ARLINGTON, Va. -- NAFCU collected over $200,000 more in dues in 2006 over 2005, but there has not been a dues increase; it is because of the health of the industry and its membership.

NAFCU ended 2006 with 811 members up a net of three from 2005, according to NAFCU Senior Vice President of Communications Jay Morris. Despite the merger mania among credit unions, which could drive both NAFCU's membership or dues revenues down, the figures are up. NAFCU brought in $6,653,667 in 2006 in membership dues versus $6,422,489 the previous year.

"Dues have not increased. There has not been a dues increase in some time," Morris said. NAFCU's dues structure is a formula based on asset size, so NAFCU's members must be healthy and continuing to grow, he pointed out. "I think that's a reflection of our retention figures--they're quite good, growth in credit unions, and the net gain of three credit unions," he stated.

NAFCU's member retention rate is about 95%, according to NAFCU Public Relations Manager Patty Briotta, which is well above the average for a similarly situated Washington, D.C. trade association. NAFCU even has 23 members currently that have converted to state charters, but maintained their memberships. "I think a lot of them feel they get a value out of the NAFCU education professional development programs and some of the mailings we send out," he noted.

NAFCU represents 64.21% of federal credit union assets and 57% of federal credit union members. NAFCU's average federal credit union member has just under $340 million in assets as of March 3, 2007, though members range from below $10 million in assets up to $26 billion Navy Federal Credit Union.

In addition to membership dues, educational conferences brought in more money year-over-year as did interest income, which jumped from $194,546 in 2005 to $338,537 at yearend 2006.

One of NAFCU's biggest assets is that it owns the office building where it is housed. In the booming real estate market of Arlington, Va., the property value based on the county tax assessment, which is typically undervalued, has increased from $4,639,700 in 2002 to $7,039,400 in 2007, a 51.7% increase in five years.

"We made more last year, but we obviously spent more," Morris pointed out. Conference expenses were up slightly, communications and publications expenses were up from $612,905 to $655,000 in 2006. Legislative, regulatory, and compliance expenses fell slightly to $197,733. Administration and overhead was up more than half-a-million from $7,4155,733 to $7,964,930 in 2006.

Overall, NAFCU's assets were up to $13,620,340 last year from $12,936,766 in 2005 for a difference of $683,574. Morris commented, "That's a very respectable surplus to have."

NAFCU would not share its employee turnover rate though it made headlines when the group's three top attorneys left a couple of years ago and other staff has followed since. Morris did say that 2006 was an improvement over 2005; Briotta said it was below the industry average.

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