About Finance Forest
Finance Forest is a youth-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Bothell, Washington. We teach free financial literacy to students and women across the U.S. and Canada, and every lesson we run is designed and taught by students.
Our mission
To make financial literacy free and accessible to every student and every woman, taught by young people who speak their language.
In practice, that mission comes down to three commitments we hold ourselves to in every program:
- It's free. No camp, webinar, expo, or workshop charges a fee. Our work is funded by community fundraising, so cost is never the reason someone misses out.
- Students teach it. Our camps, expo booths, webinars, guides, and videos are built and delivered by student volunteers. A 16-year-old explaining a credit score to a 14-year-old gets a different kind of attention than a textbook does.
- It's for the people school skips. We focus on students who haven't been taught money basics yet, and on women, who face financial gaps that a generic budgeting class doesn't address.
Organization facts
- Name
- Finance Forest
- Status
- Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit
- EIN
- 99-1702845
- Based in
- Bothell, Washington, USA
- Serves
- Students from elementary through high school, and women of all ages
- Chapters
- Washington, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Canada
- Run by
- Student volunteers, led by a Youth Leadership Board
- Funding
- Community fundraising; all programs are free
- Contact
- myfinanceforest@gmail.com
The problem we work on
Most students finish high school without ever being taught how a budget, a savings account, or a credit score works. Then, often within a year or two, they're handed a first paycheck, a bank account, a phone plan in their own name, and sometimes a credit card offer. The decisions arrive long before the lessons do, and early mistakes, like a missed payment or a maxed-out card, can follow someone for years.
The gap is wider for women. Women retire with less saved, live longer, and are talked to less about money at every age. Pay gaps compound over a career, and career breaks interrupt saving at exactly the moments when compounding matters most. A one-size budgeting class doesn't touch those problems.
None of this requires expensive expertise to fix. The basics of budgeting, saving, credit, and investing can be taught in plain language by someone close in age to the learner. That's the idea Finance Forest is built on.
What we do
Our activities fall into four areas. Every one of them is free and open to the public. The programs page has full details on each.
1. Teach students directly
We run week-long summer day camps for elementary schoolers (grades 3–5) and middle schoolers (grades 6–8), free weekly online webinars on budgeting, saving, credit, and investing, and an annual Youth Expo where hundreds of students rotate through hands-on financial literacy booths, hear guest speakers, and explore careers.
2. Serve women through a dedicated chapter
Our Women's Chapter runs monthly workshops on pay negotiation, investing, and retirement planning, plus one-on-one mentorship and peer support groups. It has reached more than 2,000 women. Read more on the Women's Chapter page.
3. Publish free learning material
Our student team writes plain-language guides on our Learn page, films short "Finance Bites" videos that explain one concept in three to five minutes, and publishes a weekly personal finance blog. None of it requires a sign-up.
4. Build student leaders and local chapters
Students who want to do more can join our Youth Leadership Board, start a chapter in their own city, or take our volunteer workshops in public speaking, event planning, and marketing. Chapters also run booths at local festivals and parades and fundraise for causes in their communities.
Our story
A group of student volunteers in Washington
Finance Forest started as a single group of student volunteers in Washington State who wanted to teach other students the money basics schools weren't covering.
From volunteer group to organization
We ran our first Youth Expo, our first entrepreneurship workshops, a workshop on monthly saving habits, and "Women and Wealth," our first event built specifically for women. The response to that event is a big part of why the Women's Chapter exists.
The Women's Chapter takes shape
Monthly workshops began: retirement planning for women, a women-in-finance career panel, and a holiday budgeting session, each drawing more than 100 participants.
Our biggest year
A second, larger Youth Expo, two summer camps, weekly webinars, a four-week investing workshop series for women, and community outreach at events like our local July 4th celebration.
Six chapters, one mission
Finance Forest now has chapters in Washington, California, Georgia, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Canada, and our programs have reached more than 11,000 people.
How we're run
Finance Forest is run entirely by student volunteers, and nobody pays to learn. Aadit Aggarwal is our founder and executive director, and co-founder Kashish Aggarwal serves as an advisor. A Youth Leadership Board of students across North America plans events, manages content, and leads outreach. Each chapter is run by a local chapter director who uses our shared materials and gets direct support from the board. You can meet the full team on our home page.
We teach concepts, not products. Our lessons explain how budgets, interest, credit, and investing work so people can make their own decisions. We don't recommend specific investments or financial products, and if anyone asks you for payment in Finance Forest's name, it isn't us.
Money we raise funds our free programs and causes in the communities our chapters serve. Questions about our work or our nonprofit status are welcome at myfinanceforest@gmail.com.
Learn with us, or help us teach.
Join a free program as a student, bring Finance Forest to your city as a chapter director, or email us to get involved.