MADISON, Wis. – Quietly and without drawing too much attention to itself, the National Credit Union Foundation this year moved steadily forward toward becoming a real force on the credit union funding scene. In October the Foundation announced record contributions to credit unions, $2.85 million from a combination of the Foundation's Community Investment Fund and the Callahan Fund. The distributions went to credit unions and organizations that work with credit unions and reflected the Foundation's goal of using its funds to help credit unions leverage additional funds from other sources. This approach of using Foundation funding to help seed credit unions for other funding is part of an approach to credit union support that came to characterize the Foundation's role this year. As it grew in size, the Foundation also appeared to become steadily more aware of its potential role as an intermediary for credit unions seeking funds from other sources. In November, for example, the Foundation announced that it had received roughly $1 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for credit unions to use to help educate low-income members about owning a home. Also in November, the Foundation announced it hard partnered with the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to help credit unions educate low income members about the Earned Income Tax Credit. As the Foundation continues to grow, its officers have said that it will continue to focus attention on funding individual credit union efforts, as well as with working more closely with state foundations on their credit union funding efforts and working with other grant makers interested in credit union efforts.