Making 2025 the year of the credit union

At CFCU, we're spearheading Backbone, a national coalition aimed at elevating the credit union story. What follows is an article from our president & ceo, Tansley Stearns, that originally appeared on CUInsight.

From shared values to shared outcomes: Make 2025 the year of the credit union

I picked up my nearly 15-year-old daughter, MacKenzie, from her last camp of the summer on Sunday. In total, she was away for almost a month, attending three different camps. As we drove the three hours to pick her up, I thought about the experiences she had this summer. She attended Avid4Adventure in Colorado, where she spent ten days hiking, camping, rock climbing, and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors while facing physical challenges. She spent a week at Spire Track Camp in Ohio, where she trained with Olympic Athletes and learned how to focus on sharpening her athletic and running endeavors. Finally, she spent ten days at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, where she majored in theater and minored in writing, honing her creative artistry.

I marvel at the diversity of these experiences and the passion she brings to all of them. After each camp, when I asked her which one was her favorite, she would rave about the most recent one and then reflect on how much she had enjoyed the other camps as well. She’s an outdoors enthusiast, a budding track athlete, and an actress who enjoys writing. The passion she has for one does not dim the enthusiasm she has for the others. As she grows into a young woman, having these multifaceted and unique passions makes her life fuller.

This range in my daughter’s life reminded me of the power of credit union collaboration. When we launched Backbone, our CUSO and coalition aimed at elevating the story of our movement through earned media; it was imperative that organizations, as varied as our communities and passions, were engaged. As we shape our stories and create a vastly more consistent drumbeat through storytelling, we know that different people will see themselves reflected across the spectrum of credit unions, which truly represent the fabric of our country.

Across the Backbone coalition, stories include:

• Credit Union 1 opening its 15^th branch location in Skagway to ensure the Alaskan community has more financial choices.
• Vantage West Credit Union protecting airmen from predatory lenders and ensuring trusted alternatives.
• WEOKIE Federal Credit Union and nine other Oklahoma credit unions coming together to elevate joy and community connection, showcasing the power of collaboration in action.
• Westerra Credit Union, Tarrant County’s Credit Union, and SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union illuminating the challenges of money dysmorphia and its implications for people who experience a distorted view of their financial situation.
• Through ice storms, hurricanes, and wildfires, Community Financial Credit Union, FourLeaf Federal Credit Union, Redwood Credit Union, and SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union standing shoulder-to-shoulder with communities during natural disasters, from crisis response to rebuilding to shaping the future.
• Ent Credit Union funding Colorado’s first ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report, leading to investments in childcare, youth programs, and affordable housing.
• Credit unions playing a role in elevating financial health and overall wellbeing to minimize the impacts of financial stress and loneliness.
• Parents standing as a financial partner to their growing teens with credit unions as a resource.

With 23 organizations sharing their unique stories, what shines brightly is the unified purpose and values credit unions bring to life for Americans from New York to California, from Arizona to Alaska, and from Maine to Michigan. Credit unions with millions of members, those with hundreds, and credit unions with broad opportunities to serve people across the country, as well as those with closely knit fields of membership, all remain grounded in a shared commitment to wellbeing, enabled by the financial cooperative model. Like MacKenzie’s divergent passions, across credit unions, our products may differ, our strategies may vary, and yet a thread of connection remains, and we must strengthen that thread. And as financial cooperatives, collaboration is a gift that can ensure we thrive for years to come. That happens when we see the common bonds that unite us.

As credit unions continue to evolve and share our story, people may have more questions about our differences. That creates an opportunity to unite, stand as a movement, and collaborate. To activate our unity, below are six steps we might take to strengthen our cooperation amongst cooperatives:

Let history inform our future

As quickly as the world moves today, it can be easy to forget how much collaboration and cooperation have fundamentally shaped the success of credit unions. Organizations like Velera and Origence began as credit unions collaborating to address common challenges. Over time, these two organizations represent our movement leading in payments and lending. These examples illuminate how solving problems together can accelerate progress, provide solutions for scaling, and enhance the service delivery credit unions bring to life. Consider recommitting to strengthening a legacy collaboration you are already part of and pilot a new one in the month ahead.

Build collaboration into strategy

Creating robust collaboration is complicated. It requires identifying problems to solve, codifying the kinds of organizations that would be the best partners, and committing time and resources to co-create. If collaboration is not documented and expected within a credit union’s strategy, it is unlikely to be prioritized. Additionally, as collaboration is prioritized, it may still take time to identify the best opportunity, find the right partners, and then act. Integrating cooperation into strategy will position it well to be part of the organization’s future for the long term. It will also help people across the organization to identify possibilities.

Create space for connection

As your team develops a set of standards around ideal collaboration partners, creating time and space to grow relationships and explore possibilities is key. Annually, our Community Financial Credit Union team hosts or visits at least two credit unions nationwide. This allows us to learn, uncover potential opportunities, and build trust. The first visit may not immediately result in a significant project. However, over time, teams and individuals continue to connect, elevate endeavors for the organizations to undertake together, and assess how those endeavors might grow and expand over time.

Transform weaknesses to strengths

One way to enhance our organizational performance through collaboration is to identify our top five areas where we would like to see improvement and consider how working with other credit unions might fill these gaps or support improvement. While we often consider support service options as top choices for collaboration, which can be powerful, different areas can create improved outcomes. It could be becoming a stronger marketer and storyteller. It could be enhancing human potential strategies. It might be generating more thought power and elevating resources around artificial intelligence. Imagine if, each year, your organization enhanced one area in need of higher performance by fostering greater collaboration. This could multiply your impact and accelerate the credit union’s performance.

Transform strengths into superpowers

While all our organizations have areas where we can improve, we also possess unique strengths. These can also be a powerful source for collaboration. Consider the things that your credit union does regularly and well and invite another credit union to join you to multiply the impacts. This creates an opportunity to support and strengthen other credit unions and our industry more broadly. It may also provide additional resources to amplify that strength even further and make it more impactful.

Dream boldly

Collaboration can reveal the full potential of what we can accomplish. With history as a guide and the constraints of a highly regulated environment, we may unintentionally limit our thinking about strategy, vision, and potential. Working with others can build resources, grow opportunities, and reduce constraints. Picture a future where credit unions are the leading AI strategists, the most relevant option for the next generation, and improve the overall wellbeing of Americans, starting with financial wellbeing. We can change the world, and doing so will happen faster, more powerfully, and with greater impact if we do it together. Our time is now.

In conclusion

Across our country, credit unions are the backbone that helps Americans stand tall and have the strength they need to weather the dark times and the partner that supports and elevates the joyful seasons. These credit unions are different. Some are small. Some are large. Some stay focused on serving a unified group in a region. Some serve millions across the country. Some strategize with scale as a priority. Some believe staying closely connected to their roots and history is their strength.

Like my daughter MacKenzie, who loves the wilderness, track, and theater, her kindness, generosity, and sense of humor shine just as brightly on a trail, during sprinting drills, or while running theater lines. As credit unions, each of us has differences in strategy or style. Those differences should never define us because our values and cooperative structure unite us. We all believe that this collaborative approach to finance is the best choice for people. If we unite, come closer, and align cooperatively, we can be the answer to financial pain and ensure Americans have the financial partner they deserve.

Let’s collaborate to ensure 2025 is the year of the credit union.