Initiative Overview: Financial education has long been the domain of non-profits which by many measures has had mixed results. Status quo solutions to the problem of financial illiteracy were not sufficient to the leadership at the Community Financial Education Foundation so they reached out to FELA to help approach the issue in new and innovative ways.

CFEF is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC (www.communityfef.org).

Objectives: CFEF needed to evaluate its existing financial education program and materials as well as related products already in the field from other organizations. Based on these findings, FELA needed to develop a comprehensive solution that would help CFEF to:

1.  Identify and measure specific outcomes related to their financial education programs, based on the needs of their participants.
2. Integrate evaluative tools into their programs.
3. Develop and track relevant performance metrics based on stated goals and objectives.
4. Create a customizable program and approach that would enable CFEF to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time.
5. Implement a scalable program that could meet the needs of communities, schools, financial institutions, and other large organizations.

Outcomes: FELA helped CFEF address the need and opportunity to develop financial education programs that are outcomes based as well as provide metrics to demonstrate their efficacy. In particular, CFEF sharpened their pencils and refocused their efforts to ensure their programs effectively integrate key elements such as measurement, scalability, and customization. To facilitate these efforts, FELA developed a private label version of LifeCents^TM for CFEF which they named MyStartingPoint.

MyStartingPoint has been a highly effective vehicle for CFEF which has enabled the organization to implement a number of exciting financial education initiatives with a range of organizations including schools, government agencies, community based organizations, and businesses.