By Mary Arnold
Corporate social responsibility (CSR). The triple bottom line. Community investment. All these popular terms relate to the impact a business has on not just itself but its customers and the world around it. All get to the heart of what credit unions and other cooperatives are--and have always been--about. Yet do consumers know this? Or is the corporate world grabbing all the headlines for its fair trade coffee and efforts to go green?
The Co-op Advantage, a sharp-looking, bilingual magazine published annually by On Co-op in Ontario, examined this issue in its Fall 2007 cover story, "CSR Wakeup Call." According to the article, 58 percent of co-ops responding to an On Co-op survey said they did not "report their social impact to the public or even their own members, and 80 percent didn't report their environmental impact."
I think if we surveyed U.S. credit unions on this same question, we would get stronger results, especially in the wake of the November 2005 House Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee hearings that raised doubts about whether CUs "deserved" their exemption from federal income taxes. Since that time, the credit union press, at least, has published reams about the good things CUs do for their members and communities.
While it's good to share your good works with and get recognition from other "insiders," never forget that it's your members, the public and your policy-makers who really count. As editor of Credit Union Management magazine, it's my job to publish what credit unions do. At your local paper, the editor's job is to publish the biggest, most interesting news in whatever industry it occurs.
Your credit union's challenge is to be that interesting news. Your secret weapon is "people helping people," credit unions' built-in corporate social responsibility advantage. Bring out those great stories about how your credit union is changing the world, one member at a time by getting them out of bad subprime loans, or how you are ensuring future generations will have a better handle on their finances via your high school branch.
Then employ good media relations techniques to help you get those stories published: Write useful press releases, build mutually beneficial relationships with key editors, and establish yourself as an expert on financial topics. For other ideas, check out CUES' Operation Outreach, where you can, among other things, download an entire PR manual for free.
Many times CUs are so busy doing good things they don't have time to spread the word. But before you say you're too busy, think about this quote from the Co-op Advantage article: "We originated CSR. It's always been there; we just haven't blown our own horn. If we allow the private sector to make it theirs, we're doing a disservice to our members."
