Our Research
Commonwealth conducts original qualitative and quantitative research with financially vulnerable people—including Black, Latinx, and women-led households who disproportionately experience financial insecurity. We also interview industry experts and academics. We take what we learn and translate findings into actionable insights and practical solutions designed to change systems to work better for financially vulnerable people. We work with community groups, employers, financial services firms, fintechs, policymakers, and workplace solution providers to design and test real-world, practical solutions that not only work for individuals and families, but are also scalable and address the business needs of our partners.
We share the results of our work to provide you with innovative ideas, practical insights, and the tools you need to act. Explore our publications below.
Savers Win at Tax Time: Testing Digital Strategies to Promote Tax Time Saving
Commonwealth and EARN tested a pledge and prize campaign to promote tax-time saving among the digital community of low-income people on EARN’s SaverLife platform. Our goals were to better understand the behavior of financially vulnerable people at tax time, explore…
Tax Time and Beyond: Future Directions for Advancing Financial Security
Tax time is a unique and critical opportunity for financially vulnerable people to build financial security. While there have been some efforts to build financial security at tax time, more can be done to help people take advantage of the…
Savings Innovation Convening: Using AI to Build Financial Security
Over the past year, Commonwealth has hosted a series of Savings Innovation convenings in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (the Boston Fed) for banks, credit unions, and key regulators in the region. Each session focused on a…
Minneapolis Minimum Wage Hike Resources
The new Minneapolis minimum wage ordinance went into effect on July 1. Learn how to implement this new ordinance with the below tools and resources you can use to boost your business by encouraging your employees’ financial stability. These include: A direct…
The State of Prize-Linked Savings
Prize-linked savings (PLS) is a proven, innovative, and engaging approach in which savers can earn chances to win prizes by making savings deposits. Commonwealth has been the leading voice for advancing the concept of PLS in the United States for…
Rules of Thumb for Loan Repayment
Traditional forms of financial education, such as student loan entrance and exit counseling, have proven immemorable and unimpactful. Alternative and innovative solutions are needed, including rules of thumb. Rules of thumb are simple, memorable, actionable, broadly applicable, and inexpensive to…
SaveYourRefund 2018
Learn more about the winners and savers from SaveYourRefund 2018.
Integrated Product Design to Build Savings
In December 2017, Commonwealth and The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Boston Fed) hosted a Savings Innovation convening focused on integrated product design. Twenty-one banks, credit unions, and nonprofits in the region gathered to discuss financial security challenges and approaches…
Six Years of SaveYourRefund
SaveYourRefund (SYR) completed its sixth successful year in 2018. Learn about how this Commonwealth project has grown and the impact it has made on tax filers across the country.
The Changing Nature of Work: Amplifying the Voice of the Financially Vulnerable Worker
For many people, the nature of work is in flux. All indications are that the Traditional full-time job with one employer will continue to become less common as other work arrangements flourish. Those Non-Traditional alternatives are themselves evolving rapidly. To…