SaverLife
| Company type | Nonprofit organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial technology |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Founder | F. Warren Hellman, Mark Leno, Bob Friedman, Roberta Achtenberg, Saundra Hernandez, Ben Mangan |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Leigh Phillips (President & CEO) |
| Products | Financial education, cash incentives, rewards, savings challenges, SaverLife Solutions |
| Website | www |
SaverLife is a nonprofit organization in the financial technology sector dedicated to enhancing economic well-being for families with limited income. Its platform provides cash incentives, rewards, expert financial education, interactive savings challenges, and ongoing support to promote regular saving behaviors.
Founding
Established in 2001 under the name Earned Assets Resource Network (EARN), SaverLife was created through the efforts of financier F. Warren Hellman, California State Senator Mark Leno, former HUD Assistant Secretary Bob Friedman, San Francisco County Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, Saundra Hernandez (CEO of the San Francisco Foundation), and founding CEO Ben Mangan.
The organization pioneered an Individual Development Account initiative alongside one of the earliest U.S. children's savings programs, Triple Boost, both aimed at advancing financial inclusion and educational savings opportunities for low-income households.
From 2015 Onward
Leigh Phillips assumed the role of President & CEO at SaverLife in 2015. Two years later, in 2017, EARN introduced SaverLife, a complimentary digital platform designed to encourage saving through financial rewards, coaching, and prize incentives that foster stronger financial security.
In 2019, EARN transitioned its identity to SaverLife, unifying all nonprofit activities under this single brand. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, SaverLife modified its platform to facilitate direct cash distributions, providing $2.7 million to members and small enterprises by October 2020. The organization also undertook studies on stimulus fund utilization and monitored financial well-being trends; these insights were referenced by institutions such as the National Bureau of Economic Research, University of Chicago, and Columbia Business School.
That same year, SaverLife secured funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through the Voices for Economic Opportunity Grand Challenge. Continuing its research efforts, SaverLife collaborates with entities like The Brookings Institution, FINRA Investor Education Foundation, and the Financial Health Network to advance its goal of improving financial stability among low- and moderate-income populations.
Products and services
SaverLife’s platform motivates participants to increase their savings. In 2019, it introduced SaverLife Solutions—a tailored version of its platform designed for employers, community groups, and credit unions to provide as an employee benefit aimed at building emergency funds. This initiative was launched with a $1.5 million investment from Prudential Financial.
SaverLife Solutions has formed partnerships with prominent organizations such as Levi Strauss's Red Tab Foundation, the KFC Foundation, Alorica, Concentrix, and United Way of Houston to offer matched savings programs for workforce members. Additionally, the platform is incorporated into Intuit’s Prosperity Hubs initiative supporting communities and employers in Bluefield, West Virginia, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. In 2020, Intuit expanded this collaboration to deploy SaverLife’s services nationwide across its Prosperity Hubs network.