Erine Gray
Founder and CEO
Aunt Bertha
Please tell us about Aunt Bertha, its mission and how you landed on the name Aunt Bertha?
My mom caught a rare brain disease at the age of 47. The process of navigating for care on her behalf was confusing and sometimes intimidating, and we would often find out about programs after the fact. The name Aunt Bertha came from this idea of the zany but wise aunt alot of us have, who gives us great advice and a helping hand. Aunt Bertha picks up where Uncle Sam leaves off, and our mission is to connect people in need and the programs that serve them, with dignity and ease.
What motivated you to create this online resource and how has it evolved over time?
I started Aunt Bertha in 2010 to offer an easier way to find programs and to connect to them directly and electronically. Over the last decade, it’s become the largest network of free and reduced-cost programs in every ZIP Code across America.
How does Aunt Bertha obtain and maintain its data?
Data curation and maintenance is our biggest investment at Aunt Bertha. Our Data Operations Team based in Austin, Texas is the largest department in the company and is dedicated to researching information, entering new programs, and responding to changes across the country. It would be far easier and cheaper for us to only rely on technology like many of our counterparts are doing. But we’ve taken the harder path to build a Data Operations Team made up of humans — not robots — because this is the only way to ensure that people in need get the help they need, simply and quickly.
Aunt Bertha is a national resource that is available in many markets, which will soon include Bloomington. Can you tell us about other partnerships you’ve established that your especially proud of?
We meet people in need where they are — and we’re proud that we serve a broader population outside of just healthcare. We partner with coalitions, governments, education partners, residential communities, prison systems, and more. New Jersey-based Camden Coalition is a longtime customer of ours that’s advancing complex care by implementing person-centered programs that address social barriers to health, and they recognized the importance of doing so very early on. Jefferson County, Bexar County, and Williamson County in Texas are also government partners of ours who lead the way as leaders in community wellness.
What evidence do you have that Aunt Bertha positively impacts a community in the way Bloomington is going to use it?
We’re seeing the role we play in connecting people in need to social assistance in our search data every single day. The number of people searching for help on Aunt Bertha continues to rise steeply over time, in almost every region across America. Long ago, we made the decision that our platform would always be open and free to the end user, the person in need. Because of this decision, we now have over 2 million people using Aunt Bertha, which makes our network even that much more valuable for both people in need and those who serve them.
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Bloomington Health Foundation is excited to partner with the Local Council of Women and the City of Bloomington to bring Aunt Bertha’s resources to our community. Please visit HelpingBloomingtonMonroe.org to locate social services near you.
Are you a social service provider? Claim your profile on HelpingBloomingtonMonroe.org now!
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Erine Gray has been working on business and technology consulting projects for more than 12 years and is the Founder and CEO of Aunt Bertha. Aunt Bertha’s mission is to make human service program information more accessible to both people and programs. Prior to founding Aunt Bertha, he directed more than 60 employees within a project responsible for administering the application process for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. At the Commission, he delivered more than 40 software and operational improvement projects that saved more than $5 million dollars annually in operating expenses. Erine studied public policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and has a BA in Economics from Indiana University. He’s a 2014 TED Fellow.
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