Does your CU’s donation policy truly reflect your mission?

I was doing a presentation on the cooperative principles recently at a credit union and was reflecting on principle #7 - concern for community - afterwards. During the presentation, we started talking about all the ways this particular credit union gave back to their community and how intentional they were about it.

During my time at the National Credit Union Foundation , I used to do a lot of talking and writing about strategic philanthropy, which is still just as timely. Let me explain: credit unions give millions of dollars every year to local and national charities, which is great and does a ton of good in communities around the country.

To help guide their charitable giving, many credit unions have a donation policy (usually posted on their website for inquiring organizations in the community). Most that I’ve seen are pretty basic and center around a rule that says the credit union will only make donations to “organizations, programs, or events that will benefit the communities where the credit union does business.”

Pretty generic isn’t it? It is also so broad that I can see almost any cause being solicited to credit unions by crafty writers in communities everywhere. Also, how do you choose what organizations are funded when you have multiple ones asking for money? With such wide-ranging guidelines, it’s really hard to choose one over the other.

Thus, you can make more of an impact with a charitable giving policy that reflects your credit union’s mission. Yes, concern for community is a cooperative principle, but it’s one of seven. At every credit union’s core is the guiding philosophy to help improve their members’ financial lives. That’s what credit unions do, every day, everywhere.

Let’s quickly look at REI (a cooperative too by the way). Since they are an outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, their charitable donations mainly go to…you guessed it, the outdoors. From their website :

“We recognize that we have work to do—as individuals, as a co-op and as a society—to evolve the outdoors and outdoor culture to be more reflective and inclusive of the many ways people enjoy time outside. In parallel, we must continue to support the health, vitality and accessibility of our parks and public lands. We must be good stewards of the outdoor places where we love to play.”

Makes sense doesn’t it? It’s a mutually beneficial relationship in many ways. REI’s members visit the outdoors and they shop at REI because they need things to do so. REI conserves the outdoors because it drives their business.

Your members are at your credit union because you are a trusted financial partner. You’re looking out for their financial well-being so consider focusing your charitable giving and make those dollars go even farther. For example, there are a myriad of financial education and literacy funding opportunities. Also, look at the areas of counseling, training, housing, employment, etc. in your backyard (and then list by funding priority in your policy if possible).

Don’t wait for organizations to come to you either. Do some research. Ask community partners. Ask your members. Also, leverage tools like Guidestar and BBB Wise Giving Alliance when looking to make a donation to charitable organizations. It’s good practice as well to review your policy and donations annually to ensure they are a good fit and making a difference!

Just another way that your credit union can keep purpose constant.