Professional Shirt Wearers, Co-operative Principles and a Fun Contest – Oh My!

In celebration of International Year of Co-operatives, Young & Free is teaming up with those crazy shirt wearers at IWearYourShirt.com on March 16 to spread the word about credit unions and co-operatives.

In conjunction with our day, we're kicking off a fun seven-day contest. There will be seven videos with seven clues to find and seven $50 iTunes gift cards up for grabs. It'll be fun and you should enter!

Grab a peek of the contest page in advance.

Tim

International Year of Cooperatives Spokester Style

Young & Free Spokespeople from all over North America collaborate on a fun video to celebrate the International Year of Cooperatives.

Enjoy!

From the official 2012.coop website:

"2012 has been recognised as the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations. This is an acknowledgement by the international community that cooperatives drive the economy, respond to social change, are resilient to the global economic crisis and are serious, successful businesses creating jobs in all sectors."

As the World Council of Credit Unions put it:

"As cooperatively owned and democratically controlled financial institutions, credit unions worldwide have an unprecedented opportunity to increase public awareness about the movement's contributions to socio-economic development, promote membership growth and encourage the adoption of policies and legislation that promote long-term growth and stability."

Is your credit union doing anything to take advantage in all of the IYC 2012 activity?

Tim

Co-op Vegas?

I attended the 1 Credit Union Conference in Las Vegas last week. The venue struck me as an odd choice. I wondered what kind of first impression Vegas would give the visitors from 60 countries. This tweet from Shari Storm summed up my initial thoughts, "Listening to the regal women of Zimbabwe marvel at how little clothing the young women in Las Vegas wear." Was Las Vegas the best way to show off the western world?

Then it struck me: Vegas is the perfect example of the power of cooperation. Don't believe me? Let's run Vegas past the seven cooperative principles.

Principle #1: Inclusiveness
Everyone is welcome regardless of how much cash they are carrying. From the penny slots to $5,000 minimum bets, Vegas has something for everyone. It does not discriminate. Vegas will take money from anyone!

Principle #2: Voice
Vegas is a democratically run ecosystem, entirely controlled by consumers' wants and desires.

Principle #3: Benefit
Consumers directly participate in the financial success of Vegas by emptying their pockets on gambling, dining, entertainment and taxis. Surpluses are returned to consumers in the form of an occasional jackpot to make everyone believe it's possible to beat the odds!

Principle #4: Independence
As your plane descends, you are struck with how isolated (and illuminated) Las Vegas is.

Principle #5: Education
Financial literacy in Vegas? Heck yes. There are gambling hotline posters displayed in every casino. This service is free and available to all.

Principle #6: Cooperation
Cooperation among casinos is vital. If there was only one casino or one show in Vegas, it wouldn't work. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Principle #7: Community
Every visitor to Vegas shares a common bond and shares the famous motto, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

All joking aside, Vegas is a great example of people and organizations working together to make something much bigger than would be possible in isolation. All of the stakeholders in Vegas pool their money and market Vegas as a whole. There is real power in this co-op marketing model that credit unions could learn from.

Tim

Thing 9 of 30: Proudly display and live the 7 cooperative principles

September is 30 things I would implement or consider implementing at my credit union if I was a credit union leader.

Thing 9: Proudly display and live the 7 cooperative principles

While you may know that the credit union philosophy is rooted in the 7 cooperative principles that guide all cooperatives, does your staff know that? How about your members? There seems to be a glaring lack of communication about this fact in the credit union space.

If I were the leader of a credit union, I would follow Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union's lead and dedicate a section of our credit union's website to explaining the 7 cooperative principles. I have visited a lot of credit union websites and I have never seen such a great display of what credit unions should be all about.

Seattle Metropolitan has taken the these simple truths and turned them into a big differentiator, just by being the only credit union talking about this stuff! Not only is it real and authentic, it's a great marketing hook (I know, that's a sacrilegious thing to say).

I also really like how Seattle Metropolitan has customized the wording to make the principles even more relevant.

The 7 Cooperative Principles

Principle #1 (inclusive): membership should be open to all
Principle #2 (voice): members should call the shots
Principle #3 (benefit): rates and fees should benefit our members
Principle #4 (independent): autonomy and independence set us apart
Principle #5 (education): financial education should be free and available to all
Principle #6 (cooperation): cooperation among cooperatives is vital
Principle #7 (community): giving back to the community is an obligation

I'd also proudly display these principles in a unique way in every branch lobby and in all of the staff rooms. Seems like a no-brainer to me!

Kudos to Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union. Its marketing department does some great marketing and PR work. Check out these two example reported on by The Financial Brand, here and here.

Tim

Cooperative advocate Carol Schillios is living on a roof until she raises $1 million!

In Edmonds, Washington, there is a really nice credit union and cooperative advocate living on a roof with a simple dream: raise $1 million to support women and their families in developing countries. And she won't come down until she makes it. Her name is Carol Schillios and here is her campaign website.

Carol is asking everyone to donate $1 each to her Fabric of Life Foundation in conjunction with a small act of kindness. Read some of the amazing things that her foundation has accomplished to date.

Since going up on the roof on July 31, Carol has raised about $7,000, so she definitely needs everyone's help if she plans to get down anytime soon! Here's what you can do:

1. Donate a dollar (or more) and perform a small act of kindness
2. Tweet your one small act, along with this link to Carol’s site http://bit.ly/qQaec and the hashtag #imupontheroof. For example: “Brought coffee and donuts to the office today for my coworkers. http://bit.ly/qQaec #imupontheroof”

Carol is online and will see your tweets if you use the hashtag #imupontheroof. This will remind her that there are a bunch of people with her in spirit. Also, please encourage everyone you can to do the same by e-mailing, tweeting, blogging, Facebook(ing), etc.

Let's get Carol off that roof pronto!

Thanks,

Tim