Ukrainian nationals displaced by the ongoing war with Russia are gearing up for added financial support, thanks to the aid of a new program created by credit union experts in the U.S.
The CU Relief Fund for Ukraine launched in late 2022 through a joint effort between Steven Bugg, chief executive of Great Lakes Credit Union in Bannockburn, Illinois; Tim Williams, CEO of the $112 million-asset Sno Falls Credit Union in North Bend, Washington; and Chris Doner, CEO of the Berkeley, California-based fintech firm Access Softek. The fund began accepting public donations in late August, concluding more than a year and a half of development to ensure it could securely handle the transactions.
Since the
Both the $1.4 billion-asset Great Lakes and Access Softek consciously recruited Ukrainians as part of the credit union adage of "people helping people" in that time, inspiring Bugg to get involved on a deeper level.
"We want to help support the credit union movement [in Ukraine] but also those impacted by the war, and we think the scale is just so large. … We know there are other organizations that are helping, and that's great, but how can we also help support that cause?" Bugg said.
Credit unions that participate in the campaign can deploy premade banners on their online and mobile banking platforms to direct members to the fund's donation portal, where they can select which of the current partnered organizations to allocate funding. Current choices include the
Organizations can also choose to partner with Ukrainian cooperatives and provide direct financial support or advisory expertise.
Doner, whose firm works with more than 250 credit union clients, flew to Hungary when the fighting began to deliver basic necessities such as food and water to affected citizens. He made a second trip to transport medicines which were hard to find in Ukraine.
He is currently working through his network as the fund progresses to find interested leaders and help establish their organizations as "fundraising channel[s] for important and worthwhile needs in Ukraine," he said.
Other executives across the credit union space have been similarly inspired by the experiences of those escaping the devastation to build funds of their own.
Bruce K. Foulke, president and chief executive of the $4.7 billion-asset American Heritage Credit Union in Philadelphia, and Brian Branch, former president and CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions in Madison, Wisconsin, launched the
Outside of individual fundraising efforts, advocacy groups including
For the credit unions on the receiving end of donations, every dollar gathered could support a loan for those in need.
Petro Makovskyi, CEO of Credit Union Vyhoda in the Lviv Oblast — or region — of Ukraine and a partner of CU Relief, is planning to coordinate with American institutions through the fund to educate foreign leaders about the true conditions within the county and gather financial support for member-facing services.
"When the people from other countries like the United States show us that they support us, they want to help and they want to be a part of our fighting, that means a lot. … It's much easier to fight when you know that someone [has got] your back," Makovskyi said. The credit union participated in WOCCU's
With the departure of clients and potential sources of funding from Ukraine, recently established institutions such as Credit Union Agro Business Credit in the city of Rivne rely on external aid programs to support vulnerable industries like
Zelenchuk underscored the difficulties entrepreneurs face in accessing capital from banks and other financial institutions, and remains dedicated to providing members with the funding needed for survival.
"The credit union started with support of families who are producing milk, so we helped this group with access to credit and loans to support their business activities," Zelenchuk said. "So we continue to search for any solutions and any possibilities to survive in these times."
The fund's founders will network with credit union leaders to spread awareness of their mission.
"This is a war between freedom and democracy on the one hand, and between dictatorship and oppression [on the other], and I know what side I want to be on," Doner said.
Interviews with Makovskyi and Zelenchuk were translated from Ukrainian
