Champion Highlight: Tansley Stearns
The “credit union difference” is a well-defined campaign strategy that is heard in marketing efforts of credit unions across the U.S. Key factors that contribute to that credit union difference are financial education, member voting, leagues, and networks, and more importantly, collaboration. No matter the asset size of a credit union, collaboration is a key element in the strategies of credit unions – achieving more together than they could individually. This rings true for our credit unions in the Great Lakes region. In 2023, credit unions and partner organizations led the ‘In the Cellar’ wine auction, a wildly successful evening bringing over $900,000 for Credit Unions for Kids (CU4Kids). A key success factor of the fundraiser – collaboration. According to president & ceo of Community Financial Credit Union and In the Cellar’s Board Chair, Tansley Stearns, collaborations among vendors/CUSOs, credit unions, industry experts and leagues played a huge part in bringing the event to life.
Credit Unions are among the top five fundraising sources for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals). Knowing that mental health has become a real struggle in today’s economy, Stearns and the team at Community Financial decided to leverage the power of collaboration and credit union’s and start a fundraiser that would bring attention to CU4Kids and be an annual event for years to come. “When I moved back to the Midwest in June of 2022, I felt that, as a region, we were missing a marquee credit union fundraiser to enhance our collaborative giving and storytelling. We have all been touched by the deteriorating mental health impacting our youth,” stated Stearns. Since starting in the credit union space right out of college, Stearns has witnessed many successful CMN Hospital fundraisers come to life all over the United States.
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