Our Mission
As the official benefits website of the U.S. government, our mission is to increase citizen access to benefit information, while reducing the expense and difficulty of interacting with the government.
Our History
Benefits.gov (formerly GovBenefits.gov) was one of the earliest “E-Government” initiatives to launch in 2002 as part of the President’s Management Agenda, and was established as the official benefits website of the U.S. government. Prior to Benefits.gov, citizens looking for government benefit information had to search through a complicated maze of web pages. There was no easy-to-use, single source of benefit information to help citizens understand which benefit programs they may be eligible for, or how to apply. Operated, managed, and supported by a Federal agency Partnership, Benefits.gov provides an innovative, technology-based solution to benefit information delivery. Today, millions of citizens have easy, online access to information from across multiple Federal agencies on Benefits.gov. The beneficiaries include U.S. citizens, businesses, and Federal and state government entities.
Our Platform
As the official benefits website of the U.S. government, our mission is to increase citizen access to benefit information, while reducing the expense and difficulty of interacting with the government.
Sharing our technology platform as a service.
We use a variety of technologies to manage our site, including cloud hosting, a content management system, mobile capabilities, digital communications tools, and analytics reporting services. Our suite of capabilities helps us better serve our users.
Personalizing the user experience.
The site's core function is the eligibility prescreening questionnaire or "Benefit Finder." Answers to the questionnaire are used to evaluate a citizen’s situation and compare it with eligibility criteria for more than 1,000 Federally-funded benefit and assistance programs. Our site also features a recommendation engine that customizes the user’s search for benefits based on their location or interest in a category.
Creating Customized Connections.
Benefits.gov promotes intergovernmental collaboration and reduces the cost of conducting business across the government. Benefits.gov allows Federal Agency Partners to reuse its platform as a solution and has partnered with DisasterAssistance.gov, SSA.Best.gov and GovLoans.gov to help citizens in their search for federal assistance.