Over the last two decades, the Financial Health Network has built a powerful movement of leaders and organizations committed to improving people’s financial lives. Celebrate 20 years of finhealth with us as we reflect on our progress, rethink our systems and practices, and rewire our society to better support financial health for all.
“We must rally our entire movement to shift mindsets, relationships, power dynamics, policies, and resources to support lasting change. It will be our most challenging work yet, but it’s the key to building a world where everyone can thrive financially.”
Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO, Financial Health Network
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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.
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. |
When we launched in 2004, as many as 20% of people in America were unbanked – a figure that has fallen to an all-time low of 4.5% today. 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 |
Our flagship EMERGE Financial Health event brings together people from all corners of the ecosystem – and our 2024 anniversary celebration promises to be our biggest ever. Unite with your fellow finhealth champions for three thrilling days in Chicago, and play a pivotal role in co-creating the next era of our movement.
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.
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.
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.
To foster a community of committed finhealth champions, we launched our membership program, which has grown to include some of the biggest banks and credit unions across the nation, cutting-edge fintech companies, and mission-driven nonprofits. Members receive resources and access to experts that can help them achieve real business outcomes while supporting the financial health of their communities.
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.
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.
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.
Originally launched as the FinHealth Check, 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.
As we enter our third decade, we’re rallying 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. This year, we’ll debut a new strategic plan designed to foster a new level of systemic change.
“To me, in the ideal state, we’re able to measure financial health for individuals, for communities, for products, for providers, for users… It holds a lot of promise to be smarter about how we talk about different consumer financial products, how we talk about progress.”
Michael Hsu, Acting Comptroller of the Currency
“We collaborated with the Financial Health Network to really do [a] deep dive into credit union data… and that’s what energized the foundation’s work to shift the focus and start talking to credit unions about understanding members’ financial health. How do we think about fully understanding financial lives and then leverage our cooperative financial superpowers to make a difference?”
Gigi Hyland, Executive Director, National Credit Union Foundation
“We’re experiencing all of this inequality in America, but we also have this amazing technology. Where we end up [depends on] using all this technology to work for us, not against us. That’s the work of people like the Financial Health Network, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and other purpose-driven leaders and companies: to ensure that the benefits of an expanding economy are delivered to everyone.”
Shamina Singh, President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
“I think financial health is good for business and it’s good for the individual and communities that we serve. There’s no conflict with being a business that is very focused on creating shareholder value with one that is very focused on making a big difference in the world as well.”
Dan Schulman, Former President and CEO, PayPal
Employer FinHealth