Financial Health Is Physical Health
CUNA Mutual discusses the FinHealth Fund and other opportunities for CUs to improve member and community well-being.
Some believe access to quality health care drives community health. People who think that are right. Sort of. Access to good health care is important. But other factors also play a role in determining individual well-being, including:
• Education access and quality; • Social and community context; • Economic well-being; and • Neighborhood and built environment.
Education access and quality, social and community context, economic well-being, and neighborhood and built environment – along with health care access and quality – are the five Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). According to the Centers for Disease Control, SDOH are conditions in the places people live, learn, work and play that impact a wide range of health risks and outcomes. And all too frequently, access to those resources fall along racial lines.
Credit unions, along with CUNA Mutual Group, strive to create brighter financial futures for all. One of the five SDOH is economic well-being. Credit unions are positioned to impact more than member financial health. By helping people achieve brighter financial futures, credit unions can impact a community’s physical well-being, too.
CUNA Mutual recently joined other leaders from the credit union industry to announce the creation of and the organization’s commitment to the FinHealth Fund. The fund aims to transform lives by helping people improve their financial health. Helping people improve their financial health will simultaneously help them improve their physical health. When a person is healthy financially, they can afford things like healthy food, housing and health care itself – all of which contribute to a person’s physical well-being.
Contributing to and using the resources provided by the FinHealth Fund is an example of one thing you and your credit union can do to help improve the health of your members and the communities in which you serve. Your participation is appreciated and important. But, just like access to health care isn’t the only thing impacting a person’s health, engaging with the FinHealth Fund isn’t the only step your credit union can take to ensure communities are both financially and physically fit. There are three things I would encourage everyone to do that could a go long way in determining the financial and physical well-being of your members and community.
1. Question the Need
We are all very proud of our philanthropic efforts. And we should be. I love working for an organization I truly believe not just cares about the community and people it serves but actively invests in both. But every time we invest in a food pantry, homeless shelter or any other organization committed to working on economic injustice, I find myself wondering, “Why is there a need for this resource?” I’m not alone in asking this question, in fact, it is this very sentiment that prompted Martin Luther King, Jr. to say, “Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”
2. Look Upstream
Trying to determine why there is a need for a particular resource (i.e., food pantry, homeless shelter or other organization committed to ensuring access to basic needs) is looking upstream. The next time your organization decides to make a financial contribution to a local nonprofit, schedule a follow up meeting with those in the decision-making process and those most impacted. Ask about the economic injustices in your community that make philanthropy for basic needs necessary.
3. Challenge Historical Norms
In an article written for this very publication in 2020, “Now is the Time to Transform Your Giving Efforts,” my colleague Alexzandra Shade said that now is the time to move from transactional to transformative philanthropy. Alexzandra said we do this by making sure our philanthropic efforts align with the values of the credit union movement, strategically focus on equity and challenge historical norms. She wrote:
“When we talk about disrupting the way things have always been done, we mean questioning the ways of the past – and acknowledging that just because something was done one way and consistently repeated does not mean it is the right solution for today.
“That means engaging deeply with members of our communities and truly listening to their needs. Many times, philanthropic efforts can inadvertently become relationships of ‘power-over’ or ‘savior-mentality.’ Instead, we as a movement need to ensure we are working shoulder-to-shoulder with partners and creating relationships of mutual respect.
“Philanthropy should no longer be transactional, and most certainly not authoritative.”
As a movement, our philanthropic efforts shouldn’t just address the result of years or decades of bad policies and systemic inequities (i.e., food insecurity and homelessness). It should look to address the source or upstream problem. If and when we can all do that, we can move the needle and help improve both the financial and physical health of the communities in which we serve. And truly make brighter financial futures available to everyone.
Angela Russell Chief Diversity Officer CUNA Mutual Group Madison, Wis.