The ongoing difficult economy forced the National Credit Union Foundation to make the structural changes it had to make, according to its new executive director.
Wendell "Bucky" Sebastian explained that NCUF had to change some of the ways it is structured both to conserve its own resources and to buy some additional time to develop new fundraising strategies.
"The CIF was a genius method of raising funds," Sebastian noted, referring to the NCUF's community investment fund. "But in the current interest rate environment, its facility in that regard looks like it will remain significantly limited and we need to confront that."
Financial documents indicate NCUF's expenses exceeded its income in 2009 by $474,000. The foundation spent $730,000 on the Real Solutions program which brought in only $59,000 and $412,000 on the Development Education program which only brought in $115,000.
"Many people are familiar with our annual Herb Wegner dinner that we hold every February and many people, like I did, consider it a money maker for the foundation," Sebastian said. "But the reality is that the Wegner dinner cost the foundation $229,000 this past year," he said, adding. "We need to do something about that."
