Minnesota credit union employees and members blitzed the halls of Congress with nearly 800 phone calls last week to keep the momentum going for the “Don't Tax My Credit Union” campaign, the Minnesota Credit Union Network said.

The call total adds to the more than 16,000 emails, postcards and letters already generated through the campaign by Minnesota credit unions, the league said.

The phone blitz, held Sept. 26, targeted Minnesota's two U.S. senators and eight House members.

To prepare for the blitz, the MnCUN contacted all Minnesota credit unions and urged them to have a designated phone for employees and members to call from or to have employees make calls from their desk extensions to members of Congress.

Minnesota credit unions used the CUNA -dedicated phone number to connect with their members of Congress.

“It was a fresh, new way for us to keep credit union employees and members engaged and connected with their members of Congress on this critical issue,” said Mara Humphrey, MnCUN vice president of public affairs. “The phone effort was an incredibly effective, personal appeal that reinforced all of the other advocacy efforts we're leading to protect the credit union tax status.”

MnCUN has been driving the 'Don't Tax My Credit Union' campaign with a number of other initiatives, including:

• Mailing to Congressional elected officials 3,500 postcards that were filled out by credit union members at branches throughout the state.
• Engaging with members and elected representatives through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Vine. Through social media, close to one million messages were sent to Congress from credit unions across the country, according to the MnCUN.
• Generating credit union emails with “Don't Tax My Credit Union” messages sent by members to Congressional representative.

MnCUN also said its grassroots education and action team, GREAT, has grown to nearly 1,000 advocates since the 'Don't Tax My Credit Union' campaign began in May.

The credit union association said it has designated October as GREAT month with a goal of reaching 100% credit union employee participation in the grass roots team. MnCUN also is asking every credit union in the state to get at least two percent of their membership involved in GREAT.