Our Partnership Model

Many community organizations recognize direct financial assistance could greatly benefit the people they serve - whether it’s funds to cover basics like food and rent, or flexible cash to pursue goals like launching a business or going back to school. However, taking on the administrative work of distributing and tracking funds, qualifying recipients, and more often exceeds staff bandwidth.

Distributing regular financial assistance to even a small number of people requires extensive effort on top of an organization’s core programs and services. This leaves an unfortunate gap between the desire to provide financial support and the capacity to do so effectively.

Held exists to fill this gap and empower local organizations to expand economic access.

By handling the implementation, reporting, and evaluation of guaranteed income programs, Held enables partners to focus on service provision while transforming lives with direct financial support. With the guaranteed income administrative labor off their plates, our partner organizations can move from intention to impact.

Challenges Overcome By Collaboration

One of the key challenges faced by community-based organizations is balancing the implementation of guaranteed income alongside their ongoing service obligations. Our team understands the unique dynamics and constraints these organizations encounter. We have a deep understanding of the challenges they face, particularly in terms of staff capacity and resource allocation.

Our experienced staff has worked closely with a variety of community-based organizations that provide diverse services to assist people with a wide range of needs. This experience has given us valuable insights into the specific challenges associated with implementing guaranteed income projects within these contexts. We appreciate the need for organizations to maintain their existing service provision while introducing a new program.

By partnering with Held, community-based organizations can benefit from our expertise in guaranteed income initiatives and our understanding of their unique circumstances. We offer comprehensive support throughout the project lifecycle, including assistance in participant eligibility criteria, practical implementation strategies, and fund administration through our established partnerships with fund disbursement platforms.

By leveraging our know-how and experience, community-based organizations can save valuable time and effort in designing and implementing their guaranteed income projects. We empower our partners to focus on their core mission of providing essential services to their constituents while changing the lives of individuals through the transformative power of guaranteed income.

Partnership Process

The collaboration typically kicks off with an introductory call or meeting where we learn about your organization, its mission, the constituents you serve, and your goals for implementing guaranteed income. This high-level discussion helps us understand your needs and assess how we can provide the most value through a partnership.

Next, we'll work closely together to design the specifics of the guaranteed income project. Key details we'll co-create include: participant eligibility criteria and selection process, referral systems, intake and orientation process, payment amounts and duration, any supplemental services to couple with the income, timeline and milestones, and the desired outcomes.

Before launching, we'll collaborate on necessary planning and documentation such as MOUs, data sharing agreements, participant consent forms, etc. We'll also iron out logistics like selecting a reliable payment platform, designing the intake process, and other operational details tailored to your participants' needs and your organization’s capacity.

Once the groundwork is laid, your staff will handle identifying and screening potential participants based on the eligibility criteria we established. During onboarding, we'll collect required information and initiate the first payments.

Ongoing payment disbursement happens seamlessly each month through debit cards or other transfer methods managed entirely by Held. We have our own participant management system to track each participant, their guaranteed income amount, payment date, and cumulative payments. We also provide ongoing recipient support to address any issues that arise throughout the duration.

We also share spending data so our partners gain insights into the program's effects. With learnings from each project iteration, we can collaborate to modify the program model over time if desired. Successful launches also provide a foundation for potentially expanding to serve more people if additional funding is secured by either partner.

As the guaranteed income project wraps up, we'll work together to summarize outcomes and key learnings in reports that capture the impact and inform potential replication.

Shared Services and Supports

We believe that people in need are best served by people doing their best work.

Once the project launches, Held takes the lead on scheduling and distributing monthly payments, and troubleshooting any issues with fund disbursement. This enables the partner organization to focus where they excel - providing social services, case management, and wraparound supports tailored to their clients' needs.

If our partners choose, Held can coordinate data collection through surveys and interviews and brings analytical capabilities to synthesize insights. The partner contributes qualitative insights, client feedback, and perspective on the impact supplemental services have.

By having Held handle the bulk of the administrative lift, partners avoid diverting significant staff time and resources away from their core programs. With subject matter expertise in guaranteed income, Held also brings specialized knowledge partners often lack.

At the same time, partners retain control over key decisions and their staff build direct relationships with recipients. This division of roles maximizes administrative efficiency while ensuring the project aligns with the organization's mission and strengths.

Payment Process

Once the project launches, Held manages the smooth, reliable distribution of payments each month to recipients. We have an established partnership with GiveCard, a platform designed specifically for social impact organizations to disburse funds.

GiveCard allows Held to instantly issue reloadable prepaid debit cards that we distribute to recipients. The cards can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. Because GiveCard does not require personal information from cardholders, Held can get funds to populations often excluded from traditional banking, including undocumented individuals and those experiencing homelessness.

We handle loading the proper regular payment amount to each participant's card. GiveCard provides an online portal for tracking balances and transactions. Held staff also maintain contact with recipients to provide support explaining and using their card as well as troubleshooting any payment issues that arise.

This comprehensive payment infrastructure enables partners to get cash assistance to their clients quickly, easily, and securely.

Partnership Models

Ongoing Referral Partnership

In our Ongoing Referral model, Held establishes an ongoing partnership with an organization to provide guaranteed income to a steady stream of qualified participants they identify and refer to us. Once the partnership terms are set, the partner organization can make referrals on a rolling basis as funding permits, and Held will initiate payments to approved individuals. Referrals happen organically rather than a fixed cohort. The partner may distribute payment cards directly or Held can handle delivery. This flexible model works well when funding is coming in regularly versus a fixed upfront amount. It allows growing the recipient pool incrementally.

Fixed-Term Cohort Partnership

Our Fixed-Term Cohort model entails Held partnering with an organization on a guaranteed income project with defined start and end dates. Together we determine the cohort size based on secured funding, and participants are identified and brought into the project within a 4-6 week period. Held then manages payment distribution and support for the full group over the fixed project term, normally 6-12 months. This structured approach fits best when there is a clearly defined pool of funds available for a partnership. It facilitates uniform delivery and evaluation for the cohort. At the end, we report on learnings to inform potential next iterations.

Funding

If an organization has funds it wants to provide directly to recipients, Held can collaborate as an implementation partner to handle administration, management, and evaluation. The partner retains full control over the level of funding while benefiting from Held's infrastructure and expertise.

Held also has Core Partnerships where we secure funding and finance the guaranteed income ourselves. This allows us to pilot guaranteed income with a partner's population when they lack the funding to do it alone. Held handles fundraising and financing through grants and donations. Currently, our core partnerships are only in Greensboro, NC.

Finally, we're happy to work side-by-side with potential partners to raise funds for a collaboration.

Our partnership model is flexible when it comes to funding sources. Some partners have funds ready to deploy with Held's support, while in other cases we take the lead on financing and fundraising to launch transformational guaranteed income programs together. We would love to discuss these funding options and opportunities with you.

Next Steps

We encourage any organization passionate about providing financial empowerment to reach out and learn more about guaranteed income partnerships with Held. Please reach out to contact@heldgso.org and introduce yourself and your organization. We can schedule an introductory call to discuss your goals, population served, and opportunities for collaboration. During this initial discussion, we can provide further details on Held's partnership models, answer questions, and explore potential fit.

We look forward to hearing from community organizations eager to change lives through the transformative power of guaranteed income. Let's start the conversation today.