TAMPA – Les Muma, the co-founder of Fiserv who retired earlier this year, announced yesterday he is donating $6 million to support a partnership between the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital on neonatal research. Muma’s wife Pam, who made the donation with her husband, said the couple had their newborn baby die 34 years ago at the same hospital because of a lack of technology and they want to see that it does not happen to other parents. The Muma donation will be leveraged with a matching a $5 million match from the state and a $3 million contribution from the University to finance research and build a new neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital. The unit will be known as the Jennifer Leigh Muma Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, in memory of the Muma’s daughter. Muma, who co-funded Fiserv in 1984 with George Dalton, retired as CEO of the company in 2005 and chairman of the board this March, and returned to Florida to live.

SANTA ANA, Calif.--Orange County Teachers FCU announced it is contributing $100,000 America's CU Museum in Manchester, N.H. As a result of the donation, the front parlor of the museum will be named after the $6 billion. The parlor is one of the original rooms in the home that became America's first credit union, but called St. Mary's Bank, and the place where Mrs. Boivin, wife of the first credit union president, met with children making their way to and from school. Mrs. Boivin would deposit coins the children would bring her in a tin box, record their names and the amount they deposited in a ledger, thus establishing their first savings account. The home was sold by the family to credit unions and now houses the Museum and meeting facility.

LANCASTER, S.C. – Members of Founders FCU will get help paying off their Christmas debt pretty quickly this year–a $6 million bonus dividend, just days after Christmas. All across America, credit unions are paying out millions of dollars in holiday dividends, some of the biggest ever. Last week Goldenwest FCU announced a $575,000 pre-Christmas dividend. Dort FCU in Flint, Mich., announced a $1 million dividend Friday. Fort Campbell FCU, in Clarksville, Tenn., announced another $1 million dividend yesterday. Eastman CU, in Kingsport, Tenn., announced its own$4 million payment yesterday. And later this week, Arizona FCU has promised a $10 million bonus dividend, one of the biggest ever for a credit union.”This is just one of the ways we share our success with the members who made it possible,” said Founders FCU President Bruce Brunfield, of his credit union’s $6 million dividend. The 56-year-old credit union had one of its best years ever, he said, noting it crossed the $1 billion mark in assets and opened three new branches. Olan Jones, Jr., president of Eastman CU, pointed to additional benefits of his credit union’s $4 million Extraordinary Dividend. “Not only is the Extraordinary Dividend great news for our member-owners, but it represents a significant boost for the local economy,” he said. Eastman CU has returned almost $30 million to its members as a bonus dividend since 1998. Founders has returned more than $8 million to members as bonus dividends over the last eight years, but this is the biggest payout yet. The biggest dividend ever is believed to be a $12 million payout by Clark County CU in Las Vegas earlier this year.

* Altier Credit Union, Tempe, Ariz., donated $21,000 to the Special Olympics Arizona.

In the wake of a vote by the board of the National Association of Community CUs to dissolve the group itself, CUNA has created the Community CU Committee to fill the void, even as the NACCU membership are still voting on its dissolution.

Experian and LSI Team Up

A new remittance program being piloted by credit unions to help immigrants transfer funds to Mexico was being assailed last week as a subsidy to illegal immigration.

CUs know what their strengths are and the advantages over banks they have to offer to consumers. But they often keep it secret, even though telling that story can be a very effective strategy underpinning growth. Has your CU found an effective way to communicate what the credit union difference is? If so, The Credit Union Journal is back with its Second Annual Frankie Awards designed to recognize those credit unions who do the best job of telling their story. Entering is easy: just provide an example and a brief description, including marketing materials if available, and e-mail that to fdiekmann cujournal.com.

Northeast CU has launched its redesigned website at www.necu.org.

Members of Goldenwest FCU got some help with their Christmas shopping this week-a one-time bonus dividend.

The winners of this year's National Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility and Louise Herring Philosophy in Action Awards were recently chosen from among 152 state winners.

As credit unions continue to struggle with loan growth, more credit unions must consider tapping into member business lending, one expert is urging.

A woman suspected of stealing almost $500,000 while servicing credit union and bank ATMs before disappearing six years ago, walked into the police station and gave herself up.

Fannie Mae was awarded a patent for a system to trade greenhouse gas-reduction credits earned by homeowners, securing a foothold in a $22-billion market, while raising concerns that the government-chartered company is overstepping its mission. Granting of the new patent comes just weeks after the secondary mortgage market giant raised major controversy with a patent covering computer software that matches borrowers with the best mortgage. Former Chief Executive Franklin Raines is listed in the patent as an inventor of a system for verifying cuts in household emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The patent, held jointly with a subsidiary of New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald LP, gives Fannie Mae proprietary control over a method for pooling and selling credits to companies that can't meet emission reduction targets.

The New Jersey CU League's 72nd Annual Meeting and Convention drew nearly 1,000 people this year, where such luminaries the captain of the 1980 Olympic Gold Medal-winning U.S. Ice Hockey Team to "Bob, The Credit Union Guy" made appearances.

Just weeks after becoming a public company again, Western Union has become the target of a so-called mini tender offer from Canadian investment company TRC Capital Corp.

LAS VEGAS-With net interest margin declining and competition increasing, many credit unions have been forced to turn to non-interest income to survive-a fact one consultant applauds.

Unbanked and financially underserved households in the U.S., which currently number more than 35-million (excluding about 9-million undocumented aliens), spend an estimated $10-billion annually in fees related to financial transactions, according to new research.

In still another government study, the Government Accountability Office recommended that the NCUA Board be expanded to five members, from the current three, in order to diversify points of view and to ensure continuity when the Board has one or more vacancies.

Mountain America Credit Union boasts five years without an increase in health insurance premiums.