About

Money Matters is a free introductory financial literacy program for adult learners that has been delivered to Canadians since 2011 and has reached over 66,000 adults. It was developed by ABC Life Literacy Canada in partnership with the Government of Canada and TD Bank Group and was designed by literacy practitioners.

How does the program work?

Money Matters is all about what works for your learners. That means host organizations choose when and where workshops happen.

To participate, simply sign up online to host a workshop. Once booked, your regional coordinator will be in touch to coordinate your Money Matters workshops and ship all workshop materials directly to your organization. Download free softcopies of the workbooks.

Workshops are delivered by your staff or with the help of TD Bank Group volunteer-tutors. If you request TD volunteer-tutors, ABC fully trains them to facilitate your workshops. Each workshop takes approximately 2 hours but can be shortened, combined or extended to best suit your learners’ needs.

Money Matters is completely introductory, so you don’t need to have a lot of financial education to deliver workshops. Additionally, we provide free online training to help prepare host organizations to deliver Money Matters.

We know that delivering new programming can be challenging: it takes time to prepare, and sometimes means coordinating coffee, snacks, and transportation for learners. That’s why ABC provides an honorarium for each workshop you run for your clients. Submit your completed learner evaluation forms within 2 weeks of running the workshops, and ABC will send your organization an honorarium cheque.

Money Matters Programs

Our Money Matters program has three different offerings: Money Matters, Money Matters for Indigenous Peoples and Money Matters for People with Diverse Abilities. 

All are written and designed with the adult learner in mind. This means:

• approachable, discussion-based activities
• topics based on extensive research and feedback from learners
• literacy level 2 content (grade 6-8 reading level)
• all financial terminology is defined—in the text, and in a glossary

In addition:

• Workshops can be delivered by host organization staff, or with optional support from TD Bank Group volunteer-tutors
• Adaptable according to the needs of each specific group
• Free – we ship all workshop materials to organizations across the country

1. Money Matters

• Aimed at the general adult learner
• Five workbooks to choose from:
  1. Spending Plans (also available as an online course)
  2. Banking Basics (also available as an online course)
  3. Borrowing Money (also available as an online course)
  4. Ways to Save (also available as an online course)
  5. Smart Shopping (also available as an online course)
• 10 hours of workshop content
• Workbooks available in English, French, Arabic and Chinese
• Honorarium: ABC provides host organizations $25 per workshop delivered

2. Money Matters for Indigenous Peoples

• This program contains the same core themes as the original Money Matters program, but also includes additional information and design elements to reflect the realities of Indigenous communities in Canada.
• Four workbooks to choose from:
  1. Budgeting and Spending Plans (also available as an online course)
  2. Banking Basics (also available as an online course)
  3. Credit and Borrowing (also available as an online course)
  4. Ways to Save (also available as an online course)
• 8 hours of workshop content
• Workbooks available in English
• Honorarium: ABC provides host organizations $50 per workshop delivered

3. Money Matters for People With Diverse Abilities

• Developed in direct response to requests from community learning organizations.
• The program modules and delivery format are adapted to best meet the needs of learners with various intellectual, verbal, physical and nonphysical capabilities.

• Seven modules include:
  1. What is a Bank?
  2. Ways to Pay
  3. Needs, Wants, and Spending Plans (also available as an online course)
  4. How to Use an ATM
  5. Understanding Your Paycheque
  6. Money Safety (also available as an online course)
  7. Facing Challenges (also available as an online course)
• 7 hours of workshop content for seminar presentation
• Workbooks available in English and French
• Honorarium: ABC provides host organizations $25 per workshop delivered

Who can run Money Matters workshops?

Workshop Materials

Workbooks: You will receive one printed workbook for each facilitator and learner in your workshop. The workbooks guide each workshop, taking your participants through activities, discussions, and learning. Download free softcopies of our workbooks.

Evaluation Forms: You will receive a pre- and post-workshop evaluation form for each learner in your workshop. We use the completed forms to evaluate program impact and effectiveness to ensure the material is relevant and interesting to learners. Once your workshops are done, please send us the completed evaluations. They’re also what prompt us to send you an honorarium for the workshop(s) you ran.