SAN JOSE, Calif. -
The credit union's "web log," or "blog" launched June 26 with information on a contest it calls, "Community Change Project: What Would You Change with $1,000?" The Blog site for the $1.3-billion CU can be found at www.techcublog.com.
Kathy Litman, Tech CU's vice president of marketing, said members are invited to submit their ideas for a deserving non-profit charity or a community project aimed at creating social or environmental change in the Bay Area. The contest will accept entries through Aug. 31.
A short summary of all project submissions will be posted on the Tech CU Blog where visitors can review, comment and vote on each one through Sept. 7. The top five vote winners will be featured during the week of Sept. 10. Tech CU then will select and announce the grand prize winner on Sept. 19 and sponsor that project with a $1,000 cash grant.
Litman said the idea for the contest came from two sources. First, since last year Tech CU had been looking for ways to deepen its commitment to the local community through a clear strategy. "Even though we are large, we don't have a community involvement position, so it fell under marketing," she explained. "Throughout the year we do events with local non-profits, but it has not been organized." The first event was Community Spirit Day, held in March. Approximately 20 non-profits set up booths.
The second source for the contest was management's desire to create a Tech CU Blog. Discussions began in earnest in March.
"We wanted to jump into the social networking pool," said Litman. "The Blog was supposed to be an online forum to discuss how to help the community, so what better way to kick it off than by having a contest?"
The message of the contest is: members of Tech CU, please stop by and learn about these worthy organizations, said Litman, adding, "We wanted to educate the community so they can learn how to help."
"We asked our Blog readers to help us put our money where our mouth is," she continued. "We asked them to give us a charity or a community project that could benefit from having $1,000. Readers will rate them and pick the top five, and our community development team will pick the winner. The team is several managers and above from the credit union. It was created last year to organize and formalize how we handle community involvement. Every month, we've had one event for one of our designated groups."
According to Litman, guidelines for the contest are simple-the recipient must be a registered non-profit or a specific community project. "We are hoping the contest gets picked up by the local newspapers, so more people get involved. Our definition of success for the Blog is reader involvement. This week it tells people about biometrics protecting them from identity theft, and next week will be information on home ownership. The contest was a way to get some momentum behind our Blog and let people know it is out there, and, in addition, help the community."
