The Client

With more than 1.6 million members in Iowa, Delta Dental provides dental and vision insurance plans for individuals, employers and government programs. As a nonprofit, Delta Dental is dedicated to improving well-being for all members and dedicates resources and funds to improve the health of underserved Iowans, provide access to health programs, and support Iowa communities. Delta Dental holds investments in other companies to help diversify its product and service offerings through Veratrus Investments, LLC. 

The Situation

Delta Dental acquired Caregiven, an app designed to support the estimated 1 in 4 adults caring for another adult, with the goal of piloting it as an employee benefit. Prior to acquisition, the product had launched successfully as an MVP with a few thousand subscribers. Now, to appeal to employers and employees alike, it needed a more polished, enterprise-ready experience — along with expanded features and infrastructure to support group benefits marketing. We met with passionate founder Candice Smith to get the process started.

She taught us that caregiving is a deeply common experience. An estimated 1 in 4 employees is caring for another adult at any moment. Despite the near-universality of the experience, reaching caregivers is uniquely challenging because they are often overwhelmed themselves. The solution needed to provide meaningful micro-education and resources — but in a way that never added to their sense of pressure or “not doing enough.”

Many caregivers are continuing to work full-time jobs and care for children as well as adults on top of their caregiving responsibilities. In addition, many caregivers feel a lack of empowerment because no matter how hard they try, they may be unable to change the medical outcome of the person they are caring for. It was crucial that the solution take this complex emotional landscape into account.