In the community

The part of a credit union website that is usually a photograph of volunteers in matching shirts. Here are the actual commitments instead.

Scholarships

Annual awards to graduating seniors who are members or whose parent or guardian is a member. Judged on an essay and community involvement rather than GPA alone, because the students who most need the money are frequently the ones who have been working twenty hours a week instead of studying.

Financial education

Staff teach personal finance sessions in local high schools and at community organizations — budgeting, credit, what a loan actually costs, and how to read the paperwork at a car dealership. There is no product pitch in these sessions. A teenager who learns what an APR is has been served whether or not they ever bank with us.

The same material, in written form, is in Money Notes.

Paid volunteer time

Every employee gets paid hours each year to volunteer with an organization of their choosing. Food banks, youth sports, habitat builds, animal rescue, school events. We do not require that it be visible or that anyone wear a shirt with our name on it.

Small grants

A modest fund, distributed in small amounts to local nonprofits and school programs. Deliberately small and deliberately many — a three-hundred-dollar grant for classroom supplies or a youth team's uniforms does more good per dollar than one large check with our logo on a banner.

Where we have not done enough

Our reach into the rural end of our field of membership is thinner than it should be. The branches are where the population is, which is defensible, and it means the members furthest out get less of everything, which is still true even if it is defensible. It is on the list.