FINANCIAL COUNSELLING: Scan of best practices Webinar - 11:00 am -12:00 March 26, 2015

Agenda

1. Introduction

2. Prosper Canada – Who we are

3. Scan of financial counselling best practices • Context, objectives and methods • Findings • Conclusions

4. Where we go from here

5. Questions and Answers

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1. Introduction

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• You have all been put on “mute” for this webinar

• Please share any questions you have throughout the presentation in the “Question box” (located at the bottom right side of your screen)

• Our speaker will be Prosper Canada’s CEO, Liz Mulholland

Founded in 1986, Prosper Canada is a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation. As Canada’s leading champion of financial empowerment, we work with government, business and community partners to develop and promote financial policies, programs and resources that transform lives and foster the prosperity of all Canadians. We help service systems and organizations in all sectors to build proven financial empowerment approaches into their businesses in ways that: • Are sustainable • Help them achieve their goals • Tangibly increase the financial well-being of low-income people they serve.

2. Prosper Canada: Who we are

Our financial empowerment vision

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Financial information, education, and counseling that improve financial outcomes

Help accessing benefits and tax credits that boost income

Safe and affordable financial products and services that improve money management

Savings and asset building opportunities that improve access to post-secondary education, employment, entrepreneurship, housing, and secure retirement

Consumer protection rules and education that reduce financial vulnerability

All vulnerable Canadians have access to the financial programs, services, products and advice they need to build their financial wellbeing

Case for Financial Empowerment

• Canadians have the highest debt-to-

income ratio in the G-7 at 163.3%

• Nearly 1 in 6 Canadian families have a net worth of $0 or less

• Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians have no financial wealth at all – including savings, stocks, bonds, RRSPs

• Canada’s household savings rate remains historically low at 3.6%

FINANCIAL VULNERABILITY

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Financial vulnerability has risen significantly over the past decade, but Canada lacks comprehensive strategies to build the financial resilience of households & communities.

3. Scan of best practices – Context

1. Growing demand among Canadians with low-incomes for personalized financial support

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2. Grassroots organizations have begun experimenting with different individual financial counselling approaches

3. Australia, UK & US gov’ts have large scale programs we can learn from

Scan of best practices – Objectives

1. Identify practitioner and expert perceptions of best practice

2. Explore extent to which these are drawn from practice and/or research evidence

3. Identify areas of consensus and/or divergence

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Goal was to map key themes and insights to inform more in-depth future research.

OBJECTIVES

Scan of best practices – Methods

In 2013, Janet Murray (Resources for Results):

• Conducted 10 exploratory interviews with practitioners and academics

• Conducted 20 structured interviews with practitioners/academics (19 in Australia, Canada, UK and US + 1 French language interview in Quebec)

Key informants were asked to:

• Identify top three best practices (program design and delivery)

• Share further learning and advice

• Say whether best practices drawn from experience, research or both

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4. Findings: Best practices

BEST PRACTICES # cited % cited 1. Align objectives, delivery approach and target

population(s) with mission 12 63%

2. Develop a theory of change to identify client target outcomes and guide program delivery and research

8 42%

3. Use formal performance benchmarking and metrics to structure and document frontline counselling practice

9 47%

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Theory of change

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Errea= • P[P • P[]

THEME 1: CREATE A FOUNDATION FOR BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Findings: Best Practices

BEST PRACTICES # Cited % Cited

1. Identify where clients fall on financial needs continuum and design financial interventions to address their specific needs and priorities

11 58%

2. Ensure a range of specialized financial supports is available to clients and delivered by people with the requisite training and skills

11 58%

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N=19

Survival Mode

Future Mode

Spectrum of client needs and priorities

Counselling Coaching

THEME 2: TAILOR PROGRAMS TO CLIENT POPULATION(S)

Findings: Best practices

BEST PRACTICE # Cited % Cited

1. Ensure programs are unbiased, high quality, accessible and empowering

19 100%

2. Ensure counsellors possess the knowledge, attributes and skills to work effectively with vulnerable, low-income clients

17 90%

3. Combine counselling and coaching techniques as needed to meet the needs of clients and funders

11 58%

4. Keep clients engaged through longer term goal-setting and reconnecting at tax time

11 58%

5. Treat people with low-incomes as competent individuals with their own priorities and goals

11 58%

6. Adapt content, tools and products to serve consumers with low-incomes

9 47%

7. Use technology to support clients and counsellors to achieve better outcomes

7 37%

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THEME 3: ADOPT CLIENT-CENTRED PRACTICES

Findings: Best practices

BEST PRACTICE # Cited % Cited

1. Anticipate, plan for, and manage risk 16 84%

2. Establish practitioner networks and increase formalization of field

14 74%

3. Build capacity in diverse systems to integrate financial counselling into their programs and services for people with low incomes

11 58%

4. Evaluate programs systematically 11 58%

5. Collaborate and promote specialization to strengthen policy work

10 53%

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THEME 4: HELP BUILD A VIABLE FINANCIAL COUNSELLING FIELD

Top 5 recommended best practices

Top 5 Recommended Best Practices 1. Invest in systematic performance and outcome measurement

2. Align objectives, delivery and target population with organizational mission

3. Adopt a strengths-based, non-judgmental, non-directive approach to enable low-income clients to achieve their own financial goals

4. Develop a theory of change that shows how the program will promote longer-term behaviour change

5. Provide appropriate training and support to staff and volunteers. Keep skills up-to-date and commit to continuous learning and improvement

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Key informants were asked to identify the 3 practices they most recommend

Conclusions

• Strong consensus on best practices

• Practitioner perspectives drawn primarily

from practice

• Shift is underway to more formal performance and outcome measurement

• Little formal behavioural research on

financial counselling practice exists

• Confidence that financial counselling will grow, despite funding challenges

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Review peer-reviewed and grey literature to validate best practices identified

What we learned… Potential next step…

4. Where we go from here

• Test different financial counselling/coaching approaches in diverse contexts:

– Financial advisors as volunteer coaches in Toronto Employment Centres – Community financial coaches working with NFP organizations:

• Jewish Family and Child Services • West Neighbourhood House - Financial Advocacy and Problem Solving

– The Calgary Financial Future’s Collaborative

• Build & share financial counselling/coaching toolkit over next 1-2 years

• Support community organizations to rollout and test financial counselling/ coaching in diverse contexts

• Keep practitioners up to date on what we are up to and what is happening in the field

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5. Questions and Answers

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Next Steps

• Thank you for joining us!

• Send you an email with: – Link to the report and executive summary – Copy of this presentation – Survey, including question to explore your interest in staying informed on our

work and what is happening in the field

• Post the recorded webinar online

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ABLE 2015 Conference

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When: November 2-3, 2015 Where: The Allstream Centre, Toronto

ABLE is a national biannual conference for all stakeholders interested in fostering financial empowerment for people who live on low incomes.

For more information visit:

www.prospercanada.org

Event sponsor

Event host

Prosper Canada 60 St. Clair Avenue East, Suite 700

Toronto, ON M4T 1N5 (416) 665-2828

www.prospercanada.org

Connect: @prospercan Elizabeth Mulholland Elodie Young Chief Executive officer Program Manager lmulholland@prospercanada.org eyoung@prospercanada.org 416 665-2828 Ext. 229 416 665-28282 Ext.225

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