The best kept secret about credit unions might be the opportunities that exist in partnering with other local cooperatives.

Consider the statistics. Globally, the largest 300 cooperatives have collective revenues of $1.6 trillion. In the United States, a recent Filene Research Institute and National Credit Union Foundation report entitled Quantifying the Business Case for Credit Unions and Other Cooperatives revealed that cooperatives' assets totaled $1.754 billion. A breakdown of those assets revealed $346 billion were non-financial cooperatives, $1.126 billion were credit unions and $282 billion were other financial cooperatives that were owned, at least in part, by non-financial cooperatives.

With shared principles of service to members, credit unions and their community cooperatives working together to build mutually beneficial relationships would be a no-brainer.

Yet there seems to be a disconnect; even in Wisconsin, with its long history of cooperatives.

According to Holly Fearing, social media advisor at Filene Research Institute and board member of natural foods cooperative Willy Street Coop, a combination of ideological misconceptions and lip service have created stumbling blocks to collaborative efforts.

“There's this mentality among cooperatives here in Madison that credit unions are very corporate, too similar to banks, and don't get the mission of cooperatives,” she said. “As for credit unions, they don't necessarily understand the structure of worker cooperatives. You can't treat cooperatives like a run of the mill business partnership.”

Worker cooperatives find themselves unable to turn to a credit union for a loan because of underwriting challenges. When Willy Street Coop was looking to pilot a Local Vendor Loan Fund to support the continued growth of its local food producers/vendors with loans in the $25,000 to $75,000 range, it wasn't a credit union that stepped up for a partnership but Slow Money Wisconsin, Forward Community Investments and UW-Extension's Food Finance Institute.

Slow Money Wisconsin is a 501(c)3 that connects those interested in investing in local food enterprises and sustainable farms with area farms and food entrepreneurs that are looking for investments.

To Fearing, while supporting cooperatives may be a challenge, the potential rewards are worth the effort.

“We all talk about cooperation among cooperatives and it frustrates me because it feels a bit like lip service if our giving back to the community is simply the checks we write to charities,” she said. “We have to take an honest look and ask if we are really doing anything to fulfill our mission. How are we living the seven cooperative principles? If our mission is to support the cooperative industry then it's up to us to balance the ROI and hard numbers with a bit of a risk and leap of faith to find meaningful ways to help our local cooperatives succeed.”

For example, the $226 million Heartland Credit Union's Go Local initiative highlights the relationship between the credit union and local communities. An Own It campaign that featured some 20 different video stories of the local cooperative business has not only helped foster deeper relationships but also opened the door to business opportunities and partnerships.

“It's an educational process that takes time,” Robin Marohn, vice president marketing and business development at the Madison-based Heartland said. “We reached small egg and dairy farmers through our relationship with different farm cooperatives.”

He added that the value of being endorsed by farm co-ops has helped open doors to farmers and producers who prefer to do business with a financial cooperative.

For the past four years, the $2 billion Summit Credit Union in Madison has celebrated Madison area cooperatives through Co-op Connection. The number of visitors to the popular event has swelled to over 4,000 with more than 26 cooperatives participating last year, including Heartland and Dane County Credit Union. Participating cooperatives each get their own booth and have opportunities to engage and educate locals about the cooperative business model and how it helps boost the local economy. Focused on the role Summit will play in the communities it serves, the event has been just one piece of an ongoing dialogue with community leaders to better understand achievement gaps and identify where the challenges exist in the community.

“I think that credit unions and cooperatives can get past this weird ideological barrier by getting together to talk about the whys behind their volunteering their time. Once in a room together, suddenly there's this epiphany of we both care about the well being of our staff, what happens in the community, dollars staying local and the bigger picture economic factors. Get them in a room together and they find they share common ground despite the way they may operate their individual businesses,” Fearing said.

vancity community cooperative transparent board In Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancity Credit Union has been using its $18.6 billion in assets to help improve the financial well-being of its members while helping to develop healthy communities that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

During a session at the 2014 CU Water Cooler Symposium, William Azaroff, director of business and community development at Vancity, explained that by staying curious about what's happening in members' lives and in the community has opened doors to businesses and partnership that bring value to Vancity and members alike.

“Look at the landscape and find out what's really going on and discover the hidden markets in your community,” he said. “When you think about the genesis stories of credit unions and cooperatives, no one ever started a co-op who wasn't pissed off. So relook at those values upon which you were founded, which are timeless and apply them to the troubles and opportunities happening in your communities.”

vancity in the community cooperative business The credit union has been focused on taking a long-term view of what is happening in the economy by looking beyond the financial markets to the production of goods and services that impact people's lives. The values based banking has helped the credit union post strong 2014 results attracting nearly 27,000 new members and increased assets from $17.5 billion to $18.6 billion.

Instant Insights /

Credit Unions and Cooperatives: Matchmaker Needed?

Related Stories

Recommended For You