Defining “Enough” – A New Benchmark for Measuring Wealth‑Building Impact

Grantmakers are increasingly being asked to demonstrate how their investments in wealth building translate into meaningful, long‑term economic mobility for families. Yet one core question remains unresolved across the field: What level of wealth is actually “enough” for a household to thrive—and how can philanthropy measure progress toward that goal?

Over the past year, the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP) – in consultation with a range of experts from research, government, business, philanthropy, and nonprofits – has developed a data-driven measurement approach, set of national thresholds, and key milestones along the path to essential wealth.

Please join Asset Funders Network, Aspen FSP, and funders who have partnered on the development of this metric to get a pre-publication preview of what it is and contribute to a discussion of how it can be used to support strategic decision making. Participants in this virtual meeting will:

• Become familiar with the Essential Wealth concept and understand its purpose as a north‑star benchmark for household wealth sufficiency and ownership of appreciating assets.
• Build knowledge of the metric’s key features and how it connects to existing measures of household financial sufficiency (e.g., asset poverty, liquid savings, retirement readiness, income sufficiency).
• Learn about the key milestones on the path to essential wealth, and how they can be used as an actionable tool and guidepost for progress.
• Get access to first-of-its-kind national data on how U.S. households are faring relative to the essential wealth metric and milestones.
• Contribute to discussion and ideation of next steps – including how philanthropy can use the metric towards strategic decision making.

This session is an opportunity to help shape a field‑defining tool and to consider how Essential Wealth can support your mission, your grantees, and the broader movement to build wealth and ownership for all families.

Speakers:

Annika Little, Asset Funders Network
Paula D’Ambrosa, Prudential Financial
Julie Stone, Gary Community Ventures
The speaker list is currently under development.

Audience:

This is an AFN member-only conversation. Please contact Suzil Sciancalepore (suzil@assetfunders.org) with any questions.