AFSA Education Foundation 2020 – A Year to Remember
As we approach the close of 2020, I want to provide an update on the many successes of the AFSA Education Foundation. Most importantly, I thank our AFSA members for their support.
In 2020, the foundation marked its 30th anniversary. To celebrate this significant milestone, we conducted a successful radio media tour in February, which reached more than 5.3 million people across the country and highlighted the effectiveness of MoneySKILL®, the AFSA Education Foundation’s online personal finance program. Specifically, a study of aggregate data for over 65,000 completers between 2013 and 2017 found that, on average, post-course test scores increased 50% compared to pre-test marks.
Use of MoneySKILL continues to grow and has been propelled by the demand for online learning content as a result of the pandemic. The foundation has seen a notable increase in both new teacher and student users through November of this year – a 21% increase in new MoneySKILL instructor enrollments and 31% more new students reflecting over 26,000 additional students enrolled compared to the same time last year.
A key part of the foundation’s work is focused on keeping MoneySKILL as a cutting edge, respected resource. This year we added many new features to the curriculum, along with an instructor guide chock full of three hundred and sixty online learning activities that complement the curriculum. Our efforts to make MoneySKILL the best it can be aren’t going unnoticed. Earlier this year, foundation staff were invited by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to present on MoneySKILL and other foundation initiatives.
AFSA members understand the value of MoneySKILL and are proud to share its value with their employees, customers, and others in the communities where they live and work. In the coming months, three new modules of MoneySKILL content will be offered to AFSA member employees via the AFSA University platform. The MoneySKILL Ambassador Program – with its robust toolkit – is always available to AFSA members to share the importance of financial education with members of their community. In a similar way, this year we launched a new effort with the AFSA Business Partner Board to raise awareness of MoneySKILL and to provide volunteer subject matter experts in schools. We look forward to continuing that work in 2021.
The foundation’s staff continues to spread the word about MoneySKILL and provides teacher trainings at various educator conferences and via virtual exhibits and presentations. This year alone, our outreach efforts have touched more than 17,000 teachers and decisionmakers. This year we also continued to see increased social media activity, on Twitter and Facebook, doubling the number of website conversions from these sites.
The foundation also runs the high-quality Education, Development, Growth, and Enrichment Program (EDGE) and the Leadership Development Program, which serve hundreds of AFSA member employees and leaders. We are already planning for the 2021 EDGE in early June and the Leadership Development Program in mid-July. Additionally, for the first time this year we offered EDGE webinars to the incoming EDGE Year 2 students.
Thirty years ago, AFSA members identified the need for a foundation that focused on financial education. It continues to thrive because of AFSA members and many AFSA companies and individuals have contributed to the foundation in 2020. These financial contributions help us grow our efforts and make a positive difference. AFSA members support the education foundation because they believe that high quality financial education is one of the building blocks of the American dream.
In short, the support of AFSA members makes our success possible. If you have not already donated to support our work, please consider giving online at www.afsaef.org or reach out to me directly.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to 2021.
Rhonda Ashburn
Executive Director
AFSA Education Foundation
December 8th, 2020 by Dan Bucherer
