This week, CreditUnions.com finds more than a handful of credit unions committed to providing a Day of Service, looks into one credit union’s five-year plan, and asks: What does a senior vice president of community impact do?
Here are five can’t-miss data points this week on CreditUnions.com.
6
Monday was a federal holiday in the United States, and many credit unions across the country were closed. But that doesn’t mean they stopped working. Credit unions have turned Columbus Day known as Indigenous Peoples Day in seven states into a day of volunteerism. They’re doing good work in their communities and impacting thousands of community members. Community volunteerism has been a part of credit union DNA since the movement’s founding. In recent years, however, a growing number of cooperatives have worked together to coordinate their efforts. Here, six credit unions located from Washington state to New Jersey describe the resources required, challenges faced, best practices, and more for their own service efforts.
Read: 6 Credit Unions Take On One Shared Day Of Service
40%
When Heather McKissick joined University Federal Credit Union in 2013 as vice president of human resources, she brought a deep knowledge of not-for-profit leadership and community affairs. For the past five years, she had been CEO of Leadership Austin, a nonprofit dedicated to civic engagement and community leadership. Before taking on the chief executive role, McKissick had been a volunteer there for more than a decade and became an honored community leader in her own right. When UFCU created a new role to focus on the cooperative’s community impact, McKissick was a natural fit. That role has grown into a senior vice president position with a broad scope and long-term goals geared toward making a positive and significant impact on the communities UFCU serves. In fact, McKissick estimates 40% of her time is spent cultivating and building strategic external relationships.
Read: What’s In A Name: Senior Vice President Of Community Impact
2025
Listerhill Credit Union has set a big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) for 2025. The goal? To provide the best experience for members among credit unions. For the Alabama cooperative, it’s an exercise in managing what gets measured, says Clay Morgan, Listerhill’s chief of staff operations. By clearly defining a plan to provide the best experience and then openly communicating about said plan, the credit union hopes to create engagement and encourage contributions from its staff for years to come. So what’s in it?
Read more: It’s 2025. Do You Know Where Your Credit Union Is?
50
Callahan’s Katy Slater has noticed a trend lately. When she tells you about it, you’ll start to notice it, too. She’s noticed lately that everyone is always looking down. Whether waiting for a streetlight to change, walking down the street, or standing in line for coffee whatever is happening on the small screen seems to hold attention much more intensely than what’s happening around us. Sure, the offices of Callahan & Associates are located in Washington, DC, a major metropolitan city in the mid-Atlantic, but she’s noticed this phenomenon at organizations she’s visited and at events she’s attended in cities across America. In fact, it’s probably true in all 50 states. Now, don’t worry. She’s not on a phone rant she’s on a focus crusade. The world is moving at an ever-increasing speed, and the constant connection between the virtual and physical worlds keeps personal and professional lives hopelessly or hopefully intertwined. However, if we don’t make time to focus on what is important, our lives will become a practice in simply maintaining the status quo or worse, our lives will become irrelevant.
Read: What’s Your North Star?
100%
Callahan & Associates is a 100% employee-owned company. And as an employee of Callahan, it feels good to say that. The company has operated under an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that gave employees partial ownership since 2003. But last year, as a benefit to associates and to better align with the ethos of the credit union industry, Callahan converted to full ESOP ownership. To boost employee engagement and to help associates understand how their day-to-day work impacts the bottom line, Callahan has been diligently working these past few months to implement open book management (OBM) practices. As we learn more about OBM which demands visibility across all hierarchical levels we’re discovering deep parallels between this business model and the credit union one, specifically in regard to employee engagement and motivation. Here are five strategies that we’re looking to implement at Callahan & Associates to cultivate an engaged team.
Read: 5 Ways To Engage Employees
Happy Reading!