BenCamp 2025: Ensuring State Capacity for Accessible, Secure, and Accurate Digital Benefits Delivery

Ensuring state and local government capacity for accessible, secure, and accurate digital benefits delivery requires cross-sector collaboration and partnerships. Over the past few years, we have seen new leadership, growing investment, and the scaling of promising practices that have allowed state and local governments to deliver in new ways. This moment in time requires bolder approaches and closer coordination and collaboration.

 

 

On June 25–26, 2025, the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University hosted BenCamp 2025 for nearly 60 expert digital services and benefits practitioners from state and local governments, nonprofits, academia, and philanthropy in Seattle, Washington. Participants are members of our Digital Service Network and Digital Benefits Network, including the Digital Benefits Leadership Council. 

Together, we connected over success stories and challenges, identified shared priorities, planted seeds for new collaborations, and set visions for the future. We collectively grounded ourselves in federal changes, state and local responses and innovation, and joyful resilience for the journey ahead. We brought the Digital Benefits Ecosystem Directory to life through a real-time ecosystem map created by participants to map the interconnections of our work.

 

 

We introduced the State Capacity Matrix as a signature activity and resource co-created at BenCamp. Together, we mapped existing work and the adoption of best practices, wishes for future collaboration, and where organizations could immediately help. Through these shared priorities, we are able to identify how to best improve digital benefits access and service delivery, raise awareness of opportunities where the ecosystem can provide needed support, and track our work over time.

 

 

Key insights from the State Capacity Matrix include: 

• States are invested in customer experience (CX), with a particular focus on eligibility and how to apply for benefits. They are working to ensure their systems are accessible,  available in plain language and in languages other than English, and are designed to be mobile-first and responsive to different devices. This follows much of the advice and technical assistance offered in the civic tech ecosystem on digital delivery best practices. There continue to be several civic tech organizations with specialized knowledge to assist states in this work. 
• States are committed to and hoping to expand their work to improve program performance through metrics to measure customer experience and other outcomes. There are several nonprofits well-suited to assist with this need. 
• With an increased pressure on program accuracy, states are focused on solving root causes of error rates. While many states are working on this, there is also the wish to increase capacity in this area. Several nonprofits are able to help. 
• Complex eligibility rules underpin the digital systems for benefits delivery. The top wish from states and organizations was for standardized eligibility policies in structured data and code. Although some nonprofit organizations are able to help, this is an identified area where more assistance is desired. 

 

 

• While several states are working on transitioning payment technology to electronic benefit transfer (EBT) chip cards and opening more transaction data to beneficiaries, mobile wallets remain an untapped strategy. Another top request of states and organizations is exploring mobile wallet technology, but notably, no participating states are doing this work and no organizations are currently able to help. Mobile wallet technology facilitates the disbursement, payments, and management of transactions. 
• States have a strong desire to build their capacity for security and privacy, but a gap remains in the capacity of nonprofit organizations to meet that demand. There are aspirations to build capacity for privacy impact assessments, risk management approaches, and service design for digital identity management.  
• Procurement is a continual pain point in digital benefits delivery. States want to pursue iterative design and development contracts, potential joint purchasing, market intelligence, and support in vendor management. More specialized capacity is needed in nonprofit organizations to support these efforts. 
• Navigating federal changes is the new normal—from agencies, presidential executive orders, budget cuts, grant reductions and eliminations, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1). States are fielding data requests, navigating funding shifts and cuts, and implementing expanded policies like work requirements. Nonprofit organizations are coordinating responses and support in the changing landscape, but will need more support to meet the demand. 

 

 

• Building in-house digital capacity is an ongoing effort for states, including adding digital service teams, creating modern technology job descriptions, and driving culture change. Select organizations are able to help, but more capacity is needed. 
• Artificial intelligence (AI) could potentially be used in many of the strategies throughout the matrix. There are several states that already have responsible AI frameworks, and others are eager to develop them. Nonprofits are increasing their capacity to respond to this area of emerging technology. 

 

We will continue to gather this group of digital benefits leaders to foster collaboration, share progress, and measure collective impact.