Foundation Grants $75,000 to Improve Member & Employee Financial Health

Madison, Wis. – The National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) Board of Directors has approved 8 grants totaling $75,000 to help credit union organizations document and measure the impacts of their products and services on member and employee financial health.

In 2017, the Foundation funded six credit unions to measure the financial health of their members, using the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI’s) financial health segmentation methodology. The aggregate data showed that more than half (58%) of members in the total credit union sample are struggling financially, highlighting a significant opportunity for credit unions to help their members better spend, save, borrow, and plan.

The purpose of these grants is to help credit unions build upon this work by supporting their initiatives to measure and document these efforts specifically in the Save, Spend, Borrow, and Plan categories.

A few grantee project highlights include:

• Cooperative Federal in N.Y. will measure credit score improvements over time for borrowers in its Credit Builder Club as well as measure financial outcomes (increased savings, reduced debt, improved credit score) among credit union members that receive counseling through the Syracuse Financial Empowerment Center.

• The Richard Myles Johnson Foundation (RMJ) in Calif. and Nev. is going to add pre and post-testing functionality to the existing Bite of Reality App to measure Reality Fair participants’ knowledge, attitudes and intentions regarding all four of the financial health categories.

• University Federal Credit Union in Texas is going to expand its financial health program as part of its DoWell Benefits to reach all 600 of its employees. This includes a savings program to encourage tracking transactional movement in savings, credit score, and introducing 401k enrollment movement or increases in contributions.

Other credit unions receiving grants include:

• Faith Community United Credit Union, Ohio.

• Latino Community Credit Union, N.C.

• Royal Credit Union, Wis.

• San Mateo Credit Union, Calif.

• Travis Credit Union, Calif.