Sorenson Impact Foundation is excited to announce its Program-Related Investment into Kiip, an impact-driven company dedicated to revolutionizing the social services industry.
Vital social benefits are available at the federal, state, and local level for the unhoused, low-income, and disadvantaged. Unfortunately though, the administrative burden imposed on individuals trying to obtain these benefits creates a substantial barrier to access and continuity of support coverage, stripping individuals of their ability to stabilize and advance their lives. 51% of eligible social services candidates do not apply for assistance due to this burden. Applications for assistance are lengthy, complex and duplicative. A typical SNAP food benefits application is 21 pages and requires the upload of 8 vital/personal documents–requirements mirrored by all other benefits programs. In-person document submission and interviews require navigating missed work days, transportation hurdles, and childcare–often impossible barriers. Those with limited literacy, access to technology or transportation, or a place to store their vital documents lose hope of access to these programs–they simply give up.
There are 21 million individuals in the U.S. who are currently eligible to receive social services benefits, but many are unable to apply due to these arduous and sometimes impossible processes, and many who do obtain benefits churn–not to due eligibility but to burden of maintaining enrollment. 80-90% of enrollee churn is due to missed interim reports required every 6 to 12 months during enrollment.
Enter Kiip.
Kiip is a simple and secure vital document management and communication platform that transforms the way that social benefits are accessed and delivered for disadvantaged individuals. Kiip’s secure digital platform enables low-income individuals to safely store, access and share their vital documents, while empowering social service organizations to scale their reach, drive efficiency, and improve their ability to successfully connect their clients to a broad range of benefits and services.
Kiip also provides free document management to individuals and partners with paying social services benefits providers who offer the platform to the individuals they serve. This enables organizations to streamline application and case management process, allowing for secure document reception, consolidated historical client information viewing, and direct communication with clients regarding their documentation. It also enables individuals to securely store their documents and connect with local organizations, exposing them to available support services and enabling them to engage with these resources through a single interface.
With the potential to alleviate crippling administrative hurdles and processes that impede access to benefits and services for disadvantaged individuals, Kiip’s impact model includes:
- Empowering individuals to securely store, access, share & renew vital documents to facilitate their applications to obtain and remain covered by benefits and services, as well as apply for jobs and financial products
- Connecting individuals to support organizations and benefits and services for which they are eligible
- Increasing efficiency and cost savings for social service organizations, enabling them to effectively serve more clients
The U.S. Social Services and Benefits Ecosystem sees major funding with key programs like TANF ($30.3 billion), Social Security and Medicare ($1.1 trillion each), and SNAP ($100 billion), totaling an investment of around $2.3 trillion. Nearly half of Americans access some form of benefits each year. Kiip has built a repeatable, partnership-focused GTM to enable greater utilization of this funding as well as network effects for scale.
While the platform is in its early days, the SIF team is bullish on Kiip’s traction with payor entities and co-design process with end users. We are also highly impressed with Kiip’s CEO Noah Harlan and his team’s ability to navigate the social benefits space, the real impact that can be created for base of pyramid individuals, and the scale potential within the market.
The social services industry has been ripe for innovation, and we are delighted to back innovations like Kiip that have the power to increase uptake in social services, efficiency of the provision of services, and wellbeing of beneficiaries.