DES MOINES — For the Iowa Credit Union League, it all comes down to alignment.
Nearly everything the Iowa league does, CEO Pat Jury told Credit Union Journal recently, is filtered through the lens of how it improves the financial lives of consumers, whether that's through working with immigrant populations, helping to develop credit unions abroad or mobilizing members for political action.
The ICUL has been recognized with this year's Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Outstanding Organization by the National Credit Union Foundation. Jury humbly called the award "an overwhelming recognition." "We're proud of it, obviously, based on the things we do, and we've seen the other organizations and individuals that have won it in the past," he said. "You don't know if you're ever really on that level with any of these other folks, but at the same time you're grateful for the recognition."
One effort the Foundation recognized was Coopera, which ICUL formed in 2006 to meet the needs of underbanked Spanish-speaking consumers. Today Coopera offers Hispanic outreach and marketing solutions, working with CUs, leagues and CUNA to help reach the Hispanic community.
While Iowa might not be the first state to come to mind with a large Hispanic population, Jury noted the state often ends up being "one of those second-gateway communities" immigrants come to after arriving via southern border states or in New York. There's also a history in the Hawkeye State of welcoming various immigrant populations, said Jury, such as a large influx of Vietnamese and Laotian immigrants who arrived after the Vietnam war.
When it comes to today's Hispanics, "We have some areas of our workforce — whether it's agricultural or meat production — where there are significant population centers of immigrants, so that's kind of the nature of our state," said Jury.
Since Coopera was launched, the median growth rate for the Hispanic segment has grown to 7.6% within the CUs it serves, nearly double that of the non-Hispanic segment at those credit unions (4.1%). Checking and loan penetration and services-per-member have also risen within the Hispanic member base since Coopera opened operations.
"We think the immigrant population was unbanked or underbanked generally across the United States, and we thought there's no better way of providing dignified financial services to individuals that are underbanked," explained Jury. Over time, he said, it's become obvious the program is relevant nationwide.
"If you want to grow the population of the credit union and improve the financial lives of consumers, there is opportunity in the immigrant and specifically Latino populations," he said. Others within the CU movement agree.
"Coopera has been a vital partner of ours and is seen as a thought leader in our movement," stated Patsy Van Ouwerkerk, former CEO of Travis Credit Union. "The work that they and ICUL are doing is fulfilling a need in our industry and seizing an opportunity for credit unions to grow and achieve our social mission in innovative ways."
Not Lost In Translation
Looking beyond just the Spanish-speaking market, Jury suggested Coopera's success is translatable to other minority groups — albeit with some changes to ensure each program fits that specific population segment.
"Every culture has a relationship or lack of a relationship with financial institutions for a variety of different reasons, so I think it's understanding that and working on that with members and potential members," he said. "And it all starts with leadership from the board of directors at the credit union and the staff, and their commitment to serving the unbanked and underbanked. It could be any community, essentially."
ICUL has also done extensive work with the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), partnering for international CU exchanges, conferences and more. Jury said that the work was just "a happy coincidence," but over time ICUL began developing relationships that have helped it grow its programming. One of those relationships is with the Panamanian Credit Union League, and that relationship — along with other multi-cultural interactions — has helped the league learn a lot about "how people think of financial institutions, and what drives behaviors of immigrants when they come to the United States and how we can help them have some level of dignity when it comes to wealth building or saving money or having a relationship with more of a traditional financial institution."
Befitting its work with Spanish speakers, most of ICUL's international partnerships have been in Central and South American countries, including Panama and Ecuador, doing everything from helping organize a Central American credit union conference to providing education and training on advocacy, regulatory modernization, payments innovation and more.
Brian Branch, CEO of WOCCU, called ICUL a leader among U.S. credit unions "in engaging with the World Council to interface with international credit union systems to learn from and exchange best practices in addressing these challenges."
One of ICUL's biggest successes has been PolicyWorks, a subsidiary company that not only lobbies for the league but provides compliance assistance to credit unions in the U.S. and beyond. Not only has that provided ICUL with additional revenue streams — PolicyWorks lobbies not just for credit unions, but in the fields of technology, public safety, health care, energy and technology — but it has helped the league understand how lobbying works in other countries as well.
The league has also worked to mobilize the 1 million credit union members in Iowa to help them advocate for credit union issues. That "grassroots army" recently helped beat down an effort from the Iowa Bankers Association that sought to cut banks' franchise tax by 90% without providing service equity for CUs.
Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) credited the league as "a guiding force" improving the financial lives of Iowans. Braley, who in November lost an election to succeed Tom Harkin as one of Iowa's two U.S. senators, succeeded current CUNA head Jim Nussle in the House.
Keys to Success? Diversification
While recent years have seen increased consolidation among credit union leagues, Iowa remains independent, despite being a relatively small state. One key to that, said Jury, is revenue diversification.
"We have approximately 100 credit unions and 1 million members, and we had to rely solely on dues income to support our trade association, we would look completely different," he said. Not only does PolicyWorks help bring in extra revenue, but the league's work with Coopera and The Members Group (as well as TMG Financial Services) help bring in additional money. "Because of some of these other business interests we have, we can also rely on that income."
But Jury also predicted that there will be fewer CUs and state leagues within the next 10 years — and those that remain will be bigger.
"I think good leaders within the credit union industry are trying to work within this market environment and figure out how to best serve their members, and in some instances finding that through consolidation hey can gain enough efficiencies that they can find a way to effectively provide service and value to their membership."
Effective lobbying and member mobilization will remain key for credit unions and their trade groups in the years ahead, stressed Jury.
"We have to have a strong presence in every single state from a governmental affairs standpoint," he said. "You just never know where the next speaker of the House or the next presidential candidate is going to come form. Collectively, the most important thing is to make sure we have strong representation in every state so we can continue to be influential in public policy."
