Crowdfunding Supports CU Brand

Mix together a new brand statement (True North Strong), a hot trend (crowdfunding), and some local heroes, and what do you get?

Northern Credit Union’s crowdfunding website, TrueNorthStrong.ca, reflects both its commitment to corporate social responsibility and members’ preferences for online interactions, notes Al Suraci, CCE, CEO of the $780 million credit union, with corporate offices in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Northern CU rolled out its new initiative in a soft launch on April 7 and with more fanfare at its April 12 annual general meeting, attended by delegates from the 23 communities the credit union serves across 1,500 square kilometers. Delegates carry the voice of more than 56,000 members, voting on bylaw changes, electing directors to the board, and serving as ambassadors in their communities.

They were enthusiastic about TrueNorthStrong.ca and the opportunity to meet the hometown sports heroes who are helping to promote the first two projects up for crowdfunding:

• Ryan Fry, E.J. Harnden, and Ryan Harnden from Team Jacobs, Canada’s Olympic gold medal curling team, are raising money for the Northern Ontario Curling Association.
• The Marcoux Brothers, a gold and bronze-medal winning Paralympics alpine ski team, are supporting Parasport Ontario’s Ready Willing and Able program, which sponsors athlete ambassadors with disabilities sharing their inspirational stories with school communities and other local organizations.

The target fundraising for each project is $10,000, and Northern CU has pledged to match up to $3,000 in donations for funding each initiative.

Suraci, a CUES member, says crowdfunding seems like a good way for credit unions to demonstrate their community ties and is a natural fit for Northern CU’s new brand positioning, especially given members’ reliance on social media and e-services (90 percent of all transactions take place outside the branch network).

“It’s almost a sub-brand. Giving back to the community is part of our DNA,” he notes. “And it’s a good demographic fit, because our members really are a virtual community. Immediately following the AGM, our delegates started tweeting and posting to Facebook to draw attention to TrueNorthStrong.ca, so we started to see a lot of visits to the site and dollars coming in right away.”

The crowdfunding site allows members to click through to Northern CU’s Internet banking site to make immediate donations, and nonmembers can contribute using PayPal.

“The beauty of crowdfunding is that we bring together funding for local initiatives from a large geographic footprint,” Suraci adds. Delegates and other members are encouraged to nominate the next initiatives promoted for funding through TrueNorthStrong.ca.

Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.

Photo credit: Dollarphotoclub.com/ kotoyamagami