Impact & Metrics
Although our quantitative metrics are impressive, we put an emphasis on qualitative metrics because it really demonstrates impact more than any quantitative measure, since we know we know that financial trauma has the biggest influence on a person's wealth building capability.
Impact
Impact and success are based on Chloe B. McKenzie's research and wealth justice framework. The framework discusses four pillars to demonstrate that the commitment to wealth justice is being achieved and communities are healing from financial trauma:
Material Safety
Material safety is is an understanding - an inner knowing - that you are assured protection from financial trauma, abuse, shaming, and economic insecurity. (McKenzie et. al, 2021). It is measured qualitatively and quantitatively. Major points of evidence we look for are through our community circles (they look like focus groups) and metrics like increased use of resources offered or applied for.
Material Wealth
Access to fee-free assets are crucial to generating wealth. As such, every participant receives access to fee-free bank accounts and brokerage accounts. Through our Bank on Us and Activist Investors initiatives, we are able to fund these accounts and generate wealth for our partner communities. Some key metrics are the number of assets generated and how much material wealth is generated.
Healed Financial Trauma
Healed financial trauma is measured qualitatively and quantitatively. However, it reveals the most about the impact made because it demonstrates how much the community members' wealth-building capabilities have changed. We apply Chloe McKenzie's financial trauma measurement tool that has been leveraged by a number of state-based and higher education institutions like Georgetown University and Temple University. Wealth-building capability is a person's or community's ability to accumulate and sustain (material) wealth, which is often influenced by a person's unique struggles against multiple forms of oppression (McKenzie et al, 2021).
Transformed Institutions
When we transform the major transmission centers of wealth-building capability, we advance wealth justice and increase the wealth-building capabilities of community members. This impact measure has both qualitative and quantitative metrics. Some key metrics include: number of policymakers trained; number of policies changed or influenced (influences include citation of our research). We also apply our healed financial trauma measurement tool for institutions to demonstrate whether they are transmitting or perpetrating financial trauma at the same rate or magnitude.
We have impactful numbers
or funding allocated to address
the wealth gap
Teachers, Community
Members, Policymakers served
girls served