While the rest of the financial world calls April "Financial Literacy Month," Chime® has always believed knowledge alone isn't the point — progress is. So we call it what it is: Financial Progress Month®.
Acknowledging that not everyone has the same starting line, celebrating small wins, and honoring communities long overlooked by traditional banking is important. But this year we asked a bolder question: Where does everyone deserve to go? The answer is as far as they want. And we are here to facilitate that.
It's the thread running through everything Chime did this April: across communities, classrooms, policy rooms, and products. With that North Star in mind, here's a look at the moments, partnerships, and initiatives that defined the month.
How Chime Showed Up This April
Expanding Financial Education: Where Knowledge Meets Access
Financial progress starts with knowledge. This month, Chime brought that belief to life — in classrooms, on campuses, and in communities across the country.
Knowlej Financial Futures powered by Chime | We announced a new partnership with Knowlej, activated through a financial literacy challenge series for middle and high school students. By combining real money skills with rewards, attendance incentives, and in-app engagement, the program reaches underserved communities facing chronic absenteeism and financial knowledge gaps — because the path to financial progress starts long before adulthood.
Budget University at Tuskegee | We continued our financial education campus tour, bringing our next hands-on financial wellness workshop to Tuskegee University for 300+ student-athletes. The workshop covered budgeting, credit building, saving, and NIL opportunities — with the Mayor in attendance. 92% of students reported they improved their understanding of personal finance following the workshop. Watch the recap here.
Junior Achievement Partnership | We launched a strategic partnership with Junior Achievement USA to enhance JA Finance Parks® and bring AI-integrated, interactive financial literacy programming to students in San Francisco, Minneapolis, Denver, and Peoria. Early access to financial education is critical for building healthy, lasting financial habits — and this partnership helps make that a reality at scale.
Council for Economic Education (CEE) | We announced a partnership with CEE and the FinEd 50 initiative — positioning Chime as a national leader driving financial education standards across public schools.
Trump Accounts: Jumpstarting America's Financial Future
Investing is one of the most powerful wealth-building channels available, and the earlier you start, the more time you have to work on your portfolio. Trump Accounts are bringing earlier access to investing to America's children and Chime is leaning in.
Times Square activation: Chime lit up Times Square with Trump Accounts advertising — a high-visibility, public declaration that investment-based wealth building belongs to every American.
Stakeholder engagement: Co-founder and CEO Chris Britt traveled to Washington, D.C. for 1:1 meetings with key policy stakeholders and congressional representatives.
Semafor World Economy Summit: Chris Britt also joined a mainstage fireside chat where Trump Accounts was among the key topics — bringing the message of democratized investing access to a mainstream business and policy audience.
We believe that access is a defining piece of what financial progress looks like for the next generation, and that Trump Accounts represent a new, concrete channel for Chime members to start building wealth in a way that wasn't previously available to them.
Chime PrimeTM: Financial Progress, Unlocked for Everyone
The launch of Chime Prime was April's centerpiece product moment — introduced as the definition of financial progress itself: premium banking, without the premium price. (see disclosure 1) (see disclosure 2)
Community Impact: Progress in Action
A constant for Financial Progress Month at Chime has always been community impact, and this month, Chimers showed up.
Hometown Heroes x For Oak Cliff: As part of a season-long partnership with the Dallas Mavericks and the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation, Chime contributed funds for every assist made during Mavs home games, with the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation matching every dollar. The beneficiary this season was For Oak Cliff, a Chime Community Changemaker serving Southern Dallas. The funds went toward something the organization had long needed — a transportation van. For a community-rooted nonprofit, that van isn't a perk; it's infrastructure. Field trips, rides to the polls, medical appointments for seniors. It's the kind of investment that makes everything else possible.
Junior Achievement Finance Parks: Chime participated in JA Finance Parks — hands-on financial education events where students navigate real-life adult financial decisions, from budgeting to managing everyday money choices. Exactly the kind of experiential learning that turns financial knowledge into lasting habits.
Project Invent: Chimers volunteered at Project Invent Demo Days in Houston, LA, and New York — supporting young entrepreneurs and future changemakers as they pitched their product designs to solve real-world problems.
CSF Scholar Networking Workshop and Code2College: Chime showed up for students working toward their financial futures, providing access to resources, career support, and the connections that help make higher education possible.
"Financial progress doesn't happen in a vacuum — it happens in communities, in classrooms, and in the relationships we build with the people and organizations already doing the work. This month reminded us why that's always been at the center of what we do." — Sara El-Amine, VP of Community, Chime
Public Policy & Government Affairs: Where Policy Meets Progress
Chime activated across high-priority policy environments throughout April, cementing our role as a credible, nonpartisan voice in financial health.
At the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, we joined a roundtable with researchers, policymakers, and service providers focused on financial shocks and the supply of relevant products — alongside CFPB, the Fed, and FinRegLab.
Chime Director of Economic Insights Roy Elis represented Chime on a panel at the Bipartisan Policy Center Spring Policy Conference, a cross-partisan forum attended by senior administration officials, to discuss how AI, data analytics, and digital platforms are influencing financial decision-making.
At the JumpStart General Partners Event, we connected directly with state leaders who are leading local efforts to embed financial education in schools, support educators, and bring more resources to communities.
The Financial Health Network published its SpotMe® (see disclosure 3) Research paper — a powerful, third-party proof point for responsible, fee-free overdraft innovation that tells the story of how Chime's focus on member needs led to the creation of SpotMe, one of the industry's first fee-free overdraft protection offerings.
Chime's Government and Public Affairs team attended the Treasury's Financial Literacy Month celebration, where they participated in interactive activities with students and community members to promote financial education.
Progress Doesn't End on April 30
April may be winding down, but Chime's commitment to financial progress is year-round. With newly established and reinvigorated partnerships Chime is building a durable infrastructure for financial progress, not just a month of awareness.
Looking ahead, there's plenty more to come: the second series of Knowlej Financial Futures challenges drops in May, and Project Invent Demo Days continue in Houston, LA, and New York. Roy Elis, Chime's Director of Economic Insights, will join the FHN EMERGE Conference in Atlanta, and later this year, Chime's Financial Progress Learning Partnership — grounded in behavioral economics and built alongside SaverLife, Brookings, and the Financial Health Network — will bring rigorous, evidence-based thinking to how we design for the people we serve.
At Chime, financial progress is not a destination, it's a journey. And we are committed to moving forward, together with our members, partners, and communities, for every month that follows.
