A year ago, we embarked on an ambitious journey: to unite credit unions across the nation under one voice through Backbone, a coalition dedicated to telling our story with clarity and power. Today, as we reflect on twelve months of collective storytelling, the results have exceeded our expectations. We have grown from 11 to 28 credit unions and leagues across 24 states. Just as important, we’ve placed credit unions in both traditional and emerging media outlets, expanding audience reach and deepening impact.
Through this work, we’ve connected with national audiences across generations and interests, helping put credit unions in a more visible and positive light for both consumers and policymakers.
But these numbers tell only part of the story.
As individual credit unions, we have always excelled at connecting with our members and communities. We've built our reputations on personal relationships, financial education, and unwavering commitment to the people we serve.
Yet in today's fragmented media landscape, where information moves faster than comprehension and consumers are bombarded with conflicting messages about money and financial institutions, individual voices, no matter how authentic, struggle to break through the noise. This is where Backbone has changed the game.
When we unite our efforts, our impact multiplies exponentially. Through Backbone, we've amplified our day-to-day local impacts into united national stories to demonstrate why credit unions are critical for American consumers.
More importantly, we've begun to reclaim the narrative about who deserves to be trusted with people's financial futures.
This matters now more than ever because we also face a generational imperative. Our current members, many of whom have banked with us for decades, understand the credit union difference firsthand. But, we must ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: Are we effectively reaching the next generation of consumers who are just beginning to make critical financial decisions?
Young Americans are navigating a vastly different financial landscape than their parents. They're digital natives who research financial products on social media, who value transparency and social responsibility, cause-based brands, and who are deeply skeptical of traditional institutions. Many carry student loan debt their parents never faced. They're delaying homeownership, questioning whether the traditional markers of financial success are attainable, and seeking financial partners who understand their unique challenges.
These potential members often don't know credit unions exist, or if they do, they don't understand how we're fundamentally different from the big banks that have dominated their awareness through massive marketing budgets and ubiquitous advertising.
The scale of our reach demonstrates something crucial: when we coordinate our storytelling, we can compete with the marketing muscle of the largest financial institutions. We've inserted our perspective into critical discussions about inflation, housing affordability, student debt, the recent government shutdown, and financial literacy, issues that directly affect the everyday Americans we serve. We've positioned credit union leaders as go-to experts and thought leaders, earning media coverage that money simply can't buy.
This is precisely why collective storytelling through Backbone is not just beneficial, it's essential for our survival and growth. No single credit union can match the marketing power of multinational banks. But together, uniting our resources and efforts, we can capture the attention of younger generations and demonstrate why credit union membership aligns perfectly with their values.
We need to meet them where they are, speaking their language about issues they care about: economic justice, community impact, financial inclusion, and institutions that genuinely have their backs. We need to showcase how credit unions provide pathways to financial stability that big banks simply don't prioritize.
Through Backbone, we're doing exactly that by crafting stories that resonate across generations while maintaining the authentic, people-first ethos that has always defined us.
Our first year has proven what we've always believed: credit unions have a compelling story to tell. The next generation of members is out there, searching for financial institutions they can trust. Through our collective voice, we're making sure they find us.
Co-author: Tansley Stearns, President and CEO, Community Financial Credit Union
