Meet our newest ImpactFool Nonprofits: Dollar For & 3rd Decade
After a rigorous national search, the ImpactFool (IF) Fund has selected two exceptional nonprofits to join its portfolio. Dollar For crushes medical bills by making hospital financial assistance known, easy, and fair; and 3rd Decade provides financial education, personalized guidance, and one-on-one financial mentors for young adults ages 18-40.
“We’re excited to welcome Dollar For and 3rd Decade into the ImpactFool Fund portfolio. These organizations represent what we look for in ImpactFool Nonprofits: innovative, human-centered approaches with strong execution and clear potential to scale.” — George Khalaf, Executive Director of the Fool Community Foundation
Meet Dollar For
More than 100 million Americans are carrying medical debt they can't actually afford. Dollar For helps individual patients navigate and access hospital financial assistance—programs that forgive or reduce bills based on their income. The free service has already helped erase $150 million in medical bills that could otherwise have followed families for years.
George, a casino worker in Nevada, is one of those families. Dollar For helped wipe out over $43,000 from the bill for his critical brain surgery.
"When they told me what was taken off, my daughter and I both cried. It felt like a huge weight was lifted," he said.
Meet 3rd Decade
Most people face life’s biggest financial decisions with zero training on how to make them. 3rd Decade addresses that gap with a virtual education program covering budgeting, homeownership, debt management and more. They back it up by pairing each participant with a volunteer financial mentor for two years of personalized advice: a structure that helps ensure good habits stick. The results are clear: participants come out of the program with an average net worth increase of over $50,000.
Abbie, a recent college grad, says 3rd Decade changed her life outright:
"The ripple effect really knows no end."
How the IF Fund Works
The Motley Fool has spent thirty years finding companies with real upside before everyone else notices. The IF Fund starts with a similar approach: finding early-stage nonprofits that have high potential for significant growth, who operate innovative models helping people move from financial stress to financial freedom.
Then we apply a venture philanthropy model, providing these ImpactFool Nonprofits with $300,000 in unrestricted funding over three years, which enables them to build a strong foundation for scalable impact. And, we pair them with a member of the IF Fund team, who applies their expertise in nonprofit management to help them identify opportunities for growth and solve whatever is standing between the organization and scale.
Our Portfolio Strategy
The IF Fund is focused on some of the most critical challenges that keep hard-working Americans from achieving financial freedom. Through our portfolio of ImpactFool Nonprofits - Dollar For, 3rd Decade, NeighborShare, and Tzedek DC - we are helping more people build the capacity to save, increase their knowledge to grow savings into wealth, and access solutions for financial resilience through life’s challenges.
What Happens Next
The IF Fund team is spending the next few months working directly with Dollar For and 3rd Decade to determine how the Fool Community can move the needle on their biggest needs, and setting three-year goals to measure our progress. Then we’ll go to work making it happen. We'll keep sharing updates with you as that work unfolds, wins and stumbles included.
Join Us
None of this happens without donors who believe in the IF Fund and our ability to find and accelerate innovative organizations.
