Step 1: Learning about benefits
Benefits promotion

Market and promote benefits

Time
Expertise
Partnerships

Many people do not know about all the benefits they might be eligible for. Your organization can play an important role by building awareness of the benefits that are relevant for the communities you serve.

You should be prepared with the following:

Staff time — Staff will require time to identify benefits relevant your community and for the creation and distribution of marketing and communications.

If this is new to your organization, here are some good ways to get started:

  • Browse the Benefits wayfinder to find benefits that are relevant to your community. For example, if you primarily serve seniors, click on the “I am a senior / retired person” Starting Point on the main page to find related benefits.
  • Find organizations in your community that can help with accessing these benefits. You can start by browsing the Help section of the Benefits wayfinder.
  • Create a poster advertising relevant benefits and post in a common space. Some government websites have standard media content on their websites that you can use. Or you can contact the government benefit administrator to see if this is available. (Look under Examples).
  • Create a post about the benefit on your social media account.

The next level of marketing and promotions of benefits is to connect specifically with individuals who you believe might qualify for certain benefits, to make sure they know about them. This could include:

  • Train staff around specific benefits and general eligibility criteria and encourage them to mention these benefits to people who might qualify (e.g., mentioning disability-related benefits to people who self-identify as living with a disability).
  • Hand out flyers or information after an event for a relevant group (e.g., having flyers about the Guaranteed Income Supplement available after a seniors’ aquafit program).

Here are some sample flyers from government and other social services agencies:

Other supports that might interest you

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Crtitical supports you can provide throughout your client's entire journey

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Best practices

Get practical tools, methods, and advice. Learn from other organizations who are already providing access to benefits services by accessing this collection of their best practices.

Best practices