The journey from CAP Money to Money Mentoring
5 Apr, 2024by Rosie Kendall, CEO, CAP Australia
If you know about CAP, then you probably know someone who has been impacted positively by CAP Money.
CAP Money has been a wonderful tool used by hundreds of churches across Australia – through simple budgeting and a money system, people have found financial freedom.
My own CAP Money story
I trained as a CAP Money Coach in the UK about 14 years ago. I have very fond memories of leading the CAP Money Course with my husband Dave.
Dave went on to support many people through the CAP Money course, in both group and one-to-one settings, and train hundreds of CAP Money Coaches to deliver the course both in the UK and here in Australia.
The CAP money system built around three accounts has been transformational in our family’s finances and in many people’s lives around me.
CAP Money’s limitations and opportunities
Despite its strength, CAP Money Coaches and church partners have consistently reported a lack of flexibility of CAP Money in serving people in their communities.
The UK financial landscape – where CAP Money was developed – is different to Australia’s. Therefore, it has always been a challenge for CAP Money coaches to apply the resources in context.
It became clear that crucial development to CAP Money was needed. At the time we were beginning this work, we were also evaluating the CAP Debt Help model and these two initiatives started to inform the development of something brand new.
A journey to something new
We listened to feedback from experienced church-based volunteers, and went on a journey to innovate how CAP equips local churches in Australia – engaging experts in the financial capability sector and pastors in the process. Together, we identified missed opportunities and discovered solutions to problems.
The result has been the creation, pilot and launch of Money Mentoring.
Money Mentoring includes the principles churches and delegates love from CAP Money, but offers more resources, more comprehensive training, and more support from CAP.
Money Mentoring can be used in a group context, just like CAP Money, but it also equips members of local churches to walk alongside people through one-on-one relationships.
My new skills as a Money Mentor
I trained as a Money Mentor approximately 18 months ago, and since then I have walked alongside several people that were experiencing financial distress – as well as walked alongside a couple of people that needed a safe place to build their financial foundations.
In my experience, Money Mentoring enables me to do all the things I loved about CAP Money, but it also gives me the flexibility to do so much more. It encourages deeper conversation, exploring the ways our context has shaped our beliefs and values around money, and a safe space to develop all the practical skills needed to build and balance a budget.
It won’t have escaped your notice that Australia is facing significant cost-of-living challenges. In the last 12 months, 3.7 million households in Australia experienced food insecurity*.
This is a problem that should stir our hearts to action, and I am confident that Money Mentoring can play a significant role in equipping God’s church to be a part of the solution.
Thank you for standing with CAP, as together, we work towards a future where no one in Australia faces financial distress alone.
* Foodbank Hunger Report 2023
https://reports.foodbank.org.au/foodbank-hunger-report-2023/?state=au
Frequently Asked Questions
The main difference is that Money Mentoring takes a more relational and flexible approach to helping people learn how to manage their money and gives people additional skills and resources to assist those experiencing financial distress if needed.
Money Mentoring can be done in the context of a group or one-to-one setting. One-to-one connection can be helpful for vulnerable or people facing significant financial crisis, while group workshops can be a great entry point for someone coming into a church for the first time. Group workshops can also be an effective way to serve the community, helping people learn financial capability skills to prevent financial distress. As such, a suite of Money Mentoring resources has been designed specifically for group settings.
Money Mentor Training is all online and features a blend of self-paced learning and live group learning via Zoom. Training cohorts begin on the first Monday of each month and run over a three-week period.
Trainees will engage with the following core competencies during Money Mentor Training:
- financial capability skills
- active listening and coaching skills
- sharing the gospel in an ethical manner
- triage and referrals.
Money Mentor Training is not a financial education course, it is focused on a relational approach to supporting people in addressing issues related to financial distress.
After the three weeks of online training, a Money Mentor will receive scheduled 1-on-1 check-ins with their CAP trainer. These serve to support the Money Mentor in implementing the training within their context.
Beyond this, Money Mentors will continue to receive support through ongoing training opportunities and the Money Mentor Community of Practice – a collaborative space where Money Mentors from across the country can connect and learn from one another.
From 1 October 2024, the Budget Builder will no longer be available. This tool has been developed and maintained by CAP UK and the code used for the tool will not be supported beyond October, meaning user data wouldn’t be as secure.
Your data and personal information are very important to us and therefore we made the difficult decision to transition away from the builder as soon as the code becomes unsupported. There are many other great budget builders available, including a CAP Australia-built excel budget builder. With this in mind, CAP has also decided that now is not the right time to invest vital donor funds in the development of a new budget builder.
From 1 October 2024, the CAP Money website will no longer be available. This tool has been developed and maintained by CAP UK and will no longer be supported beyond October. This includes the budget builder, the resource library, and the ability to log courses.
The resources will be available up until that point, and you can download resources for future use.
We know this is a big change, but through Money Mentoring, we have created a larger library of resources, built in far more flexibility, and support. If you want to find out more about Money Mentoring click here.
You are welcome to continue using CAP Money printed resources until they have run out. Please note the online resources that are mentioned in the workbooks won’t be active from October 2024 so you may want to consider this if using workbooks past this date.
CAP won’t be printing any further CAP Money workbooks, and we have a limited supply left, so we would encourage you to use Money Mentoring resources instead. If you want to find out more about Money Mentoring click here.
Financially partnering with CAP helps to:
- increase the awareness of issues facing people in financial distress and inspire Christians in Australia to be part of the solution
- build partnerships with local churches to inspire and equip them to walk alongside those in financial distress, while sharing the love of Jesus
- equip church-based staff and volunteers to confidently and competently walk alongside people in financial distress as Financial Capability Workers, or Money Mentors.