MADISON, WI (February 23, 2015) -- In recognition of America Saves Week, February 23 – 28, 2015, National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) Executive Director Gigi Hyland issued the following statement today:
The National Credit Union Foundation is proud to support America Saves Week, which is an annual opportunity for organizations to promote good savings behavior and a chance for individuals to assess their own saving status.
Many organizations collaborate and contribute to make the week a success. There’s a great new opportunity for credit unions this year -- a new Designation of Excellence for Credit Unions has been launched to publicly recognize and acknowledge credit unions who commit to encouraging savings. The Foundation is proud to be working with America Saves on the designation. If you are a credit union doing exceptional work to promote savings among their members and communities, then I encourage you to apply for this new designation.
The America Saves week effort is great for credit unions to be aware of in terms of helping their members save, as encouraging savings and financial literacy are part of credit unions’ DNA and the more we raise awareness of these efforts, the more Americans will choose credit unions as their best financial partner.
In addition to the multiple resources and ideas provided on the America Saves website, here are just a few additional ways credit unions can engage their members this week:
- Hold high school Financial Reality Fairs and Retirement Fairs in your community.
- Use Biz Kid$ in your branches and buy DVD box sets for your schools and local Children’s Miracle Network hospital.
- Distribute copies of Jean Chatzky’s “Money Rules” book to staff, members and others.
This week and all year, credit unions should lead efforts to improve their community’s financial well-being and become part of the strategic architecture of their communities’ financial literacy efforts. The Foundation offers credit unions many resources, toolkits, and more to help credit unions improve their member’s financial lives on our website at ncuf.coop.