Mar. 11, 2008 at 1:45pm

"What if" from the greates CU event in the world

Posted by Jamie Chase in Elections, Social Responsibility, Talking to Members, What We're Up To
Comments (5)

Kurt and I returned to JayRay yesterday from a thought-provoking week at CUNA’s Government Affairs Conference (GAC), the largest credit union event in the world. I’m relieved to share that the normal fluff and peachy rhetoric, gave way to the discussion of serious issues.

They gave us something to think about:

• “Great leaders in the credit union system or elsewhere recognize reality and deal with it.” ~Gen. Colin Powell, Keynote speaker
• “The average age of a U.S. credit union member is 47.” ~Allan Kemp McMorris, CUNA’s outgoing chairman
• “CUNA was one of the first organizations to use YouTube. It may not be directed at me, but young people are watching it.” ~Dan Mica, CEO, CUNA
• “Since 2000, the average credit union membership growth has been 1.9 percent, barely ahead of U.S. population growth.” ~Summary from program book
• “If it wasn’t for indirect lending our membership would have shown a decrease and we all know that indirect members aren’t the best.” ~Dick Ensweiler, President and CEO, Texas Credit Union League and Chairman of CUNA’s Membership Growth Taskforce
• “Credit unions have a critical and distinct impact on the U.S. economy.” ~Gigi Hyland, Board member, NCUA
• “Every problem is an opportunity.” ~Dan Mica, At CUNA’s annual meeting during the GAC
• “I’ll never hold an active credit union board election. The members might vote off my most educated board member.” ~Anonymous CEO at Filene reception
• “If you believe in credit unions, you have to believe in the members.” ~Gigi Hyland

What if:

• Our movement valued regular board elections as giving members the opportunity to experience and talk about the credit union difference. Even if voter turnout is low, the experience empowers active community leaders and likely increases referrals.
• We recognize and deal with the knowledge that nearly every bank markets friendly service and low rates.
• The consumers we help overcome the sub-prime housing fall-out tell their friends and family about how credit unions changed their lives.
• We saw conversions from credit unions to mutual savings banks as a wake-up call that regularly held contested elections increase both board accountability to the membership and member understanding of the credit union difference. If we sent legislators to Congress every year without voting for them, how accountable would they be to us?
• We saw our aging membership problem and technology know-how as an opportunity to create an online credit union marketed to young people. With our shared branching network, the young members could be directed to local credit unions for physical branches. Could this be done as a CUSO service, like CU Match Up?

Kudos to:

• Allan Kemp McMorris, Dick Ensweiler and Dan Mica for their honest leadership about our movement’s opportunities and challenges.
• Gigi Hyland for believing in members and empowering credit unions.
• Mark Wolf of CUNA for giving us a critically needed credit union event with substance.

Comments (5)

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

Robert Michel
3/11/2008 at 1:50 pm
1 | Left by Robert Michel | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:44pm

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Thanks for the excellent recap.

I love your “what ifs?” All too often in credit union land we hear “that won’t work” or “we can’t do that.”
3/12/2008 at 8:30 am

2 | Left by Tim McAlpine | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:46pm

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Love the average age quote. Wonder how they arrived at that as most CUs don’t have that stat at their fingertips. Maybe the benchmark should also have the caveat, includes dormant members. I am trying to be nice to consultants, there are just so many that…
3/14/2008 at 4:25 pm
3 | Left by Gene Blishen | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:48pm

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@Robert, Thanks!
@Tim, You and Kurt need to grab coffee. He is so excited about the growing can do attitude.
@Gene,There’s a lot of talent in CU land. Not sure how the researcher arrived at the average age, but believe many CUs do have the info from DOB.
3/17/2008 at 10:48 am
4 | Left by Jamie Chase | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:58pm

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We should flesh out that online credit union idea - we might actually have something there! (=
3/21/2008 at 10:12 am
5 | Left by Christopher | Aug. 27, 2008 at 1:58pm

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