WASHINGTON — When it comes to financial literacy credit unions have an opportunity to be the resource consumers turn to for help.
CUNA is launching an industry-wide survey to determine what level of commitment already exists among credit unions for the goal of empowering members through financial literacy.
Part of CUNA's "Long-Term Strategic Plan to Empower Members by Improving Financial Literacy", targets credit union CEOs and asks questions ranging from what kinds of financial education are available for adult and youth members, to barriers faced in member education efforts and what staff and monetary resources are devoted to member education.
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The poll is being conducted by CUNA's Center for Personal Finance under the Financial Literacy Task Force, which organized CUNA's 2006 National Financial Literacy Summit.
"Our Financial Literacy Task Force mission was to try to figure out a way to elevate financial literacy to the level of a core value for the movement and part of the philosophy of what we are," said CUNA Financial Literacy Task Force Chairman and CUNA Board Director Juri Valdov.
According to CUNA Senior Vice President of Research/Advisory Services and
task force liaison Mark Condon, the survey has already generated an initial 30% response rate.
"One of the things we're focused on is developing the types of metrics that credit unions can look at in terms of the overall value back to the credit union, so its not just a 'pie in the sky' philosophical aspect, it's actually deeper than that. It gets back to what the return on value is to the credit union," said Condon.
In 2008, the task force is also scheduled to hold a second national forum on financial literacy. Other goals include: developing an online financial literacy resource center to provide information about financial education best practices; conducting recurring research to identify information members and potential members want and need, what credit unions are doing to educate them, and how much the movement is improving financial literacy; developing and testing tools to assess the return on investment of credit union financial education programs; and creating a "National Financial Literacy Champion" designation to recognize credit unions' commitment to financial literacy in their strategic plans.
Survey results will be released at the 2008 Governmental Affairs Conference.
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