MADISON, Wis. -
That's exactly the goal of Filene Research Institute's i3 program is all about, and its most recent crop of ideas for CUs to implement has been released in its new report, "Key Findings 3.0: Innovation Through Cooperation."
Filene's new Chief Innovation Officer Denise Gabel told Credit Union Journal that nearly every idea that comes out of i3 is piloted and tested at one or more credit unions before it gets the i3 stamp of approval.
Among the new ideas:
* Prize-Based Savings-developing a savings product that offers the same thrill of gambling with no risk to their investment.
* No Excuses Savings Club-rounds up to the nearest dollar transactions on a member's debit card and automatically sweeps those funds into a high-yield savings account with no minimum balance.
* My Community Connection - a web-based portal designed to connect credit union members with volunteer opportunities, interest groups, local events, and activities in their communities.
* CU PICK 64-based on the popular "fantasy leagues" for sporting events, and designed to resemble NCAA basketball bracket-style play, CU PICK 64 requires players to pick new stock "teams" weekly and rewards the player who accurately selects the stock winner - the company with the highest percentage price appreciation each week. At the end of six weeks, the player with the most points becomes the champion.
* iNFORM-reaches out to the young adult market with financial education when they want it, how they want it, using podcasts, web seminars and other private, "just-in-time" delivery methods.
* Always a Member-a web-based credit union referral program that allows members who are moving across the country to stay within the credit union community by helping them determine what credit unions in their new neighborhoods they are eligible to join.
* Decision Point-caters to both the "sandwich" generation (adults who are caring for both their children and their aging parents) and the graying population by offering resources to help with financial planning and decisionmaking.
The full report outlines not only how and why a given innovation was developed but also how a credit union can implement these programs themselves.
"One of the things we are trying to promote is open source innovation," Gabel related. For example, Wright-Patt CU implemented the No Excuses Savings Club and has written software that is compatible for any credit union using Symitar Systems' solutions, to handle the rounding up of the transaction-and the credit union is offering that software to other Symitar credit unions free of charge. Similarly, a website for the CU PICK 64 program has been created with all the code necessary for running it and is available to credit unions.
One of the things Filene is working to improve is its monitoring and measurement of the success of the various innovations that have been out in the market to see how CUs have picked them up, tweaked them for their own memberships and with what success they have been implemented.
