Centralizing federal benefits eligibility awareness & access

Challenge

Many people who are eligible for help in times of crisis & change—when facing a job loss or natural disaster—don’t claim benefits that might help them. In fact, according to research, an estimated 60 billion dollars in benefits remains unclaimed each year.

Some of this is due to a lack of awareness of available benefits & confusion about where to look for them. For individuals in need, identifying & claiming benefits is far from straightforward. Benefit information is generally siloed by agency, so if someone wanted to find the benefits available, this fragmented structure could easily overwhelm them, leaving vital aid untapped.

Imagine a grieving spouse or a worker facing sudden unemployment—already under immense stress—trying to navigate benefits scattered across agencies like the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, FEMA, the Department of Labor, Social Security Administration, & more.

How could we streamline the benefits discovery process, break down information silos, & create a centralized, user-friendly resource? Our goal was clear: ensure every eligible individual can access the benefits they need during life’s most challenging moments. We needed to make it easier & faster for people to find the benefits they need & are eligible for.

Approach

We began by partnering closely with teams across the federal landscape to discover the benefits available to individuals in times of crisis. Through this collaborative effort, we identified key resources provided by agencies, particularly for families coping with the loss of a loved one. To ensure our solution met diverse user needs, we built a multilingual site that was extremely fast, very secure, highly user-friendly, & respectful of user privacy.

Next, we ran interviews, usability studies, & focus groups with a variety of individuals across a range of backgrounds, including users of assistive technologies. Incorporating their feedback helped us focus on what delivered the best value quickly & efficiently while reducing potential barriers that might undercut adoption & usability. The key pillars of our strategy were:

Rapid development: We focused on speed & efficiency, prioritizing features that delivered immediate value while leveraging shared infrastructure & tools to reduce costs & complexity.

Security by design: A secure site protects users & delivers long-term savings by preventing costly remediation. We employed tools & processes that were auditable & observable while reducing the possibility & potential scope of security incidents.

Scalability: We drastically cut development time, effort, & investment by leveraging open-source tools, languages, formats, & libraries. Sharing results with other agencies amplified impact & savings.

Data-driven QA: Accessibility, plain language, & rigorous testing were central to our process, enabling us to identify & address potential issues before launch for an exceptional experience from first click to final action.

Outcomes

Motivated by a desire to support people during life’s hardest moments, we designed a solution that made finding eligible benefits simpler & less overwhelming. Early users found it easy to navigate & shared that they felt more confident understanding available support. One participant emphasized its potential impact if more people knew it existed—highlighting the need for continued outreach & visibility.

This project reminded us that technology doesn’t need to be flashy to be impactful—it just needs to meet people where they are, especially when they need help most. Explore how to identify & apply for benefits during the death of a loved one on Benefit Finder.