National Credit Union Foundation

The National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) is the United States credit union movement’s primary national charitable fundraising organization for credit union development. The Foundation is an affiliate of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and is located in CUNA's offices in Madison, Wisconsin as well as in Washington, DC. In 2015, the Foundation unveiled a new logo, shorthand ("the Foundation" in place of "NCUF") and website.^[2]

The National Credit Union Foundation engages in a variety of activities to help credit unions create greater access to affordable financial services, provide widespread financial education, and empower more consumers to save, build assets, and own homes. In its 35+ years, the Foundation has given more than $25 million in grants in support of its mission to improve people's financial lives through credit unions.

The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization governed by a volunteer Board of Directors composed of executives from the credit union movement as well as an at-large representative.

Programs

Credit Union Development Education (DE) Program

DE Training is an intensive program which provides lessons in cooperative principles, credit union philosophy and international development issues while incorporating current credit union challenges. During the week-long DE Training, participants are involved in group exercises, field trips, encouraged to ask questions of visiting speakers, and are required to complete team projects proposing solutions for credit unions to help alleviate or eliminate challenging situations in any given area. Since 1982, more than 1,500 credit union advocates from over 35 countries have graduated from the Foundation's DE Training to become Credit Union Development Educators (CUDEs). The Foundation now holds four trainings a year.

REAL solutions

In 2007, REAL (Relevant, Effective, Asset-building, Loyalty-producing) Solutions, a project of the Filene Research Institute, became a program of the Foundation. In its first six years, REAL solutions was known for working through state credit union leagues to provide services for people of low income and victims of predatory lending practices.

Now, REAL Solutions' focus is to achieve broader and deeper scale in its programs through train-the-trainer efforts and thereby greatly increase the number of people who have access to our experiential learning programs and member products. For example, through REAL Solutions, the Foundation now offers:

• "Retire on Track", a Retirement Fair to assist credit unions with helping their members and staff better prepare for retirement;
• a "Life Simulation" kit, 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;
• financial counseling training for credit union staff to become certified financial counselors via Enhanced FiCEP; and
• a variety of toolkits, including a recent one for credit unions to implement a non-prime auto lending program.

Biz Kid$

Biz Kid$ is a PBS television series devoted to financial education for children. The overall objective of Biz Kid$ is to engage young people and help them develop life skills in the areas of financial literacy and entrepreneurship. The initiative includes an Emmy award winning television series, free classroom curriculum, outreach activities, and a website targeting kids 9 – 16 years old. It is the first national public television series promoting financial education for elementary through high school students and was created by the same team that produced “Bill Nye the Science Guy”.

Disaster Relief/CU Aid

In times of disaster, the Foundation raises and distributes funds to aid credit unions, employees, volunteers and members in the affected region through its National Credit Union Foundation Disaster Relief Fund. For example, the Foundation raised over $3.5 million in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a record for the credit union system. For disaster relief fundraising for the credit union system, the Foundation developed CU Aid, the credit union movement's first online disaster relief fundraising system.

Fundraising

Financial support to the Foundation is provided by "corporate supporters" such as credit unions and credit union vendors, individual donors, and Community Investment Fund (CIF) investors. The Community Investment Fund is a partnership between the National Credit Union Foundation and state credit union leagues and foundations. Credit unions invest in a Community Investment Fund account with either the National Cooperative Bank, MEMBERS Trust Company, or a designated corporate credit union. The return on the investment is split between the credit union, the Foundation, and the investing state's credit union league or foundation. Proceeds from the fund are then used to fund a variety of the National Credit Union Foundation's national programs as well as state credit union league and foundation development initiatives.

Charity rating

According to the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, the National Credit Union Foundation "meets the BBB Standards for Charity Accountability."^[3]

References

1. ↑ Morrison, David (October 30, 2013). "Hyland Takes Reins at NCUF". Credit Union Times. p. 5. 
2. ↑ Lisa McCue, National CU Foundation's change of flight ", CUNA News Now, January 16, 2015
3. ↑ NCUF's BBB Wise Giving Alliance Rating

External links

• National Credit Union Foundation: http://www.ncuf.coop
• CUNA: http://www.cuna.coop