MADISON, Wis. -
George Hofheimer, Filene Research Institute chief research officer, told Credit Union Journal the new venture will be similar in format to Filene's "i3" Group, except 30 Under 30 will be limited in term.
"The main concern is: how to make credit unions relevant to young adults," said Hofheimer. "Not so much from the consumer perspective, but for employment. How can we make credit unions an employer of choice? Also, how to get more young people on credit union boards?"
Within the CU movement, it is "pretty well established" credit unions have an aging membership, he continued, citing research such as CUNA's membership survey. Hofheimer, who credited CU Journal Publisher Frank Diekmann's column on the fact that some of the best and brightest young minds didn't know what a credit union is (CUJ July 9) as the inspiration behind the idea, said Filene wanted to gather 30 talented people under the age of 30 to problem-solve the issue through "virtual teamwork."
"We will be collecting people from a variety of disciplines in the credit union movement. We want to experiment to find ways not only to make credit unions an employer of choice, but to increase awareness."
Filene has begun collecting applications from people under 30 years of age who are employed at credit unions. Hofheimer said applications will be taken through Oct. 15, and Filene expects to make the selections soon thereafter.
The first task: a series of virtual meetings, online collaboration and idea sharing. The first in-person meeting will take place next spring, at a time and place to be determined. The final meeting is slated for November 2008.
According to Hofheimer, the closing meeting will have a structure similar to a venture capital presentation. "It will unveil the ideas before the media, trade associations and the public, with the idea of making the ideas as widely available as possible. We will invite anyone from the credit union movement to attend for free, though they'd have to pay for their own travel. The people will present their ideas in three groups of 10, and they will field questions in real time from credit union executives. This puts a lot of pressure on these people to come up with great ideas."
The 30 Under 30 Group will be together for approximately one year. Hofheimer said Filene wanted to give the selected participants a relatively short period of time to brainstorm.
"As with any group that is experimenting with different ideas, we expect some of the ideas to be failures, but we want to learn from those failures. We did not want to do more research-which would only confirm what we already know-we wanted to find solutions."
The awareness level of credit unions is decreasing among younger adults, according to CUNA's research. Hofheimer said Filene wants to find ways to change that.
"Also, you don't hear Harvard MBAs saying they want to work in credit unions. They want to go into investment banking. How can credit unions attract the best and brightest and get them into positions of responsibility right away? Many young people tell us they have more responsibility at a younger age compared to their friends who work at larger organizations. We need to be able to express that."
Filene will be accepting applications on its website for about five weeks. Hofheimer said the Institute is telling potential applicants it wants 30 talented people under 30 who are dissatisfied with the status quo. He said Filene is looking for those who have a range of experience and have ideas about what things can be done to make CUs more attractive.
"We want flexible folks who are willing to give expertise and time, and we will give them a chance to work on professional development outside the walls of their credit union. It will be outside the bounds of their normal day job, and with the opportunity to propose ideas that could have a national impact," Hofheimer said.
