ORLANDO, Fla. -
Lois Kitsch, national program manager of the REAL Solutions program at the National Credit Union Foundation, will be offering tips about increasing membership at Credit Union Journal’s Grow Show in Orlando on April 28.
“Payday lending is an option,” Kitsch said. “So is reaching out to immigrants, and opening branches in inner-city locations.”
Kitsch said forming partnerships with community organizations is another way to increase membership. Perhaps one of the most powerful tools in a credit union’s growth toolkit: checking out the competition.
“Wal-Mart has strategically positioned itself as an institution serving the unbanked,” she said. Kitsch said that services Wal-Mart offers, such as check-cashing, is something that perhaps more CUs should do. “If Wal-Mart can take this on, so can credit unions,” she said. “Credit unions need to look beyond banks and other credit unions as competition.”
In her prior role as the director of field projects with the Filene Research Institute, Kitsch piloted the REAL Solutions program in three leagues which implemented and tested new business models designed to serve new target markets, including young adults, immigrants and modest-income households. After the transition of REAL Solutions to NCUF, the REAL Solutions program is now or soon will be offered in nine additional leagues, which will include more than 250 credit unions and millions of members.
Prior to joining NCUF, Kitsch managed credit union development projects throughout Europe and Asia for the World Council of Credit Unions and has actively promoted credit union development in more than 30 countries. From 1997 to 2001, she was the project manager of a successful credit union strengthening program in the southern Philippines. She has also traveled to Afghanistan four times to obtain funding for and determine the best method of promoting credit union growth in that war-torn country. Prior to her employment with WOCCU, Kitsch held management positions in credit unions in Florida and North Dakota.
Kitsch has received the designation of credit union development educator for the United States, Australia, Asia and the Philippines and has been recognized for her professional and volunteer work several times. She has received the Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Individual Achievement in 2004, and has also been awarded the Herb Wegner Memorial Award for Outstanding Project (CUES Philippines) in 2002: the Annie Vamper Helping Hands Award from the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions; and several awards from Filipino cooperative organizations and public charities.
Through the past several years, Kitsch has addressed credit union audiences in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the US on relevant credit union topics.
