WASHINGTON – Credit unions that believe their philanthropic efforts can and should support their advocacy efforts might consider focusing on organizations and causes that directly impact and support their members.
"This is a topic that we don't often discuss," said Gigi Hyland, CEO of the National Credit Union Foundation and moderator of the well-attended breakout session at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference on March 10 in Washington.
Hyland explained that she had been practiced in advocacy before she came to the world of philanthropy, and had grown accustomed to the importance of data and credit unions telling legislators their stories, whether at the local, state or federal level.
Three CEOs joined Hyland on the panel: Bill Cheney, former CUNA CEO and president/CEO at the $10.6 billion Schools First Federal Credit Union, Jane Watkins, president/CEO of the $2.7 billion Virginia Credit Union and Brett Thompson, president/CEO of the Wisconsin Credit Union League. All three brought unique approaches to the question of how philanthropy can partner with advocacy, but all agreed that focusing on members and member financial education has been key.
Cheney noted how financial education tied easily into the educational history and focus at SchoolsFirst. The credit union has made supporting educational institutions that employ and support the credit union members a way to both act philanthropically and make sure the credit union's brand remained in the community's eye.
He also observed that the four counties that make up the Santa Ana, Calif., credit union's field of membership contains 17 million people, which gives the credit union a lot of opportunities for philanthropy through education.
Watkins recounted a similar approach. The Richmond, Va.,-area credit union focused on financial education so much that it hired a teacher to develop curricula that could be used to train teachers to teach both adults and children how to understand and manage finance.
She also recounted how, over the years, financial education had become such a part of the Virginia Credit Union brand that area banks called her to ask if the credit union would partner with them, or even lead financial education efforts aimed at reducing the use of payday lenders or helping consumers understand their credit scores.
Thompson recounted how the Wisconsin league had developed a scorecard to help document credit union's impact on their communities and that the league had done so after having to face down an effort to tax credit unions on the grounds they offered the same services as banks.
The key has been to show that communities benefit from the activities of untaxed credit unions far more than they would from the amounts of tax they might collect, the panel agreed.
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