HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 20, 2000 — The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association (PCUA) board of directors initiated a campaign for state credit unions to become environmentally friendly at its quarterly meeting last week in Harrisburg.
“The board decided that it should be a leader with respect to going green,” Mike Wishnow, PCUA senior vice president of communications and marketing, told News Now. “The board will develop programs to encourage credit unions to go green and then highlight their efforts in this area, as well as highlight best practices.”
The board unanimously adopted a 2008 budget to:
- Provide copies of CUNA’s Small Credit Union Salary Survey to member credit unions with assets of $35 million or less; and
- Place an additional 150 sample policies on InfoSight.
A budget summary will be available on the PCUA website by the end of the year. In other actions, the board:
- Approved a $10,000 contribution to the Pennsylvania Credit Union Foundation;
- Approved the initiation of a task force of credit union leaders to study PCUA membership fees; and
- Continued its support of the iBelong and Credit Union Better Choice programs.
“The PCUA board recognizes the importance of credit unions providing an alternative to predatory payday loans,” said Diana Roberts, PCUA board chair, and CEO of Hershey FCU. “With the support of the State Treasury, as well as the 62 credit unions that offer the Credit Union Better Choice program, Pennsylvania consumers will save more than one million dollars in fees, while beginning to build wealth and receive financial education that will improve the quality of their lives.”
During the meeting, the status of the iBelong awareness campaign was reported by Mike Kaczenski, chair of the advocacy/marketing task force at PCUA.
He noted the key barrier to credit union growth is lack of awareness on the part of non-credit union members. “Our iBelong campaign is raising awareness of credit unions throughout the state and has been recognized by a number of other state leagues as a model program for increasing credit union awareness,” he said.
Also at the meeting, Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking Steven Kaplan discussed the financial services environment and the department’s top priorities at the meeting.
David Lundgren, executive vice president/chief products officer for CUNA Mutual Group, provided insight on future directions of the company and solicited input and feedback from board members.
