Financial Education for Nonprofits

Personal Financial Education Programs can enhance the Financial Wellness of employees as well as the clients served by nonprofits by introducing solutions for the financial stress experienced by both groups.

WHAT: Content for these workshops is experiential and is derived from programs Cygnet Institute has designed and field tested and in use since 1989. The more technical workshops will be presented by professionals with expertise in the relevant topic. Topics that do not require deep level subject expertise will be delivered by instructors certified by Cygnet Institute. To protect the integrity of the program and the reputation of the organizations that use our program, we impose certain criteria on those who participate as instructors and presenters. The two main areas involve adherence to the Fiduciary Standard and incorporating the use of content that encourages participants to utilize Critical Thinking. Presenters will be expected to adhere to the requirements listed below:

• Sign Fiduciary pledge
• Agree to specifically NOT solicit in Class or afterwards
• Support and enhance Critical Thinking in their presentation
• Explain relevance of their presentation to Personal Finance and quality of life
• Embed and explain instances of Behavioral Finance issues in the subject being presented

WHY: Financial stress experienced by people working in non-profit organizations is not any less than the stress felt by workers in the for-profit corporations. The same hold true for the clients of nonprofits.

HOW: Cygnet Institute provides the following 4-stage integrated system as an answer to this problem:

1. Short 30-60 minutes seminars are designed to create awareness and demonstrate a path which people can follow using the tools in the handouts to begin improving the management of their finances.
2. In depth multisession experiential workshops are designed for students to analyze their finances in class and receive guidance in building a plan of action. All this is done with confidentiality and absolute privacy.
3. An organization may find value in having Cygnet Institute train an employee to deliver some of the financial education content from Cygnet as well as material from other sources (CFPB, FDIC, etc.)
4. Create and staff a Financial Wellness Center on-site that employees can go to for financial advice. This could be available 5 days-a-week, a set number of hours once or twice-a-week, once-a-week, or every 2-4 weeks.

The constant element in all the stages is that they adhere to the legal fiduciary standard as described by the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX.org). Cygnet’s content and programs in all four stages are reviewed and approved by CEFEX certified advisors.