Improving Benefits Access: Insights from the Financial Solutions Lab Exchange

Nonprofits and fintechs have emerged as natural partners in the financial health movement, combining technological innovation and trusted community relationships to improve people’s financial lives. The vast potential of these partnerships was the driving force behind the Financial Solutions Lab Exchange. As part of the Financial Solutions Lab, a Financial Health Network initiative to cultivate, test, and scale financial health solutions for people with low to moderate incomes, the Exchange fostered nonprofit-fintech collaboration to advance the initiative’s mission. 

In 2022, the Exchange hosted a grant challenge for partnerships focused on improving public and private benefits access and navigation. People who use benefits systems often experience significant financial health challenges, and the complexities of these systems can prevent people from accessing all the benefits available to them. In this report, we explore the work of the three partnerships awarded grants – which ultimately went on to optimize solutions, improve lives, and lay a roadmap for future innovators to follow.