LANSING, Mich.-LAFCU here has initiated a charitable event that does double-duty by illustrating how much people save annually by being credit union members vs. bank customers.
"We were discussing bank fees and how much people were paying, and discussing what people could do with the money they saved if they moved to a credit union," explained Pat Spyke, SVP-marketing, at the $517-million, 49,000-member credit union. "Someone said that you could fill a grocery cart, so we decided to do that."
That discussion centered on a Filene Research Institute study that had concluded credit unions save the average consumer $189 in fees and interest per year.
That brainstorming session turned into "The Great Credit Union Can-Do" food drive. Six grocery carts were placed in branch lobbies and filled with food. Shortly before Christmas, LAFCU representatives met at the southwest corner of the state capital building and pushed the carts 1.5-miles down Michigan Avenue to the City Rescue Mission, a prominent homeless shelter and food pantry located on a main thoroughfare through the city.
"It was an awareness campaign for our members and future members to understand what they're saving, and in the end all that investment went back to our community," said Spyke.
Illustrating The Message
The event was promoted via in-branch signage, statement inserts and press releases to local media. "We're telling people that the $189 you save each year, you can do whatever you want with it, but this is one of your options-you can donate it back to the community."
Spyke noted that LAFCU has participated in a number of community outreach programs and is consistently looking for "any way we can see to tie that we're a community credit union and how do we tie our business model back into the community and make sure people understand the value of the credit union and the value of our movement."
Spyke was hesitant to say that the credit union saw an uptick in membership or loan growth specifically as a result of the Can-Do event, but said that word-of-mouth had spread through the community, including community leaders mentioning the event.
One of the main goals of the event, said Spyke, was to tie a charitable action to the CU's name as a way to reinforce the brand within the community. "It's not just about us," said Spyke. "It's about a movement or an industry; it's about all credit unions. It wasn't the 'Great LAFCU Can-Do,' it was the 'Credit Union Can-Do.'"
