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THE FOOLPROOFME INITIATIVE |
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Sponsor: Hamilton FishWebsite: foolproofme.orgProject sponsor: hf@hamiltonfish.com, or directly through Lead Advocate, Remar Sutton, remar.sutton@foolproof.foundation.orgMission: “To know the truth, you need to know both sides of the story,” said Walter Cronkite, FoolProof’s co-founder. The FoolProof Foundation’s goal: teach young people healthy skepticism and caution when making decisions impacting their money or their wellbeing. Until now our focus has been on the financial implications of manipulation. But the explosive growth of social media platforms and the extraordinary sophistication of their manipulation poses a significant threat to children. In 1973, kids looked at screens at four years of age. They were looking at TVs. Today kids are looking at screens at four months–and the screens are looking back. Screen time in the first 18 months of life can lead to significant cognitive damages. Increased screen time for pre-teens and teens can contribute to obesity, sleep problems, depression and anxiety. FoolProof’s expanded mission is to address the risks children are facing. Impact Model: |
| CONTEXT The largest funders of financial literacy resources worldwide are the marketing and debt industries. These industries can’t be expected to develop or promote resources that consistently teach consumers to question the industries’ marketing objectives. The result? The actual definition of financial literacy world-wide emphasizes rote money skills, not the importance of healthy skepticism when making money decisions. The underserved are the most impacted by this reality. |
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 | TARGET Middle and high school-aged kids are FoolProof’s primary target. |
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| RESPONSE Students in 2022 spent 510,000 hours online with FoolProof’s peer-to-peer curricula. Over 15,000 teachers in 10,000 schools have used the Foundation’s resources. Because of its unique emphasis on the importance of healthy skepticism, FoolProof’s curricula are the only major financial literacy resources in the United States endorsed by these five consumer groups: Public Citizen, The National Association of Consumer Advocates, Public Justice, the Consumer Federation of America and Fairplay for Kids. In 2024, FoolProof received the Jumpstart Coalition’s Innovation Award for significantly benefiting students, consumers, and the financial literacy community at large. The JumpStart Coalition is composed of 100 national organizations and a network of 51 independent, affiliated state coalitions. |
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| OUTCOME 90,000 students per year on average use FoolProof’s curriculum. Pre and post testing using standard learning objectives shows an increase in skills from 49% to 86%. |
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| VISION The creation of a National Manipulation Hub will substantially strengthen the reach of FoolProof’s existing resources. The Hub will be featured in our outreach to school systems nationally. The Foundation will also be developing new curative resources and highlight the important work of experts in this area. |
Current Status and Project Goals
Guidance structure: FoolProof has a bi-partisan leadership team that includes 19th Chair of the FDIC Sheila Bair, Walter Cronkite IV, former Assistant Secretary for Education Peter Cunningham, Public Citizen’s Joan Claybrook, Founder of the Eisenhower Group, Susan Eisenhower, and Jan Neuharth, President of the Freedom Forum. New emphasis: There’s urgency in FoolProof’s decision to expand its manipulation resources for schools. Middle school children are at a developmentally vulnerable stage and are primary targets for online manipulation. High school students face even more complex safety issues. Teachers need the resources to address these dangers. FoolProof’s curricula already meet every state’s financial literacy requirements. But teachers generally cannot determine what topics they teach. State education departments and local school systems determine the topics. FoolProof must be at the table in each state as these decisions are made. If it isn’t, many states and local school systems will be adopting resources that were developed by the same businesses that are manipulating kids online. Critical to the Foundation’s growth: FoolProof’s national reputation in school systems is substantial. But it does not have a state-by-state volunteer network nor the funding to be physically visible in the educational community in all states. Its goal is to find respected representatives who can open doors and help us identify funding. Skills and Assistance Needed:
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