Helping its members learn the basics of financial literacy is something of a passion for the staff at Meriwest Credit Union in San Jose, Calif.
Its financial education program – which teaches classes on everything from credit myths to personal budgeting to retirement investing – is so popular that nearly 3,000 members have participated since its launch in 2007, said Community Relations Manager Gregory B. Meyer.
So it made sense to extend the program to the greater community. Meriwest developed partnerships with groups like Catholic Charities, Job Corps, the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency and three local housing authorities to create workshops for their clients and support them with credit and banking counseling.
The results were impressive for the local population – and for Meriwest. A number of agency clients signed up for Meriwest accounts, boosting the credit union’s membership and helping the unbanked find a financial home, Meyer said.
Meriwest also garnered positive media coverage. As a result, the program earned second place in the Dora Maxwell Community Outreach Award for Credit unions in 2008 and it was a runner up for the 2008 RMJ Foundation Award.
“Giving back to the community is simply good business. It produces its own PR if you do it right,” Meyer said.
Financial institutions like Meriwest have long supported the areas where their branches and headquarters are based. But the issue has never been more pressing than in recent months as the failing national economy has touched more households.
That is why so many banks and credit unions are stepping up their community relationships. And they are finding these warm-hearted programs are helping both the people who live around them and the financial institutions themselves.
Sunset Credit Union in Cedar Mill, Oregon, recently implemented a special program which markets their business accounts to their members – and the members love it.
“With these interesting times, we realized our business accounts could use all the marketing help they can get,” said Judy Makela, Sunset’s President. “Our members are very loyal, so we created a program that is a win for our members and increases sales for our business accounts.”
Sunset business accounts design special offers exclusively for Sunset members. Some business offer a discount on purchases, others a free report, and others a free consultation.
The credit union then created a web page for members to see the business offers. The members are able to download any coupon they want. Although some credit unions currently have similar programs in place, Sunset decided to take it to the next level.
“Every three weeks we highlight a business on our home page and allow them to have a table in our lobby to promote themselves to our members,” said Makela. “We send an email out to our entire database promoting the business and put messages on our online banking to ensure that everyone knows about them.”
To encourage their members even more, they give away promotional items with their logo on it which matches the business they are highlighting.
“We believe now is the time to really help out our business accounts and others can too. It just takes an idea and some work. And our business accounts are reciprocating,” Makela said. “It seems that when someone purchases an item using a credit or debit card that isn’t a Sunset card, some business owners inevitably mention that the customer should check us out. We’ve gotten some great new members thanks to our business partners.”
United Bank puts its money where the community is. It recently received the Pillars of the Community Award from the West Virginia Bankers Association for its work with affordable housing and economic development in the area.
United Bank, which has dual headquarters in Charleston, West Virginia, and Washington D.C., has made its name among its 114 branches for specializing in grants and low-cost loans. In 2008, the bank helped cut the ribbon on a veterans’ homeless shelter is helped fund. It provided grant money to rehab dilapidated homes in southern West Virginia. And its loans helped spur construction of homes for low- and moderate-income families and those with disabilities.
Moreover, United Bank’s directors or employees volunteered more than 5,000 hours of time to community events – and the volunteers sit on community development boards of a whopping 63 West Virginia non-profit organizations.
These unique programs show United Bank’s “superior array of financial and volunteer activities,” which is the main reason it received the Pillars award, said John R. Price, president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, who helped determine the award-winning institutions.
Literacy and a commitment to education are among the favorite projects for the staff at MaPS (Marion and Polk Schools) Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in Oregon.
With a commitment to service, MaPS chooses causes that align with its core values of lifelong learning and economic development, said Jill Nowacki, the credit union’s vice president of development.
To that end, the MaPS Charitable Committee raises funds to give scholarships to local students. This year, Ten students received scholarships worth more than $11,000. The credit union also raised more than $2,000 for a local book drive, stepping up to help sort, organize and prepare the book for donation to area children.
While there is no obvious boost in business because of these activities, officials say the knowledge that MaPS has made the community richer in a variety of ways makes every effort worth it.
“MaPS has some of the most generous members and employees,” Nowacki said. “We are proud to be able to find important causes in the local community that they can help us support.”
