An Old-Fashioned Idea Drives New Member Growth

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill.-Great Lakes Credit Union is crediting the old-fashioned CU motto of People Helping People for contributing to membership growth of 15%.

In this case, for the second year in a row, GLCU employees participated in "Make A Difference Day," with each employee given $10 to distribute as part of a series of "random acts of kindness" from the credit union. Some employees gave additional tips to waiters, one department pooled its money and donated to a local animal shelter, and one employee spent the money on bread, peanut butter and jelly, making as many sandwiches as possible for the homeless in downtown Chicago.

Along with their good deed, employees also handed out leaflets that said "Great Lakes Credit Union is paying it forward as part of 'Make A Difference Day.' You are the recipient of a random act of kindness!" The back of the form directed readers to a landing page on the credit union's website that detailed what GLCU employees did with their funds as well as the seven cooperative principles.

Great Lakes' logo and other credit union indicators are clearly visible on the page, allowing users to further investigate the CU.

Sue Malo, AVP for business development, noted that while this sort of awareness campaign is "always hard to measure in terms of concrete results," during October the CU saw a 15% increase in its membership over September. Great Lakes CU currently serves just over 42,000 members with more than $541 million in assets.

Speaking prior to the Nov. 5 Bank Transfer Day, Malo said that the "Make A Difference Day" event "ties into this whole movement that's going on right now of distinguishing credit unions in the financial service industry."

She added that "The press is galvanized behind credit unions right now for some hard reasons, but we wanted to still keep the philosophy aspect behind it."

Malo added that some "Make A Difference Day" recipients wrote thank-you notes to the credit union, but she was not able to say specifically how much the event had impacted growth or interest in the CU in the run-up to Bank Transfer Day.

GLCU didn't specifically promote Bank Transfer Day, but rather focused its messaging on its free debit cards. On the day of the event itself the credit union had staffers' children wear sandwich boards at branches touting the CU's free debit card offerings and encouraging consumers to switch.