Membership Growth Initiative
Focus
Membership growth has become a top priority for the Maine Credit Union League, as well as a priority of CUNA and its Membership Growth Task Force, and credit unions nationwide. In response to this priority, the League has established a Membership Growth Ad Hoc Committee.
The committee is focused on the future and on credit unions working together to strengthen their position in the marketplace by identifying and driving member value. The committee shares ideas from other leagues and from CUNA. Its mission is to promote the collaboration of resources to support the growth of Maine Credit Unions. Initiatives include connecting League services and Synergent product and services with initiatives for growth, researching and communicating national and state growth trends, and recommending initiatives that position Maine credit unions for growth.
The committee, which includes credit union CEOs, branch managers, CFOs, technology and operational staff, met October 2007 for the first time. Members discussed four avenues to boost growth through education and training, advertising and awareness, delivery channels and technology tools. A logo was created and presented to brand the membership growth focus.
In January 2008, membership growth topics were featured in the League's newsletter News & Views on a monthly basis to communicate initiatives to Maine Credit Unions. In February, Jim Lemieux, Committee Chair, participated in a Q&A article, summarizing tools credit unions have in Maine to use for growth and the committee's role to help prioritize new ideas. The committee's work was also featured in a February Credit Union Times article.
In March, the committee held its spring meeting to discuss results from the League-sponsored focus groups on Gen Y, conducted by Market Decisions in January. The committee discussed while the priorities of convenience and no fees is important to this demographic they are also important to other demographics. The members agreed reaching Gen Y is a priority for future growth. The spring meeting concluded with a presentation on tactics and execution of the initiatives, such as Member Services training webinars on sales cultures, new marketing material for inactive accounts, technology tools and the promotion of shared branching and the SURF network for growth. Credit union representatives provided their input on competition and areas credit unions can strengthened to compete in a competitive marketplace in Maine and online.
Membership Growth Jumpstart Initiatives
Gen Y Focus Group Findings and Report
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