icuday

International Credit Union Day

Celebration Ideas

Plan a Festive Week in Your Credit Union

• Hold an open house at your credit union and branch offices. Conduct tours and serve refreshments. It's a great opportunity to build relationships with members and discuss your products and services.
• Invite your elected officials to a "Meet the Members" day.
• Get the word out about the worldwide credit union movement by displaying posters and offering international foods.
• Hold a "guest day" at your credit union where members can bring guests for refreshments and learn more about your credit union.
• Let members "meet their credit union" by displaying your employees' photos and biographies.

Please tell us how you plan to celebrate International Credit Union Day.

Product and Service Promotions

• Offer loans or new share draft accounts for the same fees that your credit union charged the year it opened.
• Work cooperatively with other local credit unions to purchase outdoor billboard advertising space. Radio and television advertising can be very affordable when a group of credit unions contribute toward the cost.

Focus on Education

• Offer your credit union as an elementary school field trip destination. Give teachers an opportunity to build real-world experience into their students’ math lessons.
• Teach a basic money management class at a local high school. You can get free educational materials through CUNA’s association with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).
• Offer a series of lectures on basic finance in the evenings or over the lunch hour. Topics can include managing a checking account, building a good credit rating, shopping for a mortgage, handling credit cards, and saving for college.
• Distribute financial self-help information in your lobby and at the drive-up windows. Don't forget to insert statement stuffers and articles in your monthly newsletter.
• Set up a booth at a local mall, community center, or special event. Offer consumer information such as Home & Family Finance Resource Center or personal finance handbooks. Hand out brochures that emphasize the credit union difference.
• Plan free member education seminars for members of all ages.

Focus on Your Credit Union Difference

• Organize a fun event to teach your staff and members about credit union history and philosophy. Set up booths featuring information on philosophy and operations. Punch a ticket at each booth and award International Credit Union Day t-shirts to those who fill their ticket.
• Coordinate efforts at the chapter level to produce a historical view of your credit unions in the area. This could be a traveling poster display or a slide presentation to be shown throughout the year.
• Sponsor an essay or art contest for young members or your entire membership. A short essay (100 words or less) about why your credit union is special would be appropriate. Publish the winning entries in your newsletter.
• Reward employees for exceptional service to members. Recognize members for exceptional service to the community.
• Deliver good news (and good food) to the media. Chapter volunteers of the Wisconsin Credit Union League delivered cakes decorated with the words "Happy International Credit Union Day " to the local media. Many volunteers received free airtime to talk about International Credit Union Day.
• Organize an event with your legislators.
• Raise money for credit union development. While celebrating at your credit union, consider collecting pocket change for the National Credit Union Foundation or other worthwhile causes. This "little change" can contribute to big changes in worldwide credit union progress.

Community Projects

• Take part in a summer "Paint-A-Thon" to help older members—or anyone else in your community who is physically unable to paint their own home. Take plenty of pictures of your team, and publicize your activities during International Credit Union Week.
• Plant a tree in a nearby park or on your credit union grounds. Coordinate a local beautification program. Sponsor a community clean-up effort or other charitable event.
• Sponsor a safe Halloween program for local children.
• Hold a bike safety clinic for young people and donate helmets to needy children.
• Adopt a social service agency for the day or week and recruit staff and members to help out with tasks like serving meals, painting, filing, and cleanup.
• Hold a fundraising event for "Credit Unions for Kids" or another charity.
• Collect business clothes to donate to a local organization that helps people get back into the workplace.
• Join forces with other credit unions in your area to sponsor a team for a walk or run for a good cause. Provide members of your team with t-shirts to identify them as credit union staff and members.

Back to International Credit Union Day Resources