Strategic philanthropy boosts impact

Tie charity to your local mission and to the credit union industry’s mission.

While Hannibal Brumskine, chief financial and operations officer with the National Credit Union Foundation, thinks it’s great that credit unions sponsor a variety of charitable endeavors, he advises credit unions to devote most of their charity to longer-term, higher-impact initiatives driven by the credit union’s mission.

He advocates “strategic philanthropy,” a type of giving focused on investing in two things that can ultimately benefit your credit union:

  • Improving the financial health of your employees, members, and your community.
  • Building local and national awareness of what makes credit unions different than for-profit banks.

Brumskine, a CPA, has held high-level financial and compliance positions at charitable organizations such as Goodwill and Special Olympics. Based on the most effective credit union giving programs he’s seen, he recommends taking three steps to put your credit union on the strategic philanthropy path:

 

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