Gift From Ex-Wife of Amazon Founder Helps Spawn New Credit Union

The NCUA has granted a federal charter for a new credit union being formed by a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in Lancaster, Pa., with the help of a grant from the ex-wife of Amazon.com’s founder.

The Community First Fund based in Lancaster is sponsoring Community First Fund Federal Credit Union. On Tuesday, the credit union said it plans to open its office later this year on the ground floor of its headquarters in downtown Lancaster, about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

In December, the fund announced it planned to launch a low-income designated credit union in 2021 using part of a $10 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, who was married to former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for 25 years before their divorce in 2019. Forbes magazine estimated her wealth at $59 billion. She has pledged to give away most of her wealth while alive, and the gift to the fund was part of $4.2 billion she gave to 384 organizations that month.

According to its mission statement, Community First Fund FCU intends to create financial equity through wealth-building opportunities for individuals and families, especially African Americans, Latinos, immigrants and women. The credit union will serve the community of approximately 550,000 in Lancaster County.

NCUA Chair Todd M. Harper said Community First Fund FCU will serve the mission of credit unions to support underserved communities and provide capital for community development.

“This credit union is opening in a time when the expansion of safe, fair and affordable financial services and local investment is essential to the nation’s continued economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Harper said.

NCUA Vice Chairman Kyle S. Hauptman said one of his priorities is to reform the process of creating entirely new, or “de novo,” credit unions.

“We can’t credibly talk about ‘access’ and ‘inclusion’ unless we’re doing all that we can do to allow new, stable charters,” Hauptman said. “I’m gratified that Community First, a non-profit CDFI, saw the benefits of forming a credit union. I hope other CDFIs will explore the credit union option, which is one reason we are publicizing this latest successful de novo charter.”

During its first year of operations, Community First Fund FCU will provide regular share and share draft accounts, youth accounts, money market accounts, share certificates, direct deposit, vehicle loans, personal loans, overdraft lines of credit, online banking and ATM access.

In the future, the credit union plans to offer credit cards and first mortgages. Pending the NCUA granting the low-income credit union designation, the credit union will offer non-member deposits.

Since 2019, NCUA has chartered four other new credit unions:

• Otoe-Missouria Federal Credit Union in Red Rock, Okla. ($1.6 million in assets, 386 members) was chartered in May 2019 to serve the 4,200 members and employees of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe as well as 17 tribal-owned businesses.
• Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union of Unity ($3.1 million in assets, 60 members) was charted Aug. 14, 2019, to serve the employees and 13,000 members of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Maine Farmland Trust.
• Growing Oaks Federal Credit Union of Goldsby, Okla. ($1.5 million in assets, 29 members) was chartered Aug. 7, 2020, to serve four counties in the state.
• Maun Federal Credit Union of Kendall Park, N.J., was chartered on April 26 to serve a local Islamic community.