ABA Foundation Launches 2024 Financial Education Campaigns, Continues Initiative to Reach 5 Million Americans

The American Bankers Association Foundation today launched its 2024 financial education campaigns, encouraging banks across the country and their more than two million employees to participate in these important industry efforts to help consumers improve their financial well-being. 

Today’s launch continues the ABA Foundation’s three-year, industry-wide commitment to reaching five million Americans with financial education courses through its campaigns. In 2023, the Foundation made significant progress with 35,000 bank volunteers from 816 banks reaching 1.23 million people.

The ABA Foundation offers four national initiatives designed to equip banker volunteers with the tools necessary to share essential financial knowledge in their local communities. This year, the Foundation will roll out new resources and revamped content for several of its programs to help bankers cultivate connections with customers of all ages, deepen partnerships with community organizations, and build a more inclusive economic future. All of the Foundation programs are completely free to both ABA member and non-member banks. Those programs are: 

• Teach Children to Save
• Get Smart About Credit 
• Safe Banking for Seniors 
• Lights, Camera, Save! video contest

“The ABA Foundation programs offer a meaningful way for bankers to support the communities they serve and make a positive impact,” said Lindsay Torrico, executive director, ABA Foundation. “We hope our industry colleagues will join us in participating and help us in our continued efforts to reach millions of Americans with these critical resources to improve their overall financial health.”

Teach Children to Save

The ABA Foundation’s signature initiative, Teach Children to Save, now in its 27th year, is a national campaign that provides tools and resources to educate local K-8 students about money and real-world financial concepts through classroom presentations, engaging activities, social media and other outreach efforts. The ABA Foundation is set to update its entire suite of program materials to meet the latest Jump$tart Coalition standards and will offer an improved program website.

While Teach Children to Save Day will be celebrated on April 25, bankers are encouraged to promote financial education throughout the year.

Get Smart About Credit

Get Smart About Credit is a national program that helps bankers equip teens and young adults with an understanding of budgeting, credit scores, identity theft and paying for college, in addition to encouraging the exploration of careers in banking. Later this year, the ABA Foundation will continue to roll out new content focused around preparing for ‘financial firsts.’ Though the campaign is celebrated annually on the third Thursday of October, bankers are encouraged to lead presentations and spread awareness throughout the year.

Safe Banking for Seniors

In addition to its youth financial education initiatives, the ABA Foundation also offers its Safe Banking for Seniors program. Safe Banking for Seniors, led by banker volunteers nationwide, helps older customers, their families and caregivers understand and mitigate the risks of fraud and financial exploitation. New to this year’s programming is a module on ‘known perpetrator fraud’ that includes a presenter’s guide, PowerPoint presentation, activity sheets and participant handouts.

Curricula for Teach Children to Save, Get Smart About Credit and Safe Banking for Seniors are available in both English and Spanish.

Lights, Camera, Save!

Lights, Camera, Save! is a national video contest that encourages teens to create a video up to 30 seconds long that demonstrates the importance of using money wisely. The national grand prize winners of the 2023-2024 contest are set to be announced Feb. 20 and are eligible to win up to $5,000. The next entry period will begin October 2024 and the contest is open to teen filmmakers of all experience levels.

Bankers can register for ABA Foundation programs and receive turnkey resources, real-time customer support, ready-to-use promotional and communication materials. Again, there is no cost for banks that register to participate in any of the Foundation programs. Bankers interested in learning more about the Foundation programs are invited to join a free informational webinar, Achieving Your Bank’s Community Impact Goals in 2024, on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. ET.

The ABA Foundation also offers a free web connection tool, FinEdLink, that can match community groups, faith-based ministries, senior centers, schools and other organizations with local bank volunteers willing to share financial education lessons. Groups interested in having a banker make a presentation can simply submit a free request at aba.com/FinEdLink to be paired with a local volunteer.

This year, the ABA Foundation’s financial education programming is generously sponsored by Ally, Bank of America, Citi, Chase, Plinqit, Truist, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and Zions Bank.

Interested banks can register at aba.com/FinEd or call 1-800-BANKERS for more information.