NAFCU is at an organizational crossroads in Hawaii

It seems only fitting that NAFCU's Annual Conference and Exhibition this year is in Hawaii, a part of the world that many consider the crossroads between the U.S. Mainland and the Pacific Rim. Fitting because NAFCU itself seems to be at a crossroads. A short 33 years ago, NAFCU was a lightly regarded start-up credit union trade association that was founded to better represent the unique needs of federal credit unions, and to compensate for what NAFCU's founders perceived as serious shortcomings at CUNA. With good initial leadership and staffing, the new-kid-on-the-block grew more rapidly in size and influence than most observers felt it would. And in the process, CUNA shaped up and became a more responsive and effective national CU trade group. NAFCU parlayed its much less cumbersome governance and membership structure, and its FCU niche, into an organization that could make decisions decisively and quickly. It also showed that it could get new programs and services into members' hands seemingly overnight. Like most trade groups, NAFCU hit middle age and began slowing down, actually forgetting some of the reasons that brought it its initial successes. But something else happened. CUNA changed. It got better. It refocused on what business it was in. It began to look and act like the old NAFCU. Except it was a lot bigger and had much deeper pockets. More and more credit unions liked what they saw in the new CUNA. Meanwhile, after a spurt of new members, NAFCU began losing members. It also lost a number of key senior staff and struggled with their replacements. Its leadership got tangled up in personal ego trips. Its offerings to members seemed to reach a plateau. Meanwhile, the newly energized and focused CUNA began eating NAFCU's lunch. In fact, CUNA CEO Dan Mica made no bones about the fact that long-time NAFCU CEO Ken Robinson's recent retirement would be a perfect time to completely swallow NAFCU and fold it into the CUNA structure. This is not to say that NAFCU, despite its smaller membership, staff, and resources, went from setting the standard for CUNA, to an ineffective CU trade group. Not at all. NAFCU continues to be a dynamic organization that knows its membership and serves its needs well. But there is no denying that the organization is at a crossroads, for some reasons it can control and many that it cannot. For example, in the can-control column, its new CEO, Fred Becker, seems to be the right man for the right job, at the right time. And so far at least, he seems more than up for the challenges that one encounters at a crossroads. But Becker can't do the job alone. He needs to beef up his staff with the best talent he can hire, much like Mica of CUNA has done. Also in the can-control column, NAFCU needs to evaluate what its members need and expect from the organization that they can't get elsewhere, at least as good. The most obvious example of what NAFCU does better than anyone else is its Annual Conference and Exhibition. CUNA's efforts to become the grand daddy of annual conventions has consistently fallen flat in comparison to NAFCU's ability to attract the bigger crowds, better speakers, and provide many more programming bells and whistles. Unfortunately, there is also the can't-control column. At the top of the list is the fact that more and more federal credit unions are abandoning the federal charter. Besides losing current members, NAFCU is seeing its total potential membership base shrink. This is especially troublesome to the organization because it is the larger credit unions, the big dues payers, that are making the charter switch in rapidly growing numbers. Being at a crossroads calls for drastic actions in order to move forward. One of the first decisions NAFCU leadership needs to consider is precisely who the organization should serve in the future. Continuing to limit membership to federal credit unions, as it has done since its inception, is to deny the inevitable. Times have changed. Taking that road will almost guarantee a slow and painful organizational death. The alternative choices are many: * Implement a grandfather clause that allows member credit unions converting to CU state charters (not to bank charters), to continue full NAFCU membership, including voting privileges, but perhaps at a slightly higher fee. * Allow former FCUs that were NAFCU members to become associate members with a separate fee schedule, but with no voting privileges. * Open up the membership completely to all federally insured credit unions and implement a tiered fee structure. The obvious ramifications of this route would mean that NAFCU has decided to go head to head with CUNA for credit union support and that NAFCU (whatever any new entity might be called) could eventually hope to match CUNA in membership, staff, budget, and political and legislative clout. * Merge with CUNA. No decisions should be made without full member input, something that was not done several years ago when turning NAFCU into NAFICU (National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions) was seriously considered, but only at the staff and leadership levels. Once NAFCU is able to get a renewed and even clearer mission of what business it is in, and who it wants to serve and how, the next steps become even more obvious. These include as a highest priority, building up the senior management staff. This goes hand in hand with an increased organizational revenue stream. That in turn should lead to a re-prioritizing of membership benefits as well as make it feasible to develop or partner leading edge programs and services as CUNA is now doing at a breakneck pace. The worse thing NAFCU leaders and members gathered in Hawaii for the organization's 33rd Annual Conference and Exhibition can do, is do nothing. The days of business as usual for NAFCU are gone! Comments? Call 1-800-345-9936, Ext. 15, or Fax 561-683-8514, or E-mail mwelch@cutimes.com.