'Tis the season, of course, for holiday giving by credit unions to their communities. We're seeing lots of images of credit union leaders wearing masks, presumably smiling, holding large checks announcing money given to a local food bank; credit union employees volunteering to deliver food (or this year, hand out meals while wearing masks or place the meals into the trunks of cars); and community partnerships with the United Way or a church or local school district to help feed hungry families.

All of the emails we receive about these efforts are extremely important and when credit unions send us photos of the community events, it helps us tell the story even better.

The thing is with 2020, the term "giving" has taken on extra weight, meaning and importance for millions and millions of people in our country.

Even the way we give has changed this year. For instance, each year the Eau Claire, Wis.-based Royal Credit Union ($3.3 billion in assets and more than 233,000 members) conducts a massive toy drive for the children in its communities. According to information from Royal, they normally "collect over 700 toys in our offices each year so that no family goes without presents during the holiday season, but this year looks a bit different."

Instead, for the credit union's "Giving Never Melts Away" toy drive, they are taking donations online and delivering those funds to The Salvation Army to purchase those gifts. Royal will match donations received up to $10,000. "Last year we reached a record high in community participation and it is a great feeling to know that we can still help many families in need with this new online donation process," Vice President of Community Engagement Jennifer McHugh said.

Contactless community giving. It's a strange year, but whatever works – and we applaud the efforts.

This next credit union community giving idea I truly loved.

The Spokane, Wash.-based Numerica Credit Union ($2.9 billion in assets and nearly 159,000 members) went in another direction to give some much-needed support to local businesses. According to the credit union's Facebook page, during "Small Business Saturday," Numerica dropped wallets around Spokane, North Idaho and other areas. The wallets were filled with four $25 gift cards to local businesses.

"It's as important as ever to rally behind our independent, local businesses. To show a little love, we're dropping nearly 300 wallets filled with gift cards to some of your favorite small businesses," the post read.

It continued, "Our team of elves will be following all social distance guidelines. Let's care for each other by keeping our distance."

If you read that sentence last year, how confusing would that sound?

One last thing that I think is a really smart decision by a credit union, especially at this time of year, comes from Tyndall Federal Credit Union. Based in Panama City, Fla. ($1.8 billion in assets and more than 113,000 members), the credit union holds its annual "Project Giveback" program, which is basically its dividend program for members. Tyndall leaders picked the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas to return profits to members and this year it seems like an even better decision than in years past. The credit union is giving back roughly $10 million to members, which could mean as much as $300 for individuals. According to the credit union, the money will be deposited into members' accounts each week "as a surprise" with the final deposit to be made on Christmas. Jim Warren, president/CEO, said, "It is our members' money and it would be irresponsible of us to keep it, especially during a pandemic."

One other story, on the international front, that snuck by during the Thanksgiving holiday was that CUNA sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to increase funding for the Cooperative Development Program (CDP) next year. In short, the CDP exists to build the capacity of cooperative businesses and credit unions around the world to help empower the cooperative efforts and stabilize economies, while promoting gender inclusion and member equity. The CDP program is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Will Congress understand the importance of giving? Nearly everyone everywhere needs help this year – in this country and around the world.

We are in a vicious circle of attempts to support members and local business owners during this pandemic, piled on top of a normally financially stressful time of year for so many people. Many of you are doing some wonderful things and doing your best for your credit union, your employees and your members. This year just feels like an incredible burden has been put on us as an industry to help everyone as much as possible. One small business owner in Texas who had to shut down for three months in the early days of the pandemic, and who also had to stay current on the store's rent, said it best in a recent interview on Black Friday: "It is a simple calculation: Buy local now or say goodbye to your favorite locals tomorrow." That's dire. And sadly, that's the reality of our world.

For one, I applaud the community efforts we've seen in your emails lately. Keep sending them along with your photos and really, thank you for what you do. Your communities and your members also thank you.

OK, one last shot at this email analogy thing: Email is like hundreds of postal workers knocking at your door all day long trying to deliver a package. And most of those packages are sets of Ginsu knives that you didn't order.

Ugh, I give up.

Michael Ogden

Michael Ogden is editor-in-chief for CU Times. He can be reached at [email protected].