What messages are the advocacy program trying to get out there?
Kemm: When we look back at the history of how credit unions were formed, they were formed on the principles of grassroots ownership. The owners have a voice in a democratic process, and complete ownership.
However, too much success creates apathy. We want to bring the ownership back into the credit union movement. We put up signs at our meetings on the front three or four rows saying “Reserved Seating for Credit Union Owners Only.” And then we watched people walk past those rows because they think of themselves as members, but not owners. People need to understand they are owners and defend their credit union.
Dill: One of the most important things we are trying to do with our program is play defense. That’s what we did in D.C. with [HR] 1151–our backs were against the wall and we scrambled the troops against the bankers.
But we don’t want to always be on the defensive. We want to push forward in a positive fashion, to pass laws that help credit unions. Every advocacy position I’ve ever had, I’ve taken the position the advocacy department should be able to show bottom line benefits.
Where does the advocacy program go from here?
Dill: This program we have is a work in progress. It will never be finalized. Over the past two months, Tim and I have received phone calls from people running for Congress, or state or local office, saying “I understand I need your support to be successful.” That tells us our job is getting done; that people need the support of credit unions to be successful.
We are not building advocacy for the sake of advocacy, we want to help the bottom lines of CUs. We want to work positively with banks, and we have not had a major fight with them. We have a collegial relationship with banks in Colorado because of our strength. They are not interested in a fight with us.
Kemm: Before, we might have gone after folks ad hoc and asked them to get involved. Today, every member who joins is educated on a high level so they understand the process. That way, they understand why they are being asked to do it.
Dill: We are really focusing on obtaining the support of elected officials in specific, measurable ways. I think our advocacy team is second to none in Colorado, and one of the best in the land. Advocacy is the key to so much. Without fertile soil, nothing can grow, and advocacy makes sure credit unions can grow nationally.
Kemm: I always tell our advocates, just as a board runs a CU, we are only as strong as our members allow us to be. If we don’t have an advocacy group behind us when we are trying to get legislation passed, we aren’t strong. Grassroots means people ready and willing to show up or call in support.
What are the goals in politics and fundraising?
Dill: We have goals in each of the areas that can be put on a whiteboard and explained to credit unions. People are happy to help, but they need to understand exactly what it is they are supposed to do. We need to ask if they can get us one-half of 1% (of their members); whether that means 20 people or 100. As for fundraising, over the course of time we want an average of $10 per credit union employee per month, for a year. A teller might give $1, upper management might give $100, and a CEO might give $500. We could raise a huge amount of money to help in political races.
We want credit unions to understand our goals. We are using our chapters to do recruitment. It is a lot easier to elect credit union-friendly candidates in the first place than it is to lobby an elected official after the fact.
How do you get as many CUs as possible to participate?
Dill: It is a slog-it-though process. We train the trainers by talking with people at credit unions and having them talk to their people.
We’ve discovered success breeds more success. Once we do well, people talk to their peers and say, “this works.” It is a process, not an immediate destination.
Kemm: Part of the process is working with credit union leadership on down. We’ve asked credit union leadership in Colorado and Wyoming to designate a legislative and political coordinator. This usually is a senior staff member, and it is a good way to have someone we can call for training, education or a call to action. These are our folks that work with us to move forward.
Dill: Colorado is larger than Wyoming, but if a legislator in either state gets a dozen phone calls, that is a tidal wave. They listen because that is important to them. We want credit union-friendly policies that let our credit unions grow. These coordinators allow us to expand our reach. It allows us to move quickly when necessary.
How do you measure the success of the program?
Dill: Last year in the legislature, we had a problem with the auto dealers’ board. They were trying to apply laws relating to used auto dealers on credit unions. Chris turned on his grassroots network.
Kemm: We did a select target, turning on a very small percentage of our advocates. They put 400 calls into the governor’s office in just a few days. Finally, the governor’s office called us to say they’d take care of the issue, and asked that we please relax and stop the phone calls!
We measured last year–our first full year of the program–and of the 3,200 advocate gain measured by CUNA nationally, Colorado and Wyoming contributed 2,200, or 64% of the total. Because of our success, the Texas and Minnesota CU Leagues came to talk to us to benchmark our program.
Dore: Some other measurements of our success include CURIA and endorsements. One of the key underlying themes we have is we want to get credit union candidates elected into office. Our success rate has been higher than most states. In the 2006 election cycle, 91% of our endorsed candidates won their elections.
Today, six out of the seven members in the Colorado Congressional delegation are co-sponsors of CURIA.
How are the fundraising efforts going?
Staatz: I was recently hired by the association from a senator’s office. I’ve also had an extensive campaign history. I grew up in the credit union movement: my dad was a CEO of a credit union in Maryland.
Currently, I go to credit unions trying to increase individual donations to our PAC. We back up the ownership idea by getting people into a PAC to support candidates.
We want an average of $10 per employee per month. We expect to replicate the success Chris Kemm has brought to grassroots. We want people to donate because they feel it is important to give money to the PAC. We are committed to this on an association level.
Dill: I’m always looking for simple things for people to take home with them. We’ll ask people how much they think the United States of America spent on the last presidential election cycle, 2004. The total was $3 billion. People think that is a lot of money. Then we ask: How much does McDonald’s corporation spend advertising its food products? The answer is $33 billion per year. Big Macs are not more important than our political system.
Staatz: People are solicited all the time for money. We focus on payroll deductions to emphasize we are not asking for a large donation one time. We ask them if they can give us the equivalent of one Starbucks per month.
What percentage of dues is allocated to advocacy efforts?
Dill: It varies from year to year, but it usually is about 33%. Advocacy gets one-third, marketing and communications and activities to benefit CUs gets one-third, and training and education gets one-third.
