A wave of funding cuts risks digital skills training, device access, and navigator programs that help unconnected Americans get online and meaningfully use the internet. Meeting this challenge will take creativity and cross-sector partnerships — but if we succeed, it could power the digital inclusion sector’s next chapter.

An existential moment for digital inclusion

It’s been a hard year for digital inclusion. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) has ended. The Digital Equity Act (DEA) funds so many fought for have been cancelled. And non-deployment dollars from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program remain in limbo.

So where does that leave us? Unless we find another way forward, many communities will be left without the on-ramps they need to connect and benefit from digital services.

This is a difficult moment — but also a clarifying one. It’s forcing us to reckon with the limitations of our current funding model and opening the door to build something more resilient. Necessity is the mother of invention and now is our moment to innovate.

Beyond grants: building a sustainable funding model for digital adoption

Grants have played a critical role in getting the digital inclusion sector to where it is today. But as we’re seeing in real-time, this model doesn’t offer the certainty or sustainability needed to plan, grow, evolve, and guarantee this work.

The good news? Grants aren’t our only option — or at least, they shouldn’t be.

Digital adoption programs create economic value. When people have internet access and the skills to use it, they start engaging in activities online that normally require more expensive in-person infrastructure: paying bills, booking appointments, applying for benefits, managing their health, accessing public services. These changes create cost savings and generate new revenue for providers and businesses, while broadening options to accessing services.

The Connecting Cuyahoga report, co-authored by Samantha, found that when more people are able to access and use the internet effectively, the uptake rate of online services and transactions rises, reducing costs for service providers. For example, when a resident switches from making in-person benefit claims to online filings, the resources spent on staffing, scheduling, and administration declines. Depending on the service, digital transactions can cost as little as 1–23% of their in-person, phone, or mail equivalents. Some of those savings can and should be reinvested in the programs that made them possible.

Imagine if our sector wasn’t dependent on returning year after year to ask for more grant support. What if, instead, we had proven models that show a business case for co-investment in digital inclusion activities that help businesses and organizations reach more people, cut overhead, and grow revenue?

Sharing the value created by digital adoption

There are ample opportunities to work across sectors on funding mechanisms that share the value digital equity programs create. If we get this right, it offers a way to move from a one-way subsidy model to a system built on mutual value creation, co-designing solutions that work for everyone involved.

So what could a shared-value funding model look like in practice?

Here are some illustrative ideas:

Instead of standard digital skills classes, imagine a curriculum co-developed with a local hospital system to train Medicaid recipients on the exact telehealth platform they’ll use for appointments. In addition, patients could access remote monitoring devices that link to their health records, providing at-home results and health prompts. With digital inclusion now recognized as a super social determinant of health, tailored programming like this can increase access to care, improve patient outcomes, reduce administration costs, and help providers qualify for enhanced Medicaid reimbursements, creating a direct financial incentive for the healthcare industry to invest in the training.

Employers frequently struggle to find entry-level staff, especially in communities where job seekers lack broadband access and digital skills. Co-investing in community digital literacy and device access can expand the local labor pool — and provide training aligned to the technologies used in hiring and onboarding. For example, a regional workforce board and local employers could fund a program that teaches job seekers how to search for and apply to jobs online, complete digital onboarding, or use workplace scheduling software.

In rural areas where connectivity has been scarce, internet service providers will need much higher take rates than in urban settings to make their networks financially viable. Digital adoption programs — outreach, skills building, affordability support — are critical. Think of it as marketing to get more customers, reduce cancellations, and increase use. But unlike mailers or radio spots, this approach benefits communities and providers’ bottom lines. When adoption programs can be linked to customer acquisition and retention, providers have a financial incentive to co-invest in these programs.

In this model, an intermediary like Connect Humanity could cover the upfront cost of providing free devices to low-income households in an ISP’s service area. Once the household signs up for broadband service, the ISP repays the cost of the device over time using a portion of the subscription fee. This approach allows the ISP to grow its customer base while de-risking the initial investment. We take the financial risk to help more families get online and stay connected. Programs that get people the broadband service and devices they need are foundational to tapping other benefits, whether for health, education, workforce, or financial inclusion. We’re already exploring a pilot on this concept.

In each case, the key is partnership. When programs are designed with clear, shared outcomes, the value digital equity creates becomes a reason to strategically invest.

Next steps

A group of digital inclusion leaders and collaborators has begun exploring the most promising opportunities to pilot. Our immediate focus is on identifying strong use cases and finding partners open to co-designing, testing, and refining new approaches.

While ultimately we seek to create models in which co-investment can fully support digital adoption programming, the short-term will require catalytic support. Philanthropy has a key role to play in helping us prototype and evaluate these models — building the evidence base we need to scale and bring industry on board.

• Practitioners: Join us to brainstorm and test new funding partnerships. Your insight is essential to shaping effective models.
• Funders: Be early champions of this work. Help us demonstrate what’s possible and unlock sustainable approaches for long-term impact.
• Private sector partners: Collaborate with us to help your customers and clients better access your services.

If you’re interested in being part of this work, have ideas to shape it, or resources to support it, I’d love to hear from you: samantha@connecthumanity.fund. 

We believe new models can make our digital adoption programming not only more resilient, but more impactful by embedding it directly into the systems people rely on for health, work, education, and community life.

There will always be a need for programs that support people to embrace new technologies. Today, that’s device access and skills. But as AI sweeps our societies and new technologies emerge, we all need to be able to adapt and navigate these changes.

We can build a future where everyone has the support they need to benefit from new technologies. But we need new tools to get there. Let’s build them together.

Get in touch: samantha@connecthumanity.fund.