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learn$ave Project: Final Reportmission may have helped to maintain the necessaryenthusiasm and motivation among staff.• Organizational values and approaches to service areimportant. The theme of caring about client success andbeing willing to go above and beyond to help clients wasrepeated throughout the review of the service delivery.This type of individual and compassionate attentionwas heavily valued by participants and appears to haveinfluenced their overall experience in the program model.It is not clear how this demand could be fulfilled throughdelivery mechanisms that rely only on tax systems.account-based mechanisms, should be less about whetherthere are roles for each of the non-profit and financialsectors, and instead about how to achieve the optimallevel of collaboration between these two in asset-buildingprograms.• Opportunities for public-private-non-profit partnershipsappear to benefit the end users of IDA projects. Whilethe organizational mission and values of the non-profitpartners were key, there is evidence from learn$avethat the involvement of mainstream financial serviceproviders also had a positive benefit and may, over thelonger term, provide a model for reducing financialexclusion.• Delivery organizations bring expertise but also needon-going support and capacity building. In the caseof learn$ave, the delivery agencies had and offeredimportant insights into their clientele and best practicesfrom comparable organizational initiatives. Thisexpertise can and should be harnessed in developingand implementing the program model, from targeting,through training, through cash-out. At the same time,the very limited number of organizations in Canada withany experience in delivering asset-building programs,particularly IDAs for adult learning, combined with thesometimes complex nature of IDA program delivery,suggests an ongoing need for some support in the form ofstaff training, curriculum assistance and technical advice(among other forms of capacity-building). This type ofsupport may best be delivered by a fellow non-profitorganization with a better understanding of the context,limitations and strengths of non-profit delivery agencies.Taken as a whole, the implementation and servicedelivery research suggests the ongoing need for somehybridization in IDA and related asset-building programsmodels aimed at low-income populations. There appearsto be an irreducible need for a basic level of support andpersonalized service that cannot be delivered throughthe income tax system alone and would be challenging todeliver through mainstream financial institutions to thosewho have little or no association with such institutions(“the under-banked”) or are mistrustful clients. At thesame time, the financial service providers bring a crucialinfrastructure, expertise and a suite of financial products.The future policy debate regarding IDAs or similar46 | Chapter 4 Social Research and Demonstration Corporation