WOCCU’s President/CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde
On the same day the Washington, D.C. offices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) locked its offices to employees after billionaire Elon Musk said President Donald Trump agreed with him to close the agency, WOCCU’s President/CEO Elissa McCarter LaBorde sent a letter to the new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking him to honor “existing obligations of funding” while the government reviews all foreign aid programs.
In the letter dated Monday, McCarter LaBorde said the decision to shut down USAID programs has placed WOCCU in a potentially tough financial position.
“At WOCCU, we believe in foreign assistance programs that deliver measurable, long-term benefits for both the developing world and the American people,” the letter stated. “However, the nature of this sudden blanket freeze on aid has put organizations such as ours in a precarious financial and legal position, and it has put our employees—American citizens here and abroad—at significant personal risk.”
According to a CU Times report filed last week by Jim DuPlessis, WOCCU's latest annual report for 2023 showed that USAID provided $7.57 million, or 99%, of its $7.66 million in development grant revenue. The group's total revenue was $16.62 million.
Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order concerning the USAID 90-day stop-work orders, shut down all three international development projects that WOCCU implements on its behalf through credit unions. WOCCU verified last week that work was suspended on the following projects:
- The USAID GROW Project in Ukraine;
- The USAID Economic Inclusion Project (EIP) in Peru and Ecuador; and
- The USAID Cooperative Development Program’s (CDP) Accelerating Growth and Inclusion in Lending for Credit Unions (AGIL4CU) Project in Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Kenya and Senegal.
During a call with reporters Monday, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak said they have seen how important WOCCU has been to help small businesses and those who've been impacted by the war in Ukraine. "We've been supportive of WOCCU's efforts to help our credit union family all across this country and their ability to have the resources they need."
"We stand by ready to support our credit union family however we can moving forward," he said.
READ MORE: WOCCU's letter to Sec. of State Marco Rubio
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
