In 1980, Minnesota boasted some 436 credit unions. By 1997, it had 226. At the start of the new millennium, there were 189.
It's a trend that the Minnesota Credit Union Network (MCUN) does not want to see continue. Last month, the state association launched a new "top priority" program that it hopes will help.
Called the Credit Union Preservation Project, it is designed to pool resources from large CUs to assist the smaller ones with everything from technology, marketing and operational issues.
"In stark contrast to banks, non-profit cooperative credit unions have a long history of working together for the benefit of their members," said Kevin Chandler, President of the MCUN. "Small credit unions are the foundation of the movement and we aim to give them to tools and resources they need to prosper and grow in this increasingly cut-throat financial industry."
Chandler, who has watched the numbers of credit union dwindle since he arrived in 1980, said the goal is to establish cooperative programs between large and small credit unions, provide hands-on technical assistance, work to integrate technology and focus the resources presently available from dozens of sources within the CU family.
Network Vice President Neil Christy has been appointed to oversee the project full time. Christy, the former president of the Minnesota Association of Credit Unions (before it merged with the Minnesota League of Credit Unions in 1997 to form the Network), said he's aware that the industry is battling rough seas, but is prepared to brave the waters.
'Swimming Against The Tide'
"Of all my work on behalf of credit unions in my 23 years in the movement, I think this project is the most exciting and important," Christy said. "I know we're swimming against the tide, but we're going to roll up our sleeves and go to work to preserve our small credit unions."
Kyle Markland, CEO of Affinity Plus FCU in Minneapolis, one of the state's largest CUs with $490 million in assets, and Beth Schultes, CEO of Eaton Char Lynn, a $2.97-million credit union in Eden Prairie, will team up to chair an advisory board that will oversee the project.
"The credit union movement needs to continue to pull together for the common good of all credit union members and that's why this project is so exciting," Markland said. "If we can preserve one credit union that would have gone away, we'll have achieved success, but we hope to do much, much better than that."
Schultes said the board, made up of a diversified group of people representing very large to very small credit unions, would focus on putting together a resource list that will guide small credit unions to the information and services they need.
"Our concern is this," Schultes explained. "How are we going to move forward? How are we going to keep from disappearing? Managers of small credit unions know they have to add services and still stay in business, but where do they start?"
The answer: With the new Credit Union Preservation Project, she suggested.
"Say, for example, a small credit union wants to start offering home equity loans but they don't know where to begin," Schultes said. "They will be able to call us for a contact name who they can call for some insight."
Eaton, took the helm of the CEO after years of providing software training, installation and support services to credit unions, said she hopes to share the long list of resources she developed through her previous work.
