Is your credit union looking for a grant? A wide-spread financial education program to leverage? A free toolkit to help members with medical debt? Have members that need assistance after a disaster? We're here for you to help with these and other questions. We are your Foundation.
When you support our work by contributing money, investing in the Community Investment Fund (CIF), and/or using our programs and resources, you're truly putting your money where your mission is. Helping members financially is at the heart of what every one of us in the movement does every day. And we—the National Credit Union Foundation—are here to help you help your members.
Who is the Foundation? It's staff, our board, supporters, but more importantly, it's our impact that defines us. Some examples:
Financial Literacy Programs
We are your resource for leveraging national financial literacy programs and funding. Tallahassee-Leon Federal Credit Union (TLFCU) hosted its fourth annual "Mini Billionaires' Academy," a week-long overnight summer camp designed to teach youth the benefits of understanding money and financial planning. TLFCU received support last year for the Academy from the Foundation through a "Biz Kid$" financial education grant for their growing program, which incorporates Biz Kid$, a Foundation program that teaches children to manage money.
"Students are graduating high school, and even college, with almost no formal training on personal money management. We are proud to be able to fill that gap in our community," said Lisa Brown, CUDE and president/CEO of TLFCU. In just four years, more than115 campers have graduated with their "MBA" through TLFCU's program.
We are your resource for national credit union disaster relief. As you know, last August, wildfires devastated the Northwest U.S. and Northern California. The Foundation worked with Mendo Lake Credit Union and Redwood Credit Union, which had members (and some staff even) lose their homes because of the fires. Heartbreaking stories of homes "burned completely" down to the Foundation and/or all personal belongings lost poured in. One application noted that they not only lost belongings, but 31 years worth of belongings. Some things you can't put a price on.
"The Foundation funds help shine a light on the old fashioned credit union difference of people helping people," said Richard Cooper, president/CEO of Mendo Lake Credit Union. Ultimately, the Foundation granted more than $80,000 in disaster relief funds to those credit union people who needed assistance.
Learning By Doing
We are your resource for "learning by doing." At the Foundation, we've seen first-hand that experiential learning is a fantastic way to be a catalyst for behavioral change around important lessons around finances (reality fairs for teens), retirement ("Retire on Track" retirement fairs for adults), and putting yourself in your members' shoes (life simulations for credit union staff).
For example, our life simulation experience is designed to help credit union employees, volunteers and leadership begin to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month to month. In the simulation 45 to 90 participants assume the roles of up to 30 families. Some families are newly unemployed, some are homeless and others are senior citizens living on disability payments or raising grandchildren. During the activity, these "families" are struggling to make ends meet in the simulated month of four, 15-minute weeks.
Walk a Mile in Members' Shoes
"Being able to put yourself in your members' shoes as they live week to week and day to day, and the frustration of all the obstacles placed in front of them, opens your eyes to all the potential products, services and solutions we as a credit union can offer to improve the quality of our members' lives," said Jeff Kunberger, CUDE and senior service center manager at Suncoast CU, after experiencing a life simulation at the Foundation's DE Training. Suncoast CU recently held a life simulation for its staff.
These examples are just a small sampling of the work we do for you and the movement. The Foundation's mission is to be a catalyst to improve people's financial lives through credit unions.
Whether it's a Biz Kid$ activity for youth, a life simulation for a credit union, a toolkit on a trending financial capability issue such as non-prime auto lending, a retirement fair for an adult, or a helping hand to recover from a disaster, we at the Foundation are proud to assist credit unions help members achieve financial freedom.
Thanks to you, we are your National Credit Union Foundation, providing impactful philanthropy to help you help your members.
Gigi Hyland, CUDE, is executive director of the National Credit Union Foundation.
