3. Myers, John. "Even rivals say Mark Leno is one of Sacramento's most accomplished lawmakers. Now, his time is up". California Times. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-mark-leno-legislature-legacy-20160829-snap-htmlstory.html. 
  4. "Robert Friedman". Prosperity Noew. https://www.strongfinancialfuture.org/experts/bob-friedman/. 
  5. "Roberta Achtenberg". US Commission on Civil Rights. https://www.usccr.gov/about/bio/Achtenberg.php. 
  6. "Sandra R. Hernández, MD". California Health Care Foundation. https://www.chcf.org/person/sandra-r-hernandez/#:~:text=%40srhernandezmd-,Sandra%20R.,and%20County%20of%20San%20Francisco.. 
  7. Wilensky, Amy. "The Importance of Earning Interest: Ben Mangan '92". Vassar. https://vq.vassar.edu/issues/2009/03/features/earning-interest.html. 
  8. "Individual Wealth Building". Democracy Collaborative. https://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/individuals/index.html. 
  9. "ConsumerWatch: ‘Triple Boost’ Helps Low-Income Families Save For Education". CBS. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/10/12/consumerwatch-triple-boost-helps-low-income-families-save-for-education/. 
  10. Filippenko, Zoe. "Lessons from Leigh Phillips on Asset-Building and Short-Term Savings". LendUp. https://www.lendup.com/blog/lessons-from-earn.html. 
  11. "Episode 58: Leigh Phillips". She Ventures. https://sheventures.centsai.com/podcast/episode-58-leigh-phillips/. 
  12. "SaverLife offers proven model for national savings crisis". Patch Media. https://patch.com/california/san-francisco/saverlife-offers-proven-model-national-savings-crisis. 
  13. Kauflin, Jeff. "Fintech Apps Offer Financial First Aid For Hardest-Hit Consumers". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2020/04/03/fintech-apps-offer-first-aid-for-hardest-hit-consumers/?sh=6daf79a1a936. 
  14. Asymkos, Stephanie. "Coronavirus stimulus checks: Here's how people are spending their relief money". Cashay. https://www.cashay.com/coronavirus-stimulus-checks-how-people-are-spending-their-relief-money-194356753.html. 
  15. Keshner, Andrew. "This is how fast Americans are spending their stimulus checks – and here's a breakdown of what they’re buying". MarketWatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-fast-americans-are-spending-their-stimulus-checks-and-heres-a-breakdown-of-what-theyre-buying-2020-05-15. 
  16. Baker, Scott R.. "How Does Household Spending Respond to an Epidemic? Consumption During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic". Elsevier. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3565521. 
  17. Meyer, Steffen. "Income, Liquidity, and the Consumption Response to the 2020 Economic Stimulus Payments". National Bureau Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w27097/revisions/w27097.rev0.pdf. 
  18. Baker, Scott R.. "How Does Household Spending Respond to an Epidemic? Consumption During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic". Becker Friedman Institute. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/how-does-household-spending-respond-to-an-epidemic-consumption-during-the-2020-covid-19-pandemic/. 
  19. "Changing the National Conversation About Poverty and Economic Mobility". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Ideas/Media-Center/Press-Releases/2020/06/Changing-the-National-Conversation-About-Poverty-and-Economic-Mobility. 
  20. "SaverLife Research: Insights into the Financial Lives of our Members". https://about.saverlife.org/research. 
  21. "Low-to Moderate-Income Families are Losing ground: How to save their Homeownership Dreams". https://about.saverlife.org/research-posts/low-to-moderate-income-families-are-losing-ground-how-to-save-their-homeownership-dreams. 
  22. "Piloting SaverLife as a Tool for Workplace Financial Wellness". https://about.saverlife.org/research-posts/finra-foundation. 
  23. "Financial Health Scores of Participants in the Red Tab Savers Program Shift Upward". https://about.saverlife.org/research-posts/financial-health-scores-of-participants-in-the-red-tab-savers-program-shift-upward. 
  24. "Free service to help you learn how to start saving money". KNXV Arizona. https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/peopleandplaces/free-service-to-help-you-learn-how-to-start-saving-money/vi-BB1eT5mY. 
  25. Schiavo, Amanda. "SaverLife expands financial wellness benefit platform". Employee Benefit Adviser. https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/saverlife-expands-financial-wellness-benefit-platform. 
  26. Carrns, Anne. "More Workers Get Help In Building Rainy Day Savings". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/06/your-money/payroll-deduction-emergency-savings.html. 
  27. Peck, Brenton. "Shifting from financial institution to financial health provider, in a crisis and beyond". CUInsight. https://www.cuinsight.com/shifting-from-financial-institution-to-financial-health-provider-in-a-crisis-and-beyond.html. 
  28. Tergesen, Anne. "Employers Help Workers Build Household-Emergency Funds". Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/employers-help-workers-build-household-emergency-funds-11560418206. 
  29. Rinker, Brian. "S.F. nonprofit lands $1.5M investment to help low-wage workers save money". San Francisco Business Times. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2019/12/12/sf-nonprofit-lands-1-5m-investment-to-help-low.html. 
  30. "The Red Tab Savers Program: a free, online savings tool for LS&Co. employees that rewards you for saving every month.". Red Tab Foundation. https://www.redtabfoundation.org/savers. 
  31. "Programs". KFC Foundation. https://kfcfoundation.org/ourprograms/. 
  32. DiBetta, Haleigh. "Nonprofit coming to Johnstown aims to help residents save money". WJAC. https://wjactv.com/news/local/nonprofit-coming-to-johnstown-aims-to-help-residents-save-money. 
  33. Correa, Melissa. "Free program will pay you to save money". KHOU. https://www.khou.com/article/money/united-way-houston-is-offering-free-money-to-people-whove-lost-jobs-family-members-to-covid-19/285-fb052b5f-bf77-442c-958a-490d2e403071. 
  34. Min, Sarah. "More big companies helping workers auto-save to build emergency funds". CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/big-companies-are-helping-workers-sock-away-emergency-savings/. 
  35. "Intuit Prosperity Hub Program Generates 2,200 Jobs and $123 Million Annual Economic Activity for Communities in Need". Intuit. https://www.intuit.com/blog/social-responsibility/intuit-prosperity-hub-program-generates-2200-jobs-and-123-million-annual-economic-activity-for-communities-in-need/. 
  36. Zosh, Melinda. "Virginia woman wins $5k grand prize through non-profit's writing contest". WVVA. https://wvva.com/2020/05/15/virginia-woman-wins-5k-grand-prize-through-non-profits-writing-contest/. 
  37. "Johnstown contest winner presented with $5K check". WJAC. https://wjactv.com/news/local/johnstown-contest-winner-presented-with-5k-check.