BROOMALL, Penn. - Up against much larger banks and their equally large marketing budgets, Franklin Mint FCU is nonetheless taking those competitors to school.
Creating a niche for itself as a leader in education–working with high schools to conduct financial literacy programs and sponsoring a popular countywide high school quiz contest–FMFCU has garnered some impressive honors in the last year.
It was named Business of the Year by the Delaware Country Chamber of Commerce, Best Bank in a local newspaper’s reader poll, and most recently, NAFCU’s Credit Union of the Year for CUs with assets of more than $150 million.
“We are excited about winning the NAFCU award,” said Franklin Mint FCU President and CEO John D. Unangst. “I asked my staff, ‘What are we going to do to top this next year?’”
Even if it’s business as usual in 2008 for this Philadelphia-suburb credit union, that should be fine, as Franklin Mint has significantly raised its presence within the community though its education strategy. In winning the top bank honor, Franklin Mint was up against Citizen’s Bank, Wachovia, and Commerce Bank, which had claimed the award for the “last umpteen years,” according to Unangst.
“It’s given us tremendous visibility,” he said. “Credit unions always fight the fact they don’t get the same visibility as banks. But I think education has given us the spotlight like sports arena sponsorships have given the banks. It’s been that powerful.”
Unangst concluded that taking on banks head-to-head with sports marketing was “too difficult. So I said let’s brand ourselves with education.”
That started in earnest around 2004 with the sponsorship of Delco Hi-Q, the oldest continuous academic quiz competition in the United States, Unangst said. Twenty-one Delaware County high schools participate in Delco Hi-Q. Each school team is composed of 10 students.
“It’s like a college bowl competition that runs for three months, culminating in playoffs and a championship series,” Unangst explained.
The Hi-Q Test
Looking to improve the contest and raise its value within the community, Franklin Mint started an annual dinner for Hi-Q in 2005. Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek was the first host, and the TV game show’s record-setting contestant, Ken Jennings, is this year’s master of ceremonies.
The $470-million credit union also lobbied the local newspaper to create an all-city high school academic team, similar to the publication’s all-city high school basketball squad.
“The paper loved the idea and they’ve been doing it since,” said Unangst, who emphasized Franklin Mint’s focus on education doesn’t stop with those two programs. It created the Delaware County Excellence in Teaching Award, giving winning schools $1,000 and teachers $500. High school students can also intern at the credit union to “improve their resumes. We’ll use them as greeter and tellers in the summer . . . we also have programs for college internships. At any point we could have 50 students working for us.”
Adults benefit from the CU’s education push, as well, with financial education classes, including a special program to help the elderly avoid scams.
“The bottom line for us is that we have made relationships,” Unangst said. “We made relationships with the editor of the paper, and with school superintendents, principals, and teachers.”
And those relationships have generated a great deal of press coverage, which has helped Franklin Mint grow assets by almost $100 million over the last two years.
“A lot of credit unions ask us how we get our name in the paper so often,” Unangst said. “I tell them that if they read the article closely, they’ll see the story is not about us. It’s about someone else–the teacher or the student. I learned a long time ago that if you embrace something larger than you, you’ll get your return. In our case it’s owning education in our county. We have become the education financial and I’d say we have banks’ heads spinning.”(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
