CU Strategic Planning's Grant Writing Efforts Reap MajorRewards for Credit Unions
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The Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund recentlyannounced it had increased its funding to credit unions by 100% inthe past year.
|Spokane, Wash.-based CU Strategic Planning won more money forcredit unions than any other team of grant writers did, the firmsaid.
|In 2011, CDFI awarded CU Strategic Planning with 76% of the dollars itrequested for credit unions in 17 grant applications, the companysaid. All other grant writers received only 30% of the money theyrequested from CDFI that same year, CU Strategic Planning said.
|CDFI's total amount of Financial and Technical Assistance awardsgranted to credit unions rose from $12 million in 2010 to $25.6million in 2011, said CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell.
|CU Strategic Planning grant writers apply specialized researchand financial analysis to each application and develop partnershipswith credit unions during the grant writing process, the firmsaid.
|“Chuck (Cockburn, president/CEO for CU Strategic Planning) makesevery CU Strategic Planning grant writer pass a grueling writingsample examination, and credit union clients must pass a creditunion financial assessment to work with us,” said Jamie Chase,founder of CU Strategic Planning. “We've created a best practiceand are hiring the best people to implement it, and as a result,we've seen the predictable outcome of winning awards.”
|Since it can take around two years for prospective credit unionclients to partner with CU Strategic Planning due to a waitinglist, the firm plans to host a conference with the purpose ofteaching credit unions how to write and implement award-winningCDFI programs, CU Strategic Planning said. Making History: CreditUnion CDFI Conference will be held Sept. 16-20.
|“We don't feel comfortable referring credit unions to grantwriters with only a 30% success rate,” Cockburn said. “So we areopening up the secrets to our success for all credit unions tolearn what we're doing.”
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
