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STRENGTHEN
Building financial resilience.
White Box Enterprises’ Financial Wellbeing Program is the first bespoke financial wellbeing program created specifically for, and with, jobs-focused social enterprises.
Over three years, with the support of Ecstra Foundation, White Box Enterprises has worked alongside jobs-focused social enterprises to strengthen one of the most overlooked fundamentals of long-term employment: financial wellbeing.
From 2023 to 2025 the WBE Financial Wellbeing program supported social enterprises to embed financial wellbeing education into their support models, helping employees build confidence, skills and healthier behaviours around money.
This proved to be a valuable addition to the wrap-around supports provided by these businesses. In many cases, employees were earning a wage and managing their money for the very first time, making the training a timely and practical complement to on-the-job support.
The third and final evaluation by CSI Swinburne found the program to be highly effective, meeting all its goals for participating social enterprises.
According to Ecstra Foundation CEO, Caroline Stewart: "White Box and their social enterprise partners continue to show that providing new employees and workplaces with targeted financial wellbeing programs and supports is a highly effective and efficient model."
“Their collaborative approach, willingness to share learnings, and a clear focus on impact have enabled this work to grow and benefit more for purpose employers and employees. Ecstra is proud to continue our partnership with White Box, delivering meaningful and lasting financial wellbeing outcomes."
The full Year 3 evaluation report is available below.
The unexpected benefits
The true impact of the program is best seen through the stories of its participants.
Take Jacob, a crew member at YMCA ReBuild, who confronted a significant debt issue that had been causing him anxiety. The program equipped him with the confidence and skills to take action. Within a day, he established payment plans, and with assistance from his case worker, he discovered a prison program that reduced his debt from $9,000 to $200.
Then there’s Chris, a team member at Joii, who had never seen the importance of doing a tax return. Since completing the training, he lodged his first-ever tax return through myGov and received a refund, which he used to buy a second-hand car.
Explore more participant stories below.
Third year results of Financial Wellbeing Program
86%
said their confidence to manage their money had improved
93%
said it provided clear and relevant examples
95%
of participants had an improved sense of how to get financial help
91%
said it provided them with many new learnings
100%
found it understandable
All of the desired effects for social enterprises – integration with existing support, personalisation, and capability and skills – were delivered in Year 3.
