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2023 Community Committment Awards Submission

  • Entry Category: Financial Education
  • Asset Size: Small

SaveUp is a free digital curriculum for middle school students designed by Varo Bank and EVERFI that teaches why saving is important, how to budget and spend wisely, why savings can help reach financial goals, and how to open a savings account. The SaveUp curriculum aligns with Jump National Standards for Personal Finance Education and provides interactive elements such as:

  1. Self-guided lessons to help students develop simple, actionable strategies;
  2. Real-world scenarios and animated videos that prime students for long-term behavioral change using problem-solving and self-re.ection activities; and,
  3. Detailed score reports and of.ine extension activities to help teachers maximize their impact across all students.

During the 2022-2023 school year, SaveUp has been implemented in over 2,400 schools (46% of which primarily serve low-to-moderate income students) in all 50 states. It has helped almost 114,000 students and their families build a strong savings foundation. Students saw a significant increase (34 percentage points) in financial knowledge and improved their financial confidence related to savings, budgeting, and setting financial goals.

You can watch a video highlighting the SaveUp program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-bhJFxLWyg

SaveUp is the largest initiative to date of the Varo Money Power program, which has included past initiatives such as Russ x Varo Money Power workshops (in collaboration with NBA superstar Russell Westbrook) and the BlackRock Emergency Savings Initiative (ESI). If you would like to learn more about Varo Money Power and our broader Impact Program, you can visit our website here: https://www.varomoney.com/impact/