SEED (Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment) is a policy, practice, and research initiative designed to test the efficacy of and inform policy for a national system of asset-building accounts for children and youth. SEED is led by six national partners and supported by eleven funders.

In SEED, nonprofit community organizations established subsidized, matched accounts—also known as Child Development Accounts (CDAs)—for low- and moderate-income children and youth. These organizations explored program designs and saving incentives for participants of varying ages, in different demographic, geographic, and organizational contexts.

SEED’s multi-method design was based on an empirical research effort on child savings led by CSD and the University of Kansas. Research methods in SEED include account monitoring, in-depth interviews with youth and their parents, cross-sectional surveys, a process study, and an impact study of 500 pre-school students and their parents. CSD conducts all account monitoring in SEED, and seeks to inform policy on child savings through research on inclusive 529 savings policy.