3 minutes
#MyCUMatters, credit unions and their members are telling politicians
Twitter users may have noticed a new hashtag lighting up their feeds. #MyCUMatters is part of an advocacy campaign created by Credit Union Central of Canada to raise the visibility of credit unions after the elimination of a tax credit.
In 2013, a tax change in the federal budget surprised the credit union system, says Kevin Dorse, manager of advocacy at Canadian Central in Ottawa. The tax credit that is being phased out has existed since the 1970s.
In response, Canadian Central and its member credit unions have proposed a tax credit to be included in the next federal budget. And to draw attention to their proposal and to highlight why credit unions are important, starting in mid August the organization launched the My Credit Union Matters campaign with a dedicated website. (There’s also a French version.)
The website makes it easy for members to share stories about why their credit unions matter and to write—or tweet!--their local members of parliament.
“This was really important to educate members of parliament about what credit unions are and how important they are in Canada,” Dorse explains.
To date, more than 100 comments and videos have been shared on the site from credit union employees and members, including business members.
For example, Diane wrote, “When I purchased a business in BC years ago, I learned that the bank I had dealt with previously would not grant me a line of credit for my retail operation. When I visited a credit union, they not only granted me a line of credit, but also gave my husband and I a better rate on our home mortgage. My business operated successfully for ten years, and I went on to open a second business as well. CUs give back to the community and help build a stronger economy.”
On Twitter, a search for the #MyCUMatters hashtag shows pages and pages of results, and that’s just in September.
Each week starts off with MyCUMatters Monday on social media. And the hashtag has become a sort of micro phenomenon within the Canadian credit union community, Dorse says.
“Credit unions in every part of the country are participating in the campaign. And they are having a lot of fun with it,” says Dorse. “It’s a positive campaign and it’s a message that people who work with credit unions and bank with credit unions want to hear: that my credit union matters and make sure that Ottawa knows that.”
“Canadian Central hasn’t done a campaign like this in past,” Dorse adds. Previously, most grassroots efforts involved coordinating meetings between credit union CEOs and directors with local government officials.
While credit unions in Canada are provincially regulated, “more and more federal legislation is impacting credit unions quite a bit,” says Dorse. And with 2015 being a federal election year, the industry knew it needed a broad-based advocacy effort beyond CEOs and board members.
To keep credit unions excited about the campaign, Canadian Central is offering webinars and a weekly bulletin each Monday that includes two to three ideas for CUs to try.
But most of the work is happening at the CU level, Dorse says. “The young leaders, in particular, are really having a lot of fun with this.”
For example, Credit Union Young Leaders of Manitoba has challenged neighboring group Saskatchewan Young Leaders to see which province has the most emails to MPs coming in.
The campaign has resulted in thousands of emails to Canada’s Finance Minister, Joe Oliver, and members of parliament.
Canadian Central is also advertising on National News Watch, a news aggregation website that’s daily reading for MPs and their staff.
Many MPs are responding positively and pledging their support. Plus, during his in-person meetings with MPs, Dorse is seeing a lot more interest in the tax credit budget proposal, and in credit unions, too.
“It really is an extraordinary thing to think that the CU system at the national level has not done this kind of thing in the past … and people have really just rallied around this campaign,” Dorse says.
Theresa Witham is a CUES senior editor.
