MoneyMinded - Corporate Responsibility

MoneyMinded

Targeted Training in Financial Skills

MoneyMinded is ANZ's adult financial literacy program. It's a comprehensive suite of educational resources for people most in need of financial education. MoneyMinded is delivered by a network of financial counsellors and community educators, working for and with, a range of community organisations.

The MoneyMinded Story

MoneyMinded was established after ANZ's 2003 study of financial literacy levels demonstrated a pressing need for financial skills education among socio-economically disadvantaged members of our community.

It was developed by the Centre for Learning Innovation at NSW Department of Education and Training, in conjunction with an advisory committee consisting of:

the Australian Financial Counselling and Credit Reform Association (AFCCRA);
the Financial Counsellors Association of NSW Inc. (FCAN);
the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC); and
ANZ representatives

Since 2004, MoneyMinded workshops have been delivered to over 68,222 people Australia-wide. Participants come from a diverse range of backgrounds including young people with disabilities and a Swahili-speaking women's group.

In 2007, MoneyMinded expanded to New Zealand where it was launched as part of an education program to help new parents think about the way they approach managing their money and make conscious decisions that will benefit their family's financial future.

Latest News

Sharing the stories (PDF 3.2mB) illustrates the various ways MoneyMinded is delivered to the community.

How It Works

The MoneyMinded program consists of 19 workshops across eight broad topics, covering areas like planning and budgeting; dealing with debt; home ownership and renting; and investment and superannuation. (For more details, see the MoneyMinded website.)

Every workshop includes speaking notes for facilitators and case studies, activity sheets, workshop summaries, and definitions of key words and terms for participants.

The program is flexible: it can be delivered through group workshops, individual counselling sessions, or online via the MoneyMinded website. Facilitators can select the topics that meet the specific needs of participants.

ANZ's ongoing commitment to MoneyMinded includes:

Facilitator training for financial counsellors and community educators
Partnerships with community organisations to deliver MoneyMinded in their communities
Annual reviews of the MoneyMinded content
Provision of MoneyMinded program materials

MoneyMinded is free from ANZ branding and does not directly promote ANZ products.

Our partners
MoneyMinded is made possible by the support and hard work of our community partners, who deliver both the MoneyMinded program and facilitator training. Our partners work on the ground with disadvantaged people to ensure MoneyMinded is delivered in a way that's relevant, accessible, and targeted to those who need it most. Anglicare SA The Benevolent Society Berry Street Victoria Brotherhood of St Laurence Kildonan Child and Family Services Mission Australia Plunket (NZ) The Smith Family

Our partners

MoneyMinded is made possible by the support and hard work of our community partners, who deliver both the MoneyMinded program and facilitator training. Our partners work on the ground with disadvantaged people to ensure MoneyMinded is delivered in a way that's relevant, accessible, and targeted to those who need it most.

Case study: "Geeze - this works!"
Berry Street's Ian Murray has been taking MoneyMinded to young people in residential care who are not participating in mainstream education. "In the MoneyMinded program we talk about setting SMART goals. One of them was saving up for an MP3 player. Every week when I caught up with them I'd say, 'How are you going?' And exactly as per the goal, he saved his money and very proudly went and bought his MP3 player," says Ian. "It was a big deal for him and he was very, very proud of that. And it was a bit of an eye-opener to the rest of the group as well. They thought, geeze - this works!"

Case study: "Geeze - this works!"

Berry Street's Ian Murray has been taking MoneyMinded to young people in residential care who are not participating in mainstream education.

"In the MoneyMinded program we talk about setting SMART goals. One of them was saving up for an MP3 player. Every week when I caught up with them I'd say, 'How are you going?' And exactly as per the goal, he saved his money and very proudly went and bought his MP3 player," says Ian.

"It was a big deal for him and he was very, very proud of that. And it was a bit of an eye-opener to the rest of the group as well. They thought, geeze - this works!"

Progress in 2008

As part of ANZ's ongoing commitment to measure the effectiveness of our community investments, we've commissioned RMIT University to evaluate the performance of MoneyMinded annually.

The results for the period from October 2007 to September 2008 are encouraging. Read the full RMIT evaluation report (PDF 177kB). We set a goal to reach 30,000 people through MoneyMinded in this period: the actual number was 26,985, maintaining our yearly growth in numbers and demonstrating the ongoing demand for, and continued relevance, of the program.

The Sharing the stories (PDF 3.2MB) was developed in 2008 and illustrates the different and innovative ways the MoneyMinded program is being delivered in the community. Some facilitators deliver the program in its original workshop format, while others are tailoring the materials to suit the specific needs of different community groups. MoneyMinded is designed to be a flexible program that can be adapted to suit a wide range of audiences.

Moneyminded

Other achievements during this period include training over 673 additional facilitators, publishing a booklet (PDF 3.2MB) of stories about the impact of the program on participants, and extending the materials to include two new topics.

Feedback from facilitators and participants is consistently positive. Here are some examples:

"I feel more in control of my money instead of it controlling me."

"I believe MoneyMinded is still the best prevention tool available to help get people to understand and take control of their finances."

"I have noticed some huge personal developments - one of our clients is now attending TAFE, which is an outstanding achievement because before she would not even go to the shops by herself."

In addition, 1,462 people have participated in MoneyMinded in New Zealand with 62 trainers.

The future

We've set an ambitious target to grow even further in 2009 and reach an additional 30,000 people in Australia, and New Zealand.

We constantly seek feedback from facilitators and participants about how the program can be improved, and this has resulted in the addition of two new topics in August 2008: "A roof over head" and "Planning for the future". We will continue to act on the feedback we receive so that the program can keep helping people acquire the financial skills they most need.

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