What is AssetPlatform.org?
AssetPlatform.org is a new resource for staff at nonprofit organizations that provide financial education, coaching and asset development services. The AssetPlatform delivers high quality products and services (including training, calculators, assessment tools, consumer-friendly financial products and links to experts) to the desktops of front-line staff, so they can more effectively serve their communities.
AssetPlatform.org is organized around six primary categories of resources: 1) budgeting; 2) savings; 3) credit score; 4) debt; 5) insurance; and 6) organizational resources. Each category contains a variety of relevant training, tools and products – and the site can be searched by those three types of content as well. The website is designed to allow users to quickly and easily access whatever resources they need.
The AssetPlatform is not designed to copy what already exists or to recreate the wheel. In many cases, therefore, the resources are provided through links to other organizations or companies that provide useful products. Our goal is to review all linked content so users can be confident that anything they find on the AssetPlatform is high quality and consumer friendly. In some cases, we work with partners to customize and improve the resources they offer, and in other cases we develop tools to help users evaluate and choose among available options. Finally, we create our own content when we find a gap in existing resources.
AssetPlatform.org is committed to assuring customer satisfaction and works with users to improve the quality and effectiveness of the information, products, and services on the platform. In addition, AssetPlatform.org will provide tools for non-profit organizations to measure and improve the satisfaction of their own clients and customers.
What is a Platform?
A platform allows multiple organizations to collectively build and share tools and resources in a cost-effective way. It is a launch pad for users – a central place to get products, services and tools they need but that are too expensive or complex for individual organizations to access. Like a physical platform, it raises everyone up and takes them to a new level. A platform is not a program, and it is not simply a clearinghouse for information.
Platforms are common in the private sector, where they often allow small businesses to compete with larger chains or big-box stores. A successful platform facilitates and improves operations so members of an industry do better, whether the goal is to sell more and be more profitable, or to better serve more low-income families.
A platform recognizes that no one is good at doing everything; responds to the lament of executive directors who continually have to “figure it out” themselves; addresses the fact that individually organizations are unable to afford the continued cost of innovation and infrastructure development, enables the rapid communication and institutionalization of best practices; and facilitates, accelerates and strengthens the development of powerful networks within sectors and fields.
Our Mission
The goal of AssetPlatform.org is to raise the quality, efficiency, capacity and impact of the asset-development and related fields by helping community-based organizations, workforce development programs, credit unions, EITC campaigns and other non-profits to do what they do better and at greater scale. Our mission is to add value to local programs in a way that supports attainment of their own missions.
We aim to provide a comprehensive set of training, tools and resources that are high-quality, affordable and easily accessible by organization leadership and line staff. And we hope to use the platform to help organizations connect with and learn from each other. We are committed to transparency, and to engaging users in providing feedback and input for improvement and expansion of the platform. Our success will be measured by the extent to which organizations and staff find that the AssetPlatform makes them more successful in improving the financial security of their clients or customers.
Our Core Partners
AssetPlatform.org is developed by the Aspen Institute the Center for the Study of Social Policy, in partnership with several core content and distribution partners. The partners have provided some of the initial platform content and are engaged in Beta testing of the platform. AssetPlatform.org is powered by CCA Global Partners, who also provide the technical know-how and training development for the platform. Our core partners are shows below. Learn more about our partners.
Our Funders
AssetPlatform.org is supported with grants from Living Cities, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ford Foundation. We are especially grateful to both funders for their willingness to support innovation in the field. Learn more about our funders.
Contact Us
If you have questions about any of the content on AssetPlatform.org, or are experiencing difficulty using anything on the site, please contact us by sending a message below.
We would also love to hear from you if you have suggestions for other things you would like to see on the platform, or recommendations for tools and products you currently use that might help others.