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.
Gamification: Making Financial Security Fun
Gamification provides a way to turn tasks into fun and engaging activities that lead to real world action. Commonwealth collaborates with employers, non-profits, financial services firms, and more to design, create, pilot, and scale gamified apps.
Commonwealth Brand Story
Watch this video about the CommonWealth brand.
Rules of Thumb Toolkit
This toolkit focuses on the design of rules of thumb (ROTs), simple, actionable guidelines that can help consumers with financial decision-making. If designed well, they are easy for consumers to remember and clearly communicate the action required. This toolkit will…
Consumer Engagement: Helping People Want What They Need
In partnership with the Asset Funders Network (AFN), Commonwealth wrote this brief to explain the importance of consumer-centric design. The brief includes an actionable framework and examples of how it can be implemented to create a product that consumers want…
SavingsQuest: How it Works
SavingsQuest, an award-winning app by Commonwealth, uses gamification to drive greater account engagement and saving. This short video demonstrates the key features of the app. Click here to learn more about SavingsQuest. “Even a small amount of savings can help manage…
A History of Prize-Linked Savings
Commonwealth's innovation process has proven effective over the last 15 years in building solutions to help over a million Americans build more than $200MM in savings. As one of Commonwealth's most notable ideas to go through the innovation process, Prize-Linked Savings (PLS)…
Four Years of SaveYourRefund
SaveYourRefund (SYR) completed its fourth successful year in 2016. Learn about how it has grown and the impact it has made on tax filers across the country. “[SaveYourRefund saw] successful integration with Volunteer Income Tax Assistant programs.” “29% of savers…
WINcentive Survey Results
This report is a summary of results from a Commonwealth survey of WINcentive account holders. The survey aims to understand who holds WINcentive accounts, what types of savers they are, and how WINcentive affects their impressions of credit unions. “[WINcentive] gives savers the thrill of…
SaveYourRefund 2016
The SaveYourRefund campaign had another successful tax season in 2016. SaveYourRefund, in its 4th year, is a national campaign encouraging savings at tax time, when households making less than $50,000 claim $100 billion in federal tax refunds. The campaign creates…
The Faces of Financial Vulnerability in Greensboro NC
Commonwealth undertook an in-depth research project with a small group of credit union account holders in Greensboro, NC in order to better understand the granularity of challenges faced by the financially vulnerable and the role prize-linked savings accounts can play in…