About the Financial Basics Foundation

The Financial Basics Foundation is a registered not-for-profit established to help educate secondary students about the credit system and responsible financial management practices.

Launched in February 2002, the Foundation was created (and initially funded) by Collection House Limited. Rather than continuing to support a number of varied charities, the Board decided it would be a more effective use of its charity dollars to direct this funding into programs that can educate the community, in particular, secondary school students, to better understand credit issues and equip them with the skills to manage their finances effectively.

In recognition of the role that those in the finance industry can play in addressing some of the issues associated with a lack of financial literacy, Bank of Queensland, CPA Australian and Big Sky Credit Union joined Collection House as partners of the Financial Basics Foundation.

The Patron and Directors on the board of the Financial Basics Foundation provide their time and expertise on a voluntary basis.

To date, the Foundation has released two initiatives. The first, Operation Financial Literacy is a free ’10 module’ hard copy teaching resource that combines classroom, community, web and research based activities and includes student worksheets and detailed teacher notes.

Operation Financial Literacy was produced following a pilot program in 2002 in which 15 schools and 2,500 students from around Australia received funding from the Financial Basics Foundation to develop and trial their own financial literacy course. The Foundation then commenced working with Business Educators Australasia to combine, assess and refine all of the information gathered from the pilot programs to produce one complete Australian financial literacy course.

Operation Financial Literacy was written and evaluated by Australian teachers and has received endorsement by the Curriculum Corporation and the federal government’s Financial Literacy Foundation. Operation Financial Literacy has also been mapped to all state and territory curriculum documents.

The first 10 modules include:

Financial Planning – control your financial success
Income – where does it come from?
Budgeting
Credit and Borrowing
Financial Protection and Insurance
Taxation
Banking
Saving and Investing
Planning for your Future
Mobile Phones – being a wise consumer

Schools and not-for-profit organisations that register to receive Operation Financial Literacy, receive two hardcopy folders of the program FREE along with login details to view and download the activities from our website. To register for Operation Financial Literacy click on the following link OFL registration form and complete the registration form attached.

The second initiative of the Financial Basics Foundation is ESSI Money – an online financial literacy game. To find out more about ESSI Money and to register to play click on the following link About ESSI Money.

The Financial Basics Foundation believes that the benefits of improved financial literacy to individuals and the community are many. ESSI Money was developed to provide a unique, interesting and engaging way to teach young people sound financial management skills.