I’ve been in discussions with people across the industry numbers times about common bond vs community charter and the ramifications of selecting either one. Most people know how Denise stands about community charters and I share the same ideology: credit unions were started on common bond and should continue on that path to be successfully. Many, many CU’s have converted to community charter recently and have lost the affinity base they used to have.
Tim’s post over at Currency sparked this thought today and now I can’t get it out of my head. As the internet becomes more prevalent across the US, or North America to keep those Canadians happy, we have a new opportunity to go back to the common bond roots and create strong relationships with out members. At BarCampBank this past summer, Jesse talked about starting Black Rock Federal for burners which is a perfect example of starting a distributed CU. Imagine the affinity and strong ties that would come from burners being able to form a CU together. Same thing goes for NASCAR. Imagine if each team was able to start their own CU, with their own rewards programs, charity donations, or a spare tire fund. Any national group with a strong community would be a perfect opportunity.
This is just me ranting, but CU’s need to get back to that common bond and we have a real opportunity to leverage technology to get us there. I just hope the NCUA cooperates with some charter requests that are not exactly what they are used to seeing.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:04 am
Robbie -
I couldn’t agree more. It’s what credit unions are good at doing. Those ties can be rebuilt using a shared community vision and purpose (a la Vancity Change Everything), but as William Azaroff put it on Tim’s blog, it has to be authentic.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:38 am
Authenticity is very important in the process. I wish you could get more CU’s to “just do it” then over-analyze everything, ask for the ROI, or how many more widgets you think you can sell.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Common bond is how I feel credit unions should work. Its the way they were meant to run. Going community can be dangerous as you are then competing with every institution for everybody’s attention. You also lose that close knit “club” feeling of a common bond CU, and that can drive some of your original membership out the door, leaving you to fend for yourself.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
oops, hit submit too quick!
Social media gives us a chance to stand out amongst all the other institutions in our communities, we need to show people that we are there for their benefit and can connect with their needs personally.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
This has been batted around and joked about a lot in the regular CU Blog circles. Some folks think that it is a loser concept. Personally I disagree. I think that it would be better as a national charter but kudos to the first group that can get the NASCAR CU up and running with rights to reproduce that logo. Incentives like fantasy driving school and racing leathers would be awesome (and I am not a NASCAR fan, but can appreciate the unique draw).
I also look at other “grassroots” trends like the Ron Paul support from the online community. Politics aside, it was the first time a 3rd party candidate got that much press. All from an underground, national, mobile and active online community. It think the guys at OpenSource should consider pooling their resources to get a real OpenSource CU charter set up for these folks.
I like the idea of affinity based CUs. There are things that I am passionate about that could motivate me to switch CUs. I could see Green CU being popular where everything is wrapped around the green brand (e-statements, and online banking to natural and renewable building materials for the branches).
It allows you to better identify your membership. It allows for that “Cool Factor” that creates word of mouth. I wrote a little post about a affinity group credit union based around a color and it’s impact for social changes.
I am looking for a cool credit union to join