Propel

CHALLENGE/OPPORTUNITY

One in seven Americans depend on the U.S. Department of Agriculture food assistance through food stamps (SNAP) to feed their families. Even with this program, the food benefits often run out halfway through the month leaving families, particularly children, vulnerable. Food security is only one of the challenges these families face. Navigating safety net programs can be arduous.

Result

Fresh EBT SNAP users have more money to spend on food each month and have increased access to the additional nutrition and non-food services they need. The added benefits and features of Fresh EBT’s user-friendly platform compel the user to come back to the app each week, creating sustainable engagement.

Propel’s Fresh EBT is on their way to providing a comprehensive, tri-sector anti-poverty platform.

 

 

Note: NewView and its employees have worked with the company.

Multi-Sector Approach
Private Sector

See these users as a viable market segment and facilitate access to these customers for other organizations, creating more value for the customer.

Public Sector

Dataset that can be used to manage and propel other sectors to action.

Social Sector

Increase access to programs with government and social sector funding for the users.

Breaking Down the Process

See the problems differently

Forty million Americans with unmet needs are being poorly served by the existing market. The $70B in spending power controlled by SNAP users has long been siloed and its value unrecognized by consumer markets. Propel’s founders ultimately realized they could be a hub to improve the lives of SNAP users, whose needs go beyond just SNAP or food insecurity. Expanding the view of the problem leads to questions like: What does the user need to thrive in their daily lives, how can they get additional value and what additional resources can be leveraged to support this group?

Break Siloes

Who has the resources to solve this problem?

The government’s SNAP data is a tremendous, underutilized asset that could be leveraged to create more value for its customers. Unlocking the siloes of spending data, services from non-profits and government, and technological know-how and business acumen in a private sector team like Propel, creates the opportunity to generate more value and utilization of services from all the sectors.

Repurpose

How can assets be given new life?

Propel’s app, Fresh EBT, repurposes spending data from the government to make a new market visible in this large previously ignored customer segment. By exposing this data, manufacturers and retailers can market to and create more value directly for the user. Further, geolocation data from the users’ phones can help identify local resources such as food banks, free tax preparation programs, or job opportunities.

Engage Self-interest

How do we create sustainable fuel?

The Propel paradigm creates a win for each sector.

  • Couponing from grocery stores and manufacturers in the private sector increases demand for their stores and products.
  • This targeted marketing from the private sector increases the spending power for the recipients.
  • Geolocating social sector services increases the usage of these programs, ensuring ongoing funding for these programs.
  • All of these benefits for the users increase customer loyalty for Propel.
  • Improving the lives of people on SNAP provides ongoing societal benefit.

Re-align

What business model changes create the win?

Propel exposes the user to additional services, which are often underutilized. Ultimately, the strain and stress of food insecurity is reduced as more value is created by Propel for their user. Food security programs are able to maximize their impact by aligning their services with Propel, ultimately making them more accessible. Propel is able to maximize its effectiveness by creating a business model on repurposed assets.

 

Learn more about Propel and their COVID-19 multi-sector response.