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CUNA Strategic Services (CSS), a company majority-owned by CUNA and state credit union leagues, has formed an alliance with CNote, a women-led social enterprise and community investment technology provider, CSS announced Wednesday.
The alliance aims to increase the flow of long-term, flexible and community-focused non-member deposits to CUNA member credit unions, according to CSS. The capital commitments made through CNote will also promote diversity and inclusion by funneling deposits to credit unions with the biggest gaps in capital, providing the funds they need to expand lending and offer credit building and educational services to members, CSS said.
CNote's technology enables individuals and large institutions such as Mastercard, PayPal and the Sierra Club to deliver cash investments to participating credit unions via the organization's CNote Promise Account. Credit union recipients can scale the incoming capital and are not charged any fees to participate, CSS said. In addition, CNote helps foster relationships between investors and credit unions that can lead to new investments, grants, members, partnerships and media opportunities.
"Credit unions have been community-first leaders for years. Our work with CNote and its diverse base of corporate impact investors means that credit unions can dramatically expand their economic mobility work and gain access, for free, to a new base of impact-first deposits," CSS President Barb Lowman said. "This new alliance with CNote will create greater financial inclusion across the country that far surpasses any monetary value – it's just the right thing to do for our movement."
CNote CEO Catherine Berman stated, "We believe credit unions are key to closing the wealth gap in the United States, and we are looking forward to connecting with these inspiring mission-driven institutions on multiple fronts. I could not be more excited to create greater visibility and investment for credit unions and their members."
Credit unions can reach out to CSS to learn more via the online form here.
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
