How Prosperi-Key use Argyle to connect users to income-based support services
Prosperi-Key, a subsidiary of United Way of Western Connecticut and United Way partner, links striving-but-struggling households with resources that help them stretch their dollar, save valuable time, and work toward financial stability. To qualify users for services and provide them with the best experience possible, it needs a secure, easy-to-use employment and income verification solution that’s inclusive of gig economy workers. Argyle checked all of those boxes.
Prosperi-Key at a glance
A nonprofit marketplace for people facing financial hardship
Launched in 2021 by United Way of Western CT, part of the network of the world’s largest privately funded charity organization, featuring 1,800 chapters in more than 40 countries and territories
Users who are employed and meet income thresholds are served personalized recommendations for services, products, and opportunities that support their financial well-being
Prosperi-Key will be rolled out in all U.S. counties where United Way operates
Successes
Instant access
With Argyle, income and employment verification happen instantly and in real-time, affording Prosperi-Key users immediate access to potentially life-changing benefits.
Comprehensive income stream aggregation
Argyle brings together employment data from multiple income sources and accommodates non-traditional employment, including gig and contract work, better than any other provider, ensuring that a critical subset of Prosperi-Key’s user base isn’t shut out from services.
Reduced friction
Argyle saves Prosperi-Key users from the hassles of manual entry, improving conversion and putting valuable minutes back into the hands of a time-crunched community.
The background
A vulnerable community
Prosperi-Key is a nonprofit, online marketplace tailored specifically to ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) individuals—that is, members of the 51 million U.S. households whose jobs pay more than the federal poverty limit (disqualifying them from receiving government benefits) but too little to make ends meet. ALICE individuals often hold multiple jobs that don’t pay the bills to support their families and take care of loved ones.
Aggregated access
Because of the precarious financial situation ALICE households are in, even one small setback or unplanned expense has the potential to exacerbate financial struggles. Prosperi-Key is a solution designed to help.
By connecting ALICE individuals with comprehensive support services, discount goods and products, and financial and occupational resources tailored to their location, living situation, and other circumstantial factors, Prosperi-Key is making it easier for them to access the tools and opportunities they need to protect their financial well-being and make their life easier.
The problem
Income-based eligibility
For Prosperi-Key to achieve its mission, it needed a fast, easy-to-use verification of income and employment (VoIE) solution to ensure users meet the ALICE eligibility criteria. That means confirming users:
Are employed, and
Earn more than the federal poverty limit but less than the minimum household budget threshold, which the United Way calculates for every county in the U.S. based on the local cost of living
Gig workers included
Prosperi-Key needed to find a secure and simple-to-use, but also highly granular employment and income verification solution that could be easily integrated into its marketplace. At the same time, Prosperi-Key needed to be able to verify not just users in traditional occupations but also those who have multiple income streams and work in the gig economy—a large and growing segment of the ALICE population.
The solution
Data made easy
Thanks to our vast data network, which covers more than 90 million U.S. workers and supports nearly 300 employer, payroll, and gig platforms, coupled with our market-leading ability to retrieve and standardize up to 140 fields of employment data, Prosperi-Key quickly landed on Argyle as their solution of choice.
“Argyle is critical to our mission, because it helps us make sure that we’re impacting our target demographic,” said Anita Amit, vice president of product at Prosperi-Key. “We need to be able to match every user’s zip code to a particular income threshold, and that requires the sophisticated aggregation technology and robust, real-time income data, inclusive of the gig economy, that only Argyle can provide.”
To qualify for Prosperi-Key’s personalized offers, users simply select their employer or payroll provider using Argyle’s customizable interface and enter their login credentials to consent to link. Argyle then acts as a secure data transfer agent on behalf of the user, retrieving the information Prosperi-Key needs to confirm their ALICE status and eligibility for services.
“Argyle stands out far above the rest for its seamless integration and ease of use,” explained Deepa Garg, growth marketer at Prosperi-Key. “The fact that a user can come to our website and not be overwhelmed is huge. It’s a fast track to their employment information.”
The results
Time is money
By saving users the hassle of manually entering all of their employment and income information, Argyle also translates to less friction. That’s good for both Prosperi-Key, from a conversion perspective, and users, for whom time spent performing menial tasks is time away from caring for their children and loved ones, practicing essential self-care, and earning income.
“Anything we can do to make it easy and time efficient, something they can do on their phone, is very important,” said Garg.
Security you can trust
Prosperi-Key also values the security measures Argyle has in place, which leaves them confident that their users’ data privacy is being safeguarded—without putting the onus on Prosperi-Key.
“We don’t want to own users’ personal information. Argyle takes care of the secure verification for us, so we can focus on our product offering,” Amit said.
The future
Coast to coast ambitions
Prosperi-Key is partnered with United Way affiliates to debut in three markets, but the plan is to grow their platform to serve every county in the United States that has valid ALICE data. Garg projects 100,000 users in the first year.“
It is designed to be exponentially scalable,” she said. “We intend to start with limited local markets, while still being relevant nationally and continually grow a few local markets at a time.”
Through it all, Prosperi-Key views Argyle as an essential partner supporting their growth.
“Argyle has the ability to grow with us and our ALICE users across the country,” she continued. “And it makes a difference, to have that uniform experience as we scale out.”
Overdue recognition
In turn, Prosperi-Key will be better positioned to achieve its ultimate goal: acknowledging and bringing much-needed visibility to a deserving, vulnerable population.
“ALICE individuals are essential to our communities,” Garg explained. “We want to convey to them that we are here, we see you, we recognize your struggles, and we recognize your aspirations.”
