At its core, Participatory Budgeting is a vehicle for social impact, allowing people to collaboratively invest in their school or community. And Participatory Budgeting (PB) is the soul of the FirstRoot app. Partnering with FirstRoot enables organizations to enhance their constituents’ financial literacy and civic engagement by making PB available. FirstRoot’s vision is to ensure that all young people are empowered to take control of their financial lives. The organizations we align ourselves with make this possible through our PB app. Organizations can partner with us by funding a PB program, using the FirstRoot app to supplement existing curricula, or integrating the FirstRoot API.
FirstRoot empowers young people to:
- Master financial literacy
- Then invest in the future of society
- And then achieve greater social impact
Fund a Participatory Budgeting Program
If an organization decides to fund a FirstRoot PB program, it can pick the school(s), or FirstRoot can pick a Title I school. The typical investment for a budgeting cycle is between $2,000 to $10,000, which is then allocated to fund the school’s capital expenses at the direction of the students (e.g., 3-D printer, feminine hygiene products, mini-library, etc.).
The requirements are that the money is given with few limitations: No vested interests are promoted, and the donations are nonpartisan and nondenominational. 75% of the donation goes to funding the PB cycle; 25% pays for the FirstRoot application and the financial literacy curriculum for the students. As the students vote on and implement substantial improvements for their school, the funding organization receives reports regarding how their donations are being used.
Powered by FirstRoot
Powered by FirstRoot is for organizations that have a curriculum and need an application. For banks, credit unions, and other financial organizations that seek a hands-on financial learning experience, the Powered By FirstRoot partnership option enables companies to integrate PB into their existing curriculum. Unlike slow, tedious, impractical in-person programs, the FirstRoot app provides an immediately accessible solution to our partners. Organizations that leverage Powered by FirstRoot can enhance the learning experience for their clients. For instance, this partnership would enable an organization to help teach underserved youth in high-poverty areas how to manage money better.
Using the FirstRoot API
For companies that wish to integrate PB into their existing applications, the FirstRoot API provides a complete solution for all the phases of PB. Unlike open-source solutions, which require you to build and manage an entire backend infrastructure, the FirstRoot API enables you to focus on creating your client app. Integrating FirstRoot’s API allows an organization to help a community address a problem that it would like to solve collaboratively.
Although we may not know your mission, we’re certain that partnering with us and using FirstRoot’s PB platform can help you advance it. For example, if your goal is to combat climate change, you can sponsor a PB cycle to address it. If your objective is reducing homelessness, and you have the FirstRoot app, you can integrate a PB cycle to help people who want to solve that problem. In short, if you’re interested in teaching people how to invest responsibly in a community or charity, this app will support their decisions and offer hands-on experience.
FirstRoot’s dynamic solution can address social impact in various ways. Our goal is to encourage more organizations to partner with us to experience the true power of Participatory Budgeting.
