Measuring the Impact of Credit Unions on Wealth Building in Communities: Preliminary Findings on the Impact of Affinity Credit Union’s Community Investment Programs

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dc.contributor.authorHammond Ketilson, Lou
dc.contributor.authorGordon Nembhard, Jessica
dc.contributor.authorTaras, Victoria
dc.contributor.authorHewitt, Myrna
dc.date.accessioned2016-05-04T01:41:13Z
dc.date.available2016-05-04T01:41:13Z
dc.date.issued2015-09
dc.descriptionMany scholars and co-op practitioners believe that successful co-operative businesses benefit their communities and help their members accumulate wealth and/or assets. We applied this notion to credit unions and explored whether they provide unique measurable benefits to stakeholders. In addition, there is concern about the growing similarities between co-operatives and their private sector counterparts. Co-operatives should be uniquely attentive to local community and individual needs because of their democratic structure and because they operate using a set of principles that stress equity, participation, self-reliance and transparency. One way to measure the cooperative advantage is to evaluate co-ops’ adherence to the internationally recognized co-operative principles (Rochdale Principles). This study aimed to document and measure the impacts of credit unions' programs and services on members’ well-being, financial stability, wealth-building, skill development, civic engagement, and overall community economic development. We began to identify and test a set of traditional and nontraditional economic and social indicators that would increase our understanding of the broad impacts of credit unions on their local economy, including impacts that circulate multiple times. We partnered with Saskatchewan-based Affinity Credit Union to test the proposed indicators. We also explored community impacts more deeply by measuring how much Affinity adheres to this principle through their five community investment programs: 1. the Individual Development Account (IDA) program, 2. the District Council funding program, 3. the Community Loans program, 4. the Microloans programs, 5. the Accessible Housing programs. A focus group, a telephone survey, and in-person interviews were conducted with individuals who benefited personally or as part of an organization as a result of the community investment programs. Although the study is ongoing, our preliminary findings show that Affinity demonstrated important or differential impact on most of the indicators. We found that programs targeting lower income and/or vulnerable members of communities were helping member to feel more empowered, to access services they would not obtain from other financial institutions, and to move toward achieving their financial goals. Interestingly, many (especially higher income) members felt that their credit union should be doing even more to support community well-being. This phase of the study demonstrates that Affinity does adhere to the seventh Rochdale Principle, concern for the community. And although it has not lost its co-operative advantage, it must remain vigilant to maintain it. Along with the paper, this entry contains a copy of the presentation made at CASC 2016 in Vancouver.en_US
dc.format.availabilityFull-texten_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10587/1748
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMeasuring the Co-operative Difference Research Networken_US
dc.subject.se-space-enterprise-enCo-operativesen_US
dc.subject.se-space-enterprise-enCredit Unions/Caissesen_US
dc.subject.se-space-enterprise-frCoopérativesen_US
dc.subject.se-space-enterprise-frCaisses de crédit / Caisses populairesen_US
dc.subject.sespace-geographic-enCanadaen_US
dc.subject.sespace-geographic-enSaskatchewanen_US
dc.subject.sespace-geographic-frCanadaen_US
dc.subject.sespace-geographic-frSaskatchewanen_US
dc.subject.sespace-populations-enYouthen_US
dc.subject.sespace-populations-enLow-income / Socio-Economically Disadvantageden_US
dc.subject.sespace-populations-frJeunesen_US
dc.subject.sespace-populations-frÀ faibles revenus / Défavorisées sur le plan socio-économiqueen_US
dc.subject.sespace-research-enMeasuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network (2010-2015)en_US
dc.subject.sespace-research-frRéseau de recherche pour mesurer la différence coopérative (2010-2015)en_US
dc.subject.sespace-sector-enCommunity, Economic & Organizational Developmenten_US
dc.subject.sespace-sector-enFinancial Services & Insuranceen_US
dc.subject.sespace-sector-frDéveloppement communautaire, économique et organisationnelen_US
dc.subject.sespace-sector-frServices financiers et assurancesen_US
dc.subject.sespace-theme-enCommunity Economic Development / Socio-Economic Developmenten_US
dc.subject.sespace-theme-enSocial Accounting, Sustainability Reporting, Social / Environmental / Economic Impact Measurementen_US
dc.subject.sespace-theme-frDéveloppement économique communautaire / Développement socio-économiqueen_US
dc.subject.sespace-theme-frComptabilité sociale, rapports de durabilité, mesure de l’impact social / environnemental / économiqueen_US
dc.titleMeasuring the Impact of Credit Unions on Wealth Building in Communities: Preliminary Findings on the Impact of Affinity Credit Union’s Community Investment Programsen_US
dc.typeReport / Working Paper / Briefing Noten_US
dc.typeRapport / Document de travail / Note d’informationen_US
dc.typeReport / Working Paper / Briefing Noten_US
dc.typeRapport / Document de travail / Note d’informationen_US
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