Policy & Innovation

A recognized innovator in the fight against poverty.

EARN is honored to present an interview with San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros for our inaugural Visionary Speaker Series. In this interview, Treasurer Cisneros discusses progressive initiatives the City of San Francisco is implementing to increase access to financial services for low-wage workers. Treasurer Cisneros' initiatives include Bank on San Francisco, the launch of a Financial Education Network, and an effort to make San Francisco the first paper paycheck-free city in the United States.

EARN Research
Through our policy and research arm, EARN evaluates our impact and reports on new data regularly, sharing lessons learned and best practices in order to transform the financial services landscape and to champion effective public policies.

Advancing Financial Coaching for Low-Income Populations: Midstream Lessons from EARN
White paper released March 2010 

As the economy continues to be in turmoil, and recession feels like depression for tens of millions of low-incomeworkers, financial coaching has emerged as a tool with great promise to create prosperity for low-income Americans. The field of financial coaching for low-income people is growing quickly; however, there is no organized approach among the nonprofit service providers, coaching trainers, and funders who are becoming involved in these efforts.

The rapid growth of this still undefined field presents tremendous opportunities, but also real risks for low-income recipients of coaching, for nonprofit organizations interested in coaching, and for the funders who are making coaching work possible. EARN has been a pioneer in financial coaching, and we believe that our mid-stream learnings can advance the burgeoning field.

What Motivates Low Income Earners to Save Money? 
Qualitative research study released January 2010

Key findings include the following:

 - 83% of low-income workers continued to save following completion of EARN's matched savings program.

 - Participants realized they could save within their current income stream.

 - Participation in the matched savings program served to increase civic engagement and boosted confidence in dealing with mainstream financial organizations.

"EARN's research on the behaviors that drive savings among low-wage workers will help all of us in finance as we encourage every American to save and invest for the future," says Mike Fitzhugh, Director of Wealth Management and Principal of Aspiriant.  "There are valuable lessons in this research for business as well as for the social sector and government."

EARN and Marin Community Foundation

In July 2009, the Marin Community Foundation announced a $15 million commitment  to create prosperity for hundreds of low-wage workers in Marin County. EARN is a key partner in this groundbreaking initiative. (Media coverage: San Francisco Business Times, Marin Independent Journal)

For years, EARN has worked with partner organizations to change the lives of hard-working, low-income people in Marin. Now, the EARN-MCF partnership will dramatically scale up our efforts to help 500 Marin families open Individual Development Accounts for education, microenterprise, and homeownership over the next five years.   "We want to help break the cycle of poverty in Marin," said Thomas Peters, the Foundation's president, in announcing the plan.

"EARN is proud to play such a central role in Marin. We look forward to continuing to partner with MCF and the many outstanding community groups across Marin County to create new cycles of prosperity ," said EARN CEO Ben Mangan.


EARN wins Irvine Foundation Leadership Award

In 2008, EARN was recognized for our innovation by being named one of the winners of the Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. EARN CEO Ben Mangan shared the honor with David Augustine, Jose Cisneros, Leigh Phillips and Lena Robinson (photo at left) for their groundbreaking work creating the Bank on San Francisco initiative.

In Bank of San Francisco's first two years, more than 17,000 "unbanked" San Franciscans joined the financial mainstream by opening low-cost bank accounts. Instead of losing their hard-earned money to check cashers and payday lenders, these families were able to open bank accounts that they might not have been eligible for or able to afford before.

EARN is one of the managing partners for the project, with the City of San Francisco and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. EARN also leads the financial management training available to everyone through Bank on San Francisco.

The program is being replicated in cities nationwide, and has already been adopted by the state of California through a “Bank on California” effort currently focusing on Fresno, San Jose, Oakland and Los Angeles.

Among the nearly 500 organizations that offer IDAs across the nation, EARN is the only one working to achieve scale by linking asset-building practice with policy development. In recognition of EARN's unique position as a leader in its field, EARN was named a 2005 Social Capitalist of the Year by Fast Company /Monitor Group and a top-ten finalist for the Amazon.com Nonprofit Innovation Award.

A champion for asset policies that open doors to prosperity.

EARN's policy and research arm, the Asset Policy Initiative of California (APIC), is a statewide network of stakeholders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors who are committed to increasing asset-building opportunities for California’s working families. APIC is a clearinghouse and policy voice for the emerging asset building movement in the state.
www.assetpolicy.org

EARN pursues innovation in three ways:

  1. Engaging policymakers on the power of asset-building policies to create a thriving economy where everyone can have a stake in their dreams, primarily through our policy arm, APIC (www.assetpolicy.org).
  2. Working with financial institutions like Citibank and Wells Fargo to create win-win products and services that banks can eventually offer to working-poor consumers in the way they offer IRAs to middle-class consumers.
  3. Exploring new ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of our products and services.