CU Social Good, a microsite hosted by the Credit Union Association of the Dakotas (CUAD) that captures the positive impact that credit unions have in the lives of their members and their communities, accounted for $11.3 million in benefits to local communities in 2017, CUAD announced this week.  

The $11.3 million total includes monetary and non-monetary donations from 335 credit unions. 

Broken down into measurable categories, the 2017 totals include: 

• Cash donations: $7,764,625;
• Non-monetary donations: $519,083;
• Educational scholarships awarded: $1,438,800;
• CU4Kids/CMN Hospitals Donations: $1,634,943; and
• Volunteer and financial literacy event hours: 37,916.

The information was collected from the 1,250 articles and press releases submitted to the site in 2017. The $11.3 million total reflects the contributions of roughly 6% of 5,573 credit unions listed by the NCUA in the United States, CUAD said.  

Moving forward, a primary goal of CU Social Good is to engage as many credit unions as possible so the numbers compiled are an even better reflection of the actual financial benefits that credit unions provide to their local communities, CUAD said. 

So far in 2018, roughly 360 stories that have been shared. This year’s totals include: 

• Cash donations: $1,448,490;
• Non-monetary donations: $157,105;
• Educational scholarships awarded: $427,900;
• CU4Kids/Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals donations: $396,200; and
• Volunteer and financial literacy event hours: 12,210.

Since its inception in 2013, CU Social Good, has collected more than 6,400 stories from credit unions in all 50 states in the U.S., as well as several Canadian provinces.  

CU Social Good was revamped in 2016 to add the financial reporting capabilities. Over the last year, the platform has gained financial support from other state leagues to continue the project.