I sat next to a man on the plane out to the Credit UnionWater Cooler Symposium in Indiana who turned 30 people supportinghis cause into 5,000. His story had all the topics that would makegood news footage–and social networking.

Todd Stave is a commercial real estate owner, and he had rentedoffice space to a doctor who performed abortions. He shared thatprotesters convened in front of his office building. It wasunpleasant, but he could deal with it. But it didn't stopthere.

The protesters figured out the school his daughter attended andprotested there, not only with graphic pictures but with a posterof his face, his home address and contact information. No matterwhat side of heated debate you take, harassing this man's child iswrong. But I digress.

As he tells it, Stave and his friends and neighbors got togetherto discuss how to counter the protesters. This circle of 30 peoplehad their circles of friends who had their circles of friends. Thegroup grew to 5,000 who volunteered to call and email back all theprotesters who were calling Stave's residence and harassing hisfamily. Lawyers were offering to do pro bono work. Staveestablished a foundation to fund such retaliations.

Not many issues in America today stir up emotions beyond reasonon both sides of the argument like abortion. What cause might comeclose to creating that type of empathy and grab peoples' attentionthat credit unions can relate to and create a national forumaround? Economic injustice.

Particularly with the national economy sputtering along and onein 10 people out of work with innumerable others who have given uplooking or are under-employed, the issue is ripe for the pickingright now.

Credit unions were created to give average consumers access tocredit and safe havens for their savings when the banks wouldn't.Instead, during this economic crisis most credit unions retrenchedjust like the banks, but those that didn't experienced tremendousgrowth.

Credit unions need a certain percentage of their membership tobe wealthy enough and use the credit union enough to support themajority of the membership. Take a lesson from Proctor &Gamble, which, according to a Wall Street Journal report, hasstarted bifurcating its products to serve the consumers of upper-and lower-priced items as the middle-income folks trade down due toconstricted budgets.

Make it a global effort and see what can happen. Some creditunions here have partnerships with other systems around the globeto help ensure the opportunity for greater financial stability. InAfrica, credit unions are literally saving lives. Promote thesegreat works. It's not why you do them but as long as you areanyway, let people know about it.

Wealth management and vacation home mortgages services combinedwith services like secured credit cards and second-chance loans canprovide wanted and needed services at both ends of the spectrum.Complete online and mobile banking services can attract everyoneand reduce costs in terms of putting employees to other work thatrequires a human touch. In this manner, credit unions can achievewhat's best for all of their members

Then use marketing and public relations–two very differentthings–to drive these messages home. Promote human interest–a slideshow we posted of Anwar Hayow winning MSU FCU's millionaire for a day contest wasone of our top trafficked pieces for a long while after it wasfirst posted.

Push for news coverage of the single parent working two jobs tomake ends meet who you gave a used car loan to after their old onedied.

Tell various forums, like your local Chamber of Commerce how youhelped a mechanic tired of making money for other people start uphis own shop with a small loan.

Advertise what you save your members in money and time. Forexample, post a sign that tells members this new kiosk in the annexof the university will save members that attend or teach there the10 minute drive to the main campus, which equals X in gas a year.

One of the main ingredients that separates credit unions frombanks is member dividends. These can be a great marketingadvantage. How much interest would a billboard on a major highwayin your FOM draw if it read: We gave our members $1 million backthis year. What's your bank done for you lately?

The other lesson to take from Stave's story is the power ofsocial networking. Of course you have your traditional circles andword of mouth, but take that exponential expansion and apply itonline through social media.

I've seen estimates that 2,000 credit unions are on Twitter. That does not include their support organizationsand vendors. Imagine if 2,000 credit unions began tweeting abouthow they're fighting social injustice. Stave's return on his socialnetworking was 167 times his initial group. What could it be forcredit unions?

Ask Ondine Irving, who has experienced such great opportunitiesby simply tweeting Suze Orman while creating excellent exposure forcredit unions. One person can make a difference. Credit unions arefar more than one person when they cooperate. n