The Line Between Growth And Impact Was Blurry. Wright-Patt Decided To Redraw It.

Financial education initiatives aren’t neutral. The credit union industry rarely talks about it this way, but balance sheets and data do.

At Wright-Patt Credit Union ($9.6B, Beavercreek, OH), leaders identified a clear pattern across the financial learning programs it ran through its charitable arm. Members who participated in that learning engaged more with the credit union. Deposits grew, loan balances shifted, and relationships deepened.

“Intentionally or unintentionally, financial learning became a pipeline into the credit union,” says Ivy Glover, director of community impact and development and executive director of the WPCU Sunshine Community Fund.

This created tension within the organization. Foundations are designed to give without expectation of a return. Credit unions, on the other hand, want to responsibly grow. So, what happens when a product or service does both? To answer that, Wright-Patt examined what it offers as developmental and what it offers as philanthropy.

“There’s overlap that should exist,” Glover says. “But there’s also overlap where we can provide more clarity.”

3 Questions To Rethink

Internally, Wright-Patt’s board, senior leadership team, and community development specialists examined the credit union foundation’s purpose through a new lens.

“We started talking about this in terms of swim lanes rather than driving lanes, meaning there’s some fluidity,” Glover says. “Where does it make sense for the foundation to operate in a way that flows into the credit union and vice versa?”

To build cohesion and clarity as well as make a greater community impact, the credit union considered three essential questions:

1. 1. What do we want the foundation to be when it grows up?
   2. Why would the foundation need to be a passthrough for nonprofit partners and neighbors?
   3. What does the foundation do that the credit union cannot?

Ultimately, the group settled on a shared vision.

“Programming should live under the credit union, and giving should live under the foundation,” Glover says.

Today, the credit union is figuring out how to make that vision a reality.

From Strategy To Operational Changes

New strategies tend to take time to come to fruition. After WPCU clarified its vision for the credit union and the foundation, however, it made some immediate changes. It narrowed the Sunshine Community Fund’s eight wellbeing focus areas to four and stopped pursuing major external funding to avoid competing against the very community partners it seeks to support.

“Our primary resources are our employees, our members, and the credit union itself,” Glover says. “That creates more alignment between the foundation and the credit union.”

Today, a new model is emerging where the foundation functions as a funder, whereas the credit union increasingly handles delivery and engagement.

In three years, Glover envisions the credit union’s community development specialists and coordinators engaging with community partners, SEG organizations, and business partners while the foundation focuses on providing grants, investments, and funding for nonprofit partners. It would also support scholarships, housing initiatives, and, potentially, cover the costs to develop and distribute tools like the Pocket Money Mentor.

The Effect On Financial Education

The new approach means neither Wright-Patt Credit Union nor the WPCU Sunshine Community Fund has to eliminate programs. However, programs might evolve or move.

This is especially true when it comes to financial education.

In the past, the foundation handled WPCU’s Money Magnifier curriculum, a K-12 financial literacy program that aligns with state standards. However, after the credit union hired a community development coordinator to work directly with schools to deliver that curriculum, it moved the program under the credit union.

The new structure takes into account the increased likelihood students will want to access WPCU products, such as checking accounts or auto loans, and provides an environment in which the coordinator can talk about it.

“Sometimes, being strictly neutral in financial education without access to tools and real-world application can be limiting,” Glover says.

A Little Gray Is A-OK

Balancing purpose and impact for the credit union versus its foundation can be difficult, but this duo views the work as just another way to serve their community more effectively and efficiently while giving each organization a clearer role.

Wright-Patt’s shift remains a work in progress, and given the diversity of missions and intended outcomes among credit unions and their foundations, Glover says there’s no one single structure that translates cleanly across institutions.

“No matter what structure you choose, there’s always going to be some gray area,” Glover says.

Glover doesn’t see that as a problem, however, because the core of the movement doesn’t change.

“At the end of the day, credit unions exist to serve,” she continues. “The impact might look different but helping people navigate their financial lives and being there for them at every step is what we’re here to do.”

Don’t stop here. While Wright-Patt Credit Union works to clarify the line between philanthropy and development, Marine Credit Union is intentionally blending the two. Read more in “How Marine Credit Union Shifted Its Foundation From Siloed To Symbiotic.”