Options to Develop a Financial Education Program
Financial problems cause major problems at the community, national, and global levels. To address these issues, an increasing number of organizations have begun to expand and/or develop a financial education program.
Many of these organizations face the same dilemma when considering how they will build a program. They want to know the best way to develop a financial education program that can make a real difference in someone’s life. This page explores 3 common options.
Common question: “Should we create a program from scratch, piece together random resources, or develop our own financial literacy program?”
The answer depends on your goals, the expertise of your staff, and your timeline. This article provides quick, practical tips on how to locate financial literacy programming that fits your organizational and learning objectives. This webpage will provide you all the options.
3 Main Areas Needed to Develop a Financial Education Program
Phase 1: Foundation
Build Financial Education Resources
Train Financial Education Instructors
Design a Financial Education Program Plan
Phase 2: Execution
Develop Marketing, Signage, & Other Resources
Build Ongoing Education Resources
Develop Measurement Tools & Reporting
Phase 3: Growth
Create a Business & Funding Model
Build Business & Funding Resources
Implement Program Management Systems
Choice 1: Build an Average Program from Scratch
Creating your own financial literacy programming is a big undertaking that will require convening a team of experts – from design and editing to legal and program testers. Developing your own package requires years of effort, testing, and a lot of money.
Choice 2: Piece Together Random Resources
Pulling various materials together produces programs that lack cohesiveness and provide a low-quality user experience. Since the pieces are not designed to work together, the flow of information is disjointed, the learning outcomes are difficult to align, and participants immediately question your professionalism.
Developing your own financial education programming is a big undertaking that will require convening a team of experts – from design and editing to legal and program testers. Creating your own package requires years of effort, testing, and a lot of money.
Choice 3: Use NFEC Resources
The NFEC solves the problems associated with locating financial literacy curriculum and makes delivering high-quality programming turnkey. The NFEC places primary focus on reducing the cost, time, and personnel needed to develop a professional-grade financial education program.
We empower people with the financial literacy curriculum and support resources that optimize financial education programming. Our materials offer educational-grade content, a positive user experience, and a turnkey solution to your financial education programming needs.
NFEC Mission
One of the NFEC’s primary foci is to reduce the cost, time, and personnel needed to develop a high-quality financial education program.
Before, financial education programs were just for large corporations – but the playing field is now level for those who want professional-quality programming. Now passionate individuals in communities around the globe can have a top-quality program for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
The key to success is empowering financial literacy champions in communities around the globe to provide members of their communities access to a financial education program that can make a meaningful difference in their lives.
Breakdown of Development Options: Building Programming vs NFEC-supported Program Development
Phase 1: Foundation
Build Financial Education Resources
Develop Your Own
Your team will include an instructional designer, content developer (instructor guide, student guide, testing, instructor resources, etc.), editor, layout designer, cover designer, and lawyer (legal disclaimers and compliance review). It takes approximately 30 to 50 hours to develop 1 hour of resources and can easily cost in the $1,000 to $4,000 range per 1 hour of instruction time.
Build Financial Education Resources
NFEC-supported
Provides you access to proven resources that can accommodate your audience and branding. 80 hours of presentations run a few hundred dollars and are available in multiple formats including live presentations, online, and blended learning formats.
Train Financial Education Instructors
Develop Your Own
Because teaching personal finance involves expertise in subject matter, educational techniques, financial psychology, and behavioral finance – qualified trainers are needed to lead programming. The process of developing training for educators can take years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Train Financial Education Instructors
NFEC-supported
The NFEC’s financial educator training program leads the industry. Comprehensive training is available for financial educators, coaches, and support personnel.
Design a Financial Education Program Plan
Develop Your Own
Program design is a backbone of the program’s success, so bringing on a qualified financial education expert with years of experience designing and implementing programming is essential. This team member can take a few months to locate and run $10,000 to $20,000 for a short-term contractor or $6,000 to $8,000 per month for a full-time employee.
Design a Financial Education Program Plan
NFEC-supported
We provide comprehensive training resources, design worksheets, personal phone call support, and weekly open group calls to support your program design.
Phase 2: Execution
Develop Marketing, Signage, & Other Resources
Develop Your Own
A third-party contractor or internal team member can build out specific marketing and promotion resources. Time will be required to draw up a statement of work for the contractor and create a rough resource design and copy. Without considering your time investment, a contractor would run a few hundred dollars.
Develop Marketing, Signage, & Other Resources
NFEC-supported
You gain access to a wide variety of promotional and user experience resources that you can easily customize.
Build Ongoing Communication & Education Resources
Develop Your Own
You would need a marketing person to work with someone who develops the education. Since it is best if ongoing training continues in perpetuity, the costs will increase over time.
Build Ongoing Communication & Education Resources
NFEC-supported
Ongoing education and communication resources are provided.
Develop Measurement Tools & Reporting
Develop Your Own
Testing experts and survey designers with backgrounds in psychology and behavioral finance would be needed. A report designer would also be needed to create an esthetically pleasing report. The development time is short and can cost in the hundreds of dollars for each assessment. The report design would run a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Develop Measurement Tools & Reporting
NFEC-supported
Gain access to the testing and survey bank that aligns perfectly with education resources. Predesigned reporting templates are also provided in a format where you can easily add in your program details.
Phase 3: Growth
Create a Business & Funding Model
Develop Your Own
A program director with years of real work experience in financial education is necessary. To bring on a contractor, this expense can range from $5,000 to $25,000. For a full-time employee, the annual salary would range between $75,000 and $100,000.
Create a Business & Funding Model
NFEC-supported
We provide business guidance shared by experts who have proven success in building programs and funding models to help your program grow.
Implement Program Management Systems
Develop Your Own
The management systems needed are affordable; however, initial expertise is required to establish the structure. These costs can run in the thousands to tens of thousands of dollars to establish.
Implement Program Management Systems
NFEC-supported
The NFEC supplies a list of all the systems we use and directions on how to leverage these tools for your program.
Build Business & Funding Resources
Develop Your Own
Depending on your model, a sponsorship expert, grant writer, pricing consultant, invoice developer, and others may be needed to build your programming. Contractors for these positions can start around $2,500; plus time from your internal team would be needed.
Build Business & Funding Resources
NFEC-supported
We provide sponsorship forms, prewritten grants, directions on how much to charge, invoices, and other funding resources.