1871 Welcomes Congressman Bob Dold for Tour of New Space and Meeting with Peanut Butter Team

1871 PARTNERS WITH MEMBER COMPANY PEANUT BUTTER TO OFFER STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT

1871 PARTNERS WITH MEMBER COMPANY PEANUT BUTTER TO OFFER STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT

1871 Member Companies Now Able to Offer Student Loan Repayment as Benefit to Employees; Announcement Follows Launch of 1871 Health and Benefits Exchange

CHICAGO (FEBRUARY ##, 2016) – 1871 joined its member company Peanut Butter today to announce a new student loan repayment benefit that will be available to all 1871 companies, as well as alumni members who have graduated from the space but maintain membership. Through a special arrangement, member companies will be able to use Peanut Butter’s platform to offer a student loan repayment program as a benefit to their employees. This announcement follows the launch of the 1871 Health and Employee Benefits exchange late last year, which made 1871 the first incubator in the world to offer a private health exchange to its members.

“Peanut Butter is a straightforward tool for companies large and small, as well as a powerful resource for employers to recruit and retain top talent,” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman. “Adding this student loan repayment benefit to our robust set of resources further distinguishes 1871 and its member companies as they develop their businesses and make new hires.”

Peanut Butter’s technology helps organizations make regular, secure contributions to their employees’ student loan debt and track the impact of those payments. The company provides support for employee enrollment, loan verification, and the coordination of payments to student loan servicers.

“1871 is helping alumni and member companies equip themselves with the employee value propositions that will attract the creative forces of top developers, designers, digital marketers, and account executives,” said Peanut Butter CEO David Aronson. “Paying off student debt is often one of the most meaningful accomplishments in the early part of one’s career. Companies that adopt student loan repayment are sending a clear message that they care about the financial well-being of employees and are working to establish a culture of shared achievement.”

While more than 25% of the U.S. workforce currently holds student debt, that figure is estimated to be close to 50% in the technology industry, in which most employees hold at least one degree and many workers are in their 20s or 30s.

“Student loans are a major consideration for many millennials who are being considered for hire by entrepreneurs", said Kaitlin Reimann, 1871 member and co-founder/CEO of uBack, a free mobile app designed to seamlessly connect donors to nonprofits and allow them to give in seconds. “As a company focused on the millennial workforce, I see Peanut Butter as an incredible benefit to help millennials support their financial well-being and help companies attract the best talent. It's exciting 1871 and Peanut Butter have made it possible.”

In addition to student loan repayment, 1871 also offers its members plans for health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, identity theft protection, telehealth services, and pet insurance. All of these offerings are part of an ongoing effort from 1871 to make entrepreneurship more accessible to everyone.

The Peanut Butter student loan repayment plans will be available to 1871 companies beginning today. To learn more, visit http://www.1871.com/getpeanutbutter and read 1871 CEO Howard Tullman’s article about the company here.

About Peanut Butter, Inc.

Peanut Butter helps companies attract and retain millennial employees through unique benefit programs. By facilitating company contributions to employee student loans, we help reduce our clients' turnover and hiring costs while differentiating their employee value propositions. Together, we're helping to solve America’s $1.2T student debt problem. Peanut Butter, Inc. is a Chicago-based benefits administrator incubated at 1871.

About 1871

1871 is the home of more than 350 early-stage, high-growth digital startups. Located in The Merchandise Mart, this 120,000 square foot facility is also the headquarters of nationally recognized accelerators Techstars Chicago and the Good Food Business Accelerator; impact investing fund Impact Engine; half a dozen industry-specific incubators in key areas such as real estate, education technology, food and financial technology; several emerging tech talent schools (Flatiron, The Fullbridge Program, Designation and the Startup Institute), and the state's leading technology advocate, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition. It is the second home to Chicago-based VCs, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, MATH Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels, OCA Ventures, OurCrowd and Chicago Ventures, as well as satellite offices for Northwestern University, University of Illinois, University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, and DeVry. 1871 has fast become recognized as the hub for the city’s entrepreneurial/technology ecosystem and has been featured in Inc. Magazine, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business among other top media. 1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Why Peanut Butter might be the cure for Millennials with student debt

Sam Dewey

 

on Feb 17th, 2016

Peanut butter pairs well with just about everything. Jelly. Apples. Bananas. Saltines and Eggo waffles and Oreos.

But today, peanut butter tastes sweetest alongside Chicago-based tech epicenter 1871, who on Wednesday announced a partnership with one of its member companies — called (you guessed it) Peanut Butter, Inc. — to help bring a potentially game-changing benefit to employees of 1871 companies.

Peanut Butter, one of our 50 Startups to Watch in 2016, provides an administration platform to employers that allows them to offer student loan repayment programs as a benefit to their employees. As debt-laden millennial workers delay buying homes and cars in favor of paying off crippling student loans, Peanut Butter is poised to alleviate an acute pain point felt by a deepening pool of young workers.

“Peanut Butter is a straightforward tool for companies large and small, as well as a powerful resource for employers to recruit and retain top talent,” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman in a statement. “Adding this student loan repayment benefit to our robust set of resources further distinguishes 1871 and its member companies as they develop their businesses and make new hires.”

Increasing tuition rates (and subsequently, student debt) have been a matter of public scrutiny in recent years, as class after class of graduating seniors face ever-taller mountains of loans to repay. Most reports say average student loan debt sits at the threshold of a terrifying $30,000, and economists have long been trumpeting the alarm as to the negative implications that an entire generation’s collective debt could have on the economy. Still, cost of tuition is on the rise.

The perk is immediately available to current 1871 residents as well as alumni who maintain memberships, the tech hub said. Using Peanut Butter's tech, employers can make regular and secure contributions to student debt repayments and track overall impact.

Peanut Butter CEO David Aronson told the Chicago Tribune that employers using the platform contribute $133.33 a month on average, $33.33 of which is used for tax purposes while the remaining $100 is paid directly on the loan.

Those payments, he continued, can make a real, measurable impact in terms of both money and time saved for those with student debt.

This announcement follows 1871’s decision to offer its member companies a healthcare and benefits exchange, a first-of-its-kind move that made 1871 the first incubator in the world to offer such a program.

“1871 is helping alumni and member companies equip themselves with the employee value propositions that will attract the creative forces of top developers, designers, digital marketers, and account executives,” said Peanut Butter CEO David Aronson in the statement. “Paying off student debt is often one of the most meaningful accomplishments in the early part of one’s career. Companies that adopt student loan repayment are sending a clear message that they care about the financial well-being of employees and are working to establish a culture of shared achievement.”

1871 is no stranger to supporting its member companies in such a capacity, 1871 spokesperson Melissa Wooten told Built In Chicago. Some of those partnerships include CloudSpotter Technologies, the tech hubs official photography partner; Package Zen, which helps the tech hub organize mail services for all of their member companies; and BAD TESTING®, the member company behind 1871’s internal room reservation system.

Images via Shutterstock.

Peanut Butter wants to help your boss pay off your student loans

Tech hub 1871 is partnering with Peanut Butter, whose CEO is David Aronson, a Kellogg graduate with a background in human resources outsourcing. 

(Kristan Lieb, Blue Sky; Peanut Butter)

Meg GrahamContact ReporterBlue Sky Innovation

Free catered lunches, yoga classes and video games are nice. But with student loan debt weighing on millions of Americans, employer-funded repayment programs may be the next thing millennials look for in a job.

One startup helping companies offer the benefit is Chicago-based Peanut Butter, which runs a platform to help companies create, manage and track the impact of loan repayment plans. Companies pay a per-employee, per-month fee.

Founder David Aronson, who earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and has experience in human resources outsourcing, began Peanut Butter last year. He’s the CEO of the company, but he’s also a client.

“When I was in college, all I could afford to eat was peanut butter sandwiches,” he said.

As a member company at Merchandise Mart-based tech hub 1871, Peanut Butter set its sights on helping other startups guide young entrepreneurs through student loan woes. The company plans to announce Wednesday that it is partnering with 1871 to connect the hub’s more than 350 member companies and alumni companies to its services.

Aronson said the inspiration for the business came from a 2014 research report from Aon Hewitt that said a large chunk of workers in their 20s and 30s weren’t saving enough to take full advantage of their employer’s 401(k) match.

“I thought, of course, it’s because they’re paying off their student loans,” he said. “If employers could spend that benefit money in a way that is more valued by their employees, then this could be really good for everyone.”

Aronson said employers commonly contribute $133.33 monthly — $33.33 allocated as withholding for the employee’s taxes, and $100 directed to debt payment.  

If an employee had $31,000 in student debt, “an employer’s contribution of $100 a month can help them avoid more than 30 percent in principal and interest over the life of the loan, and can help get them out of debt in just over seven years instead of 10 years,” Aronson said.

A 717-person, millennial-focused survey sponsored by the company found that respondents said they were willing to stay at a job at least 36 percent longer if a company offered student loan repayment. The average respondent said they would value repayment services twice as much as 401(k) contributions or health insurance — and seven times more than free food at work.

“The companies are able to keep good people around by offering this benefit, and their employees are able to get out of debt sooner than they otherwise would,” Aronson said.

But it’s not yet something most companies are trying out: Just 3 percent of companies surveyed in a 2015 Society for Human Resources Management employee benefits report offered the perk.

1871 CEO Howard Tullman said entrepreneurs and member companies have said their employees want a service that would help with their loans. The incubator announced a health care and benefits exchange for its members in November.

“Everything that we’ve heard from the companies is they’re hearing it regularly and if there was a way to address this, and offer this as a retention tool and also as a recruitment tool, they would be very happy,” he said.  

mgraham@tribpub.comTwitter @megancgraham