For the first time ever, the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) has been able to exceed $1 million distributions to participating state foundations and leagues in a single year through a unique endowment fund. This record annual distribution was possible because deposits in the NCUF's Community Investment Fund (CIF) topped $319 million at the end of 2003, up from $155 million at the beginning of the year.
The NCUF said the CIF can "best be described as a 'synthetic' endowment fund. Participating organizations such as credit unions invest in a special fund at U.S. Central Credit Union in Lenexa, Kan., through their chosen corporate credit union. The income derived from these investments is shared between the depositor, the NCUF, and each participating state credit union foundation or league."
Those funds, at the national and state level, are earmarked specifically for development initiatives that increase credit unions' capacity to impact the financial lives of consumers. Worthy projects include education, small credit union programming, community outreach, and international development.
The foundation said that increased deposits from many credit unions helped make the milestone possible, including recent $5 million investments from both Corporate One FCU in Columbus, Ohio, and CenCorp Credit Union in Southfield, Mich. Additionally, Georgia Central Credit Union in Duluth, Ga. joined 37 other investor states with a first-time deposit during the fourth quarter of 2003.
The CIF was started in 1999 and to date has generated nearly $4 million for local, state, national, and international credit union development initiatives.
