The social services sector is large, complex, and fragmented.
Despite representing 15% of GDP, the sector operates without shared identity, common data standards, or the ability to coordinate care across providers.
40%
of the U.S.
140 million people
require some type of social services assistance.
Individuals
Where can I get food and the other help I need?
How do I improve my situation for myself and my family?
Why must I give the same information over and over again?
Service Providers
How can I better understand and serve the people we support?
How do I find and refer people for other services they need?
How can I show our impact to get more resources and funding?
Governments & Foundations
What is the demand and supply for social services today and tomorrow?
How should we budget and allocate resources?
How do we ensure we improve the lives of the people in our communities?
Social care in the United States is delivered through hundreds of thousands of independent organizations , nonprofits, government agencies, faith-based groups, and community programs. Each has its own intake process, its own data systems, and its own record of the people it serves.
It’s hard for one organization to know what another has already done for the same person.
The practical consequences fall on everyone in the system. People repeat themselves at every new provider. Organizations duplicate effort and operate without visibility into what others are doing. Funders struggle to see what their investments are producing across the programs they support. And the data that could improve the system , who was served, what worked, what gaps remain , is scattered and often inaccessible.
Four failure points
01
No shared identity
Each organization registers the people it serves independently. The same person may be registered at five different agencies with five different records, with no way to link them, and no individual control over how that information is shared.
02
No longitudinal record
There is no record that follows a person across providers over time. Each new interaction starts from scratch, regardless of what came before.
03
Limited coordination
Organizations often don't know what other providers are doing, what capacity exists nearby, or whether a referral they made was followed through.
04
Limited outcome data
Most funders and agencies cannot reliably measure whether a person's situation improved , or which combination of services made the difference.
$4.5T
annual social care spending in the United States
Source: United for ALICE, HUD HMIS Data Standards, and sector research.
140M
americans who use social services every year
300K+
independent nonprofit providers across the country
50%
of providers have no digital record of the people they serve