Sun community federal credit union

Community CUs work diligently to weave themselves into the fabric of the communities they serve.

Any community credit union knows that adopting a community charter and inserting the word "community" into its name are merely the first-and perhaps the easiest-steps in evolving into a community institution.

The ultimate goal for community credit unions is to find ways to weave themselves into the fabric of the communities they serve.

Credit unions have an edge over other financial institutions in meeting that challenge, says Marc Selvitelli, executive director of the National Association of Community Credit Unions (NACCU), Washington, D.C.

"They have a better idea of what it takes," he says, "to get involved and to become an effective community partner. Credit unions, and community credit unions in particular, don't become involved in their communities so much because they have to. They do it because it's their mission. It's what they were founded to do."

The Credit Union National Association's (CUNA) economics and statistics department estimates there are about 1,700 community-chartered credit unions.

For these credit unions, fitting into their communities is as much a part of doing business as taking deposits or making loans.

Strategies vary, but the objective remains constant. Community credit unions do whatever it takes to get to the point where they rightly can claim, "We belong here."

Being in touch

The people at Dupaco Community Credit Union, Dubuque, Iowa, have learned a thing or two about community involvement during the credit union's 19 years as a community-chartered institution. That's partly why they recently won NACCU's first-ever Community Credit Union of the Year Award.

"If you want long-term recognition that you're a good civic partner," says President/CEO Bob Hoefer, "you need to have staff involvement and relationship building, along with giving those checks."

As for checks, Dupaco Community writes many, to the tune of $200,000 a year in contributions to local organizations. That's a hefty sum for a $350 million asset credit union, Hoefer notes. "That's equivalent to the cost of several employees. And that doesn't include all the time we spend on fund drives" and other community events."

Those events include diverse activities. The credit union offers members discount coupons for hockey games, hosts a Coats for Kids drive, and sponsors a communitywide garage sale, which includes about 400 garage sales scattered across Dubuque on the last Saturday of April each year.

Joe Hearn, executive vice president of marketing and public relations, remembers when the credit union first sponsored the community garage sale. A few local bankers poked fun. "They were saying, 1Ha! Credit unions and garage sales,' as if that was beneath them," Hearn observes. "But you know what? We're in touch with what people in this community like and do."

That same approach even enters into Dupaco Community's product and service offerings. For instance, when a local newspaper published a book of Dubuque historical photographs, the credit union became the only financial institution to offer the book as an incentive for opening a share certificate. "Here's Dupaco, locally owned," Hearn points out, "offering this local historical book. It's all local." And that means a lot to people, he adds, in these days of widespread nonlocal bank ownership.

Most crucial to the credit union's successful community participation, Hearn and Hoefer agree, is active staff involvement all through the ranks. Top executives must set the example, Hoefer emphasizes, and the board has to understand why community participation is vital.

"Once in a while, people are going to be gone [from the credit union] because they're doing various things out in the community," Hoefer says. "The board members have to recognize that's part of our civic duty."

Plugging in

Relatively new to the community charter realm but not to community involvement, is Georgia Federal Credit Union in Duluth, with assets of $375 million. Besides serving school systems and other select employee groups (SEGs), Georgia Federal now has community charters in two counties that serve members of modest means, according to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), Washington, D.C.

These two areas are "totally different markets," notes Kim Wall, vice president of marketing. Thus, the credit union adjusts its community involvement strategies for each. "You plug in wherever you can to identify yourself as part of the community," she says, "and you realize that you're in it for the long haul."

One of these two counties is predominantly rural, having as its hub the community of Dublin, 160 miles from Georgia Federal's main office in the Atlanta metro area. The credit union has had a branch in Dublin for several years. But when Georgia Federal gained a community charter there two years ago, it substantially stepped up its community involvement.

For instance, one of Dublin's biggest events is its St. Patrick's Day parade, in which Georgia Federal never had participated. That changed after obtaining the community charter.

Employees went all out to build a float to enter in the parade. "We had our people and their families on the float, wearing shamrock shirts, throwing candy," Wall reports. "It was our coming-out party."

The other county is centered around Athens, a college town 50 miles from the credit union's headquarters. Since obtaining a community charter there a year ago, the credit union has been involved in activities such as sponsoring T-shirts for a campus voter registration drive.

"We let people know we're here to be active community players," Wall says, "and that we care about the communities we live in."

When those communities are a distance away from the credit union's headquarters, an additional element becomes crucial. "I cannot stress enough," Wall adds, "the importance of having the right people with the right attitude in the local branches, representing your credit union. Those people are your credit union."

Even so, for a new community credit union, it takes time to get past the "new kid on the block" perception.

"It doesn't happen in the first year," Wall maintains. "With Dublin, we saw it in the second year. It took time and a lot of volunteering to be truly accepted."

Shifting direction

MAX Federal Credit Union, Montgomery, Ala., with $625 million in assets, had donated to community causes for years. But after gaining a community charter six years ago, the credit union decided to take a different tack. It incorporated a foundation that raises funds for area charities.

The thinking behind this step, says D.G. Markwell, assistant vice president of marketing, was that creating a foundation "shows intentionality and focus in our involvement," as opposed to making sporadic donations to assorted groups.

Called the MAX4Kids Foundation, it supports numerous organizations serving children. "When you're taking care of your children," Markwell points out, "you're taking care of your community." Leaders from various organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs and the Children's Hospital of Alabama, serve on the foundation's board.

MAX Federal hosts diverse events to raise funds for the foundation. Some of these are simple and require little organizing. On Blue Jean Days, for instance, credit union employees wishing to wear jeans to work pay $5 into a kitty. Likewise, loose-change buckets placed near teller stations collect members' and employees' spare coins for the foundation's coffers.

At the other end of the spectrum are major events such as the October charity golf tournament, which "we try to make one of the premier golf tournaments in our area," Markwell notes. Credit union employees pitch in by doing everything from staffing registration tables to serving as holewatchers to validate golfers' shots. To earn the right to work the tournament-a much-soughtafter volunteer activity-an employee first must raise $100 for the foundation by making a personal donation or enlisting a corporate sponsor, for example.

In addition to its foundation's work, MAX Federal tries to be highly visible in the community in other ways. As one of its flashiest activities, it sponsors fireworks shows that occur several times during the season of the Montgomery Biscuits, the local minor league baseball franchise.

But the fireworks sponsorship is more than putting on a show, Markwell emphasizes. Being a sponsor, "we pay a fee to the owners of the baseball team," he explains, "and part of that fee goes to the city to use for economic development of the downtown area. That's another way we fit in here. We're investing in family entertainment, and at the same time we're making an investment in growing our community."

Setting priorities