1/20/2023 Foundry Giving Friday: Prepare + Prosper

• Posted on 19 January 2023
• Posted in Foundry Giving Friday
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Every Friday The Foundry Home Goods contributes 5% of our total sales to a different community-nominated small-and-mighty cause. This Friday's Foundry Giving Friday recipient? Prepare + Prosper.

Prepare + Prosper is a St. Paul based non-profit working with individuals and families to build brighter financial futures.  Prepare + Prosper believes everyone deserves access to financial wellness, economic justice and wealth-building opportunities regardless of income. They do free taxes, free financial coaching, and help people obtain banking access. They also advocate and work to advance policies and practices that directly affect people with low- to moderate-incomes in the areas of tax credits, asset-building, and consumer protection. Why? The numbers say it all:

70% of households in the U.S. are constrained by income, have limited savings, and/or are challenged by debt (according to Pew). What’s more, about 1 in 4 households in the U.S. are excluded from the financial mainstream. This amounts to more than 194,432 households in the Twin Cities and when you break it down by race, the disparities are stark—1 in 7 white households compared to 1 in 2 black and Latino households (according to the FDIC).

What does this mean? Many people have unpredictable income and are unprepared to weather a financial shock. Many have no checking or savings accounts, are paying high fees for  tax preparation, and have no access to affordable credit or loans. That translates into exorbitant fees and interest rates—hundreds of dollars for a simple tax return, 24% APR on a retail credit card, and 273% APR on a payday loan.

Prepare + Prosper works to build financial health and provide access to quality tax and financial services. They are reshaping the financial landscape by partnering and innovating to offer services, products, and options that build wealth – not strip it – for families working hard to build a brighter financial future. They strive to work with people, communities, and systems to break down barriers and develop solutions to real financial opportunity and success.

If you don't need anything from us, please consider directly supporting Prepare + Prosper here.

If you DO find yourself in need of anything from us, know that your purchase goes to support good change happening on the community level.

Thanks to Sean for the nomination!

If YOU have a worthy cause to nominate for our Foundry Giving Friday initiative, pop on over to our Nomination Page and drop us a line. We're all in this together.