This page exists because you deserve a straight answer to an obvious question: if the call is free, who is paying?
The short version: referral partners pay us. Government programs do not, and never could. Here is exactly how that works and what we do to keep it from skewing your referrals.
How we earn
We have referral relationships with a limited set of private service providers. When we refer you to one and you choose to use them, that partner may pay us a fee.
You never pay us anything. The price you pay a partner is not increased because you came through us.
What we are never paid for
No government program pays us. Section 8, Medicaid, CHIP, the ACA Marketplace, FAFSA and every other public program we mention pay us nothing, and could not pay us if they wanted to.
No 211 service or 501(c)(3) hotline pays us.
We are not paid for the information on this site, and we are not paid to leave a program out.
The rules we hold ourselves to
The free government option is always named first, even when it earns us nothing — which is most of the time.
We never present a paid partner as a government program, or imply any official connection.
Any link or referral that can earn us a fee is disclosed where it appears, not only in this footer.
We do not sell your information to lead buyers or data brokers. A partner receives your details only if you ask us to connect you, during the call, after we have told you who they are.
Why we publish this
People searching for help with rent or bills are targeted constantly by services that hide how they are funded. The honest move is to say it plainly on its own page and link to it everywhere.
If anything on this site ever reads as though a paid referral is being passed off as a public program, tell us and we will fix it.