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.
The Impact of the Enhanced Child Tax Credit on Lower-Income Households
Commonwealth, SaverLife, and Neighborhood Trust assessed the impact of the enhanced Child Tax Credit on eligible families’ financial health.
Tech for Good Toolkit
Commonwealth’s Emerging Tech for All (ETA) initiative aims to ensure that the design of new financial technologies integrates the needs, wants, and aspirations of people living on low to moderate incomes (LMI). We are shedding light on these perspectives by…
A Case Study in Credit Building
Commonwealth partnered with LOQBOX to research and recommend improvements to credit-building tools, and evaluate their impact on people living on low to moderate incomes.
Digital Payments and the New Opportunity to Increase Savings
Our research uncovers opportunities for high-quality savings products in contactless payment apps.
A Case Study in Workplace
Emergency Savings
Providing an emergency savings option through the workplace is key to improving financial security and ultimately building wealth for low- to moderate-income (LMI) workers.
Designing Conversational AI for People Living on Low to Moderate Incomes
The emergence of new technologies has a major impact on financial security and opportunity at every level of society. Too often, however, the design of new technologies does not take into account the needs of and potential benefits for households…
Actionable Insights for Inclusive Product Design
Inclusive product design can be a key lever for improving financial security and opportunity for people traditionally left out of the financial system. Below we share important product insights from our 20+ years of research, design, and testing. Commonwealth’s approach…
Increasing Savable Funds Through Debt Refinancing
One path to increasing emergency savings is through increasing the availability of savable funds by reducing fees, expenses, and the budgetary footprint of existing debt. This brief provides an overview of what we have learned from past savable funds research…
Community Service and Emergency Savings
As part of our continued research to innovate high-quality emergency savings solutions to address this challenge, Commonwealth partnered with Shared Harvest Fund of Los Angeles. The goal of the partnership was to explore the financial, psychological, and community impact of…
529 Account Plans and Emergency Savings
Parents can take advantage of state 529 plans to save for their children’s future education in an account with growth potential. But families with LMI—who have much to gain by increased enrollment in college and other opportunities beyond high school—rarely…