NACUSO's New Logo Reflects Organization's New Purpose, Position

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – Nineteen years after it was founded, NACUSO has taken an introspective look at itself and come out with a new identification and purpose. “We decided it was time to reinvent NACUSO and not just react to what’s going on,” said President Bob Dorsa. That included working with an advertising company – Jamison Advertising Group, Chula Vista, Calif. – to redesign the organization’s logo, as well as its Web site and newsletter. “With the new tagline `Opportunities & Answers’, we want to say there are great opportunities for CUSOs and bigger ones for credit unions on all business fronts,” Dorsa explained. “It was time for us to dig in and broaden the horizon and our appeal to credit unions. NACUSO has a lot of contacts, and we’re going to identify opportunities for credit unions and CUSOs in all the areas we’ve been involved in. We’re broadening ourselves to say whether you deliver a service through a credit union or a CUSO, we’re going to still work with you to work out answers and get you information. We want credit unions and CUSOs to know we’re their number one resource.” Dorsa said NACUSO’s theme for the year is the “power of partnership.” This theme will be repeated and used on the association’s Web site and in advertising NACUSO plans to run during the year in various credit union industry media. NACUSO’s relationship with the Jamison Group marks the first time the association is working with an outside advertising agency. Previously the association’s marketing efforts were handled internally, but Dorsa said “NACUSO wants to establish itself and create a professional approach. To do that means we have to align ourselves with a professional firm. They’ll help us push the envelope so we can give credit unions and CUSOs specific issues and guidance to follow and take a more aggressive posture.” He added that, “We want to help credit unions embrace incidental powers and get out of the doldrums of just being a great place for members to get car loans,” said Dorsa. NACUSO also wants to work with NCUA to make sure there’s a “smooth and orderly” transition of incidental power activities to credit unions. “If you look at the NCUA 5300 call reports and the way they’re designed, for example, I imagine the agency will have to revise their whole approach to how they collect data to reflect credit unions’ expanded incidental powers. What will these expanded powers do to credit unions’ historic ratios? They may become antiquated as credit unions develop new sources of income,” said Dorsa. NACUSO has 400 members, 370 of which are credit unions and CUSOs. The remaining 30 are suppliers. The association is dues funded. Credit unions and CUSOs may an annual fee of $375, and suppliers pay $625 annually to belong to the association. Dorsa said he doesn’t expect the membership dues to change in the near future. -