Leading the Financial Health Movement for Over 20 Years
Since our founding, the Financial Health Network has built a powerful movement of leaders and organizations taking action to improve people’s financial lives. Explore the progress we’ve made from 2004 to 2024 and the groundwork we’ve laid for our new chapter: rewiring our society to better support financial health for all.
Financial well-being is deeply intertwined with an individual’s health, career, education, and even identity. Over the last two decades, the Financial Health Network has shed light on the complex factors that shape a person’s financial health, while also distilling those complexities into an easy-to-measure data point: the FinHealth Score®. Thanks to our work, the financial health conversation is topping the agenda in boardrooms, workplaces, and government offices across the country.
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Overdraft Fees Are Dwindling, Study Finds |
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What to know about renters insurance and what it does and doesn’t cover |
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Financial disparities in Cook County are almost double national average, study finds |
To make progress on financial health, we need everyone at the table. Collaboration has been key to building this movement and surmounting systemic barriers. Through events, our Member community, and our ongoing work as a convener and connector, we’ve gathered over 450 financial services providers, employers, and other visionaries who share a fierce commitment to improving financial lives.
A Cross-Sector Network
From our investments in promising startups to our work with major banks and benefits providers, we’ve sparked a surge of new products, practices, and policies across the financial ecosystem. We’ve also developed our own solutions like Attune, which is used by 40 companies to measure employee and customer financial health, and the FinHealth MAP, a framework that guides businesses in building sustainable financial health strategies.
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In partnership with the Target Foundation, we created an in-depth guide for HR professionals to build better, more equitable employee financial health strategies. |
Employer FinHealth
When we launched in 2004, as many as 20% of people in America were unbanked1 – a figure that has fallen to an all-time low of 4.5% today.2 As our focus has evolved from financial inclusion to a comprehensive financial health approach, we’ve convened leaders at the forefront of financial health to tackle pressing challenges and positively influence financial lives. Explore our impact stories to learn more about how our work has helped improve millions of lives.
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33M+ People Served |
$2B+ in Savings |
1M+ workers |
Founded as the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI)
During her time at ShoreBank, our founder Jennifer Tescher, was inspired to answer the question: How can technological changes in financial services benefit those who need support the most? She started what was then known as CFSI to leverage technology to expand banking access for millions of underserved people.
Published the first study on the unbanked and underbanked
We released the first research report on the unbanked and underserved, examining the barriers that prevent them from asset building and strategies to help overcome these challenges. The report was the precursor to a study measuring the size of the un- and underbanked population in the U.S., which prompted Congress to pass a law requiring that the Federal Deposit Insurance Insurance Corporation (FDIC) measure the population every two years.
Launched Catalyst Fund L.P.
We took our involvement in fintech one step further with the launch of Catalyst Fund L.P., which accelerated innovation by investing in early-stage, for-profit fintech companies. We continued our investments in 2010 by establishing Core Innovation Capital, a venture capital firm, and creating the Financial Capability Innovation Funds, which expanded our work to nonprofit innovators.
Established our membership program
The Financial Health Network launched the first and only membership network for businesses dedicated to improving people’s financial lives. Today, our Member community brings together a diverse group of banks, credit unions, fintechs, insurers, nonprofits, and large employers – working side by side to strengthen our communities, our economy, and our society.
Introduced the Financial Solutions Lab
In partnership with JPMorgan Chase, we created the Financial Solutions Lab to cultivate, support, and scale innovations to advance the financial health of low- to moderate-income individuals and historically underserved communities. FSL worked with more than 80 portfolio organizations and also received support from Prudential Financial, ultimately delivering high-quality financial health solutions to more than 33 million people.
Formed the Emergency Savings Initiative (ESI) with BlackRock
Many people lack a liquid savings cushion that can help them weather shocks and plan for the future. We joined BlackRock’s $50 million Emergency Savings Initiative to identify, test, and scale promising savings innovations that would help workers bolster their financial safety net. The initiative has helped over 10 million workers save more than $2 billion through innovative programs provided by their employers.
Stepped into the next era as the Financial Health Network
No single sector can solve the challenge of financial health alone – it takes collaboration and commitment from stakeholders across our entire system. In 2020, we rebranded as the Financial Health Network to reflect our broadened focus beyond financial services. Today, we engage leaders in the workplace, research, academia, policy, and beyond to pursue a shared vision of financial health for all.
Created the Attune insights platform
We created Attune to help organizations easily measure customer and employee financial health and track it in a user-friendly dashboard. With easier data collection and analysis, organizations are equipped to incorporate more financial health insights into their business strategy.
Marked 20 years of the movement
As we entered our third decade, we rallied our community for action – to reflect on our accomplishments so far, to rethink how we conduct business and shape regulations, and to rewire our society to support a financially equitable future. Our 20th anniversary celebration at EMERGE brought together 600 leaders from every corner of our movement to celebrate our collective progress and prepare for a new era in financial health.
Rewiring our system for financial health
To build an economy that works for all, we must stop at nothing short of systemic change. Our key priorities include creating industry standards, generating actionable insights on the factors shaping financial health, and leveraging emerging technologies responsibly to drive more equitable financial health outcomes – with an unwavering focus on those who are struggling the most.