CUNA unveiled Tuesday Financial Well-Being for All, a movement-wide effort to amplify and quantify how America’s credit unions are working to improve the financial state of their members and to encourage them to more obviously integrate financial well-being into their corporate strategies.

According to the Financial Health Network, 167 million people in America are struggling financially. Credit unions are uniquely positioned to address this challenge due to their core mission, affordable products, and member-centric service model.

As an initial step, the CUNA Board Monday approved the following unity statement to articulate the shared commitment among America’s credit unions, leagues, and CUNA which will ultimately become a larger, coordinated effort:

Financial well-being is the state of a person’s financial situation, their degree of control, and how they feel about their money.

Improving people’s financial well-being is at the heart of the mission and structure of America's credit unions. The essence of this commitment is reflected in each institution's bylaws and it’s something credit unions have been doing for more than 100 years.

On behalf of America’s credit unions, our shared commitment is to continue to accelerate the vital work of improving financial well-being for all and advancing the communities we serve.

“When you think about financial well-being, I want to challenge the movement to go even deeper,” CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle said at the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC). “We need to back up our stories with facts and data that paint a clear picture of the difference you’ve made in people's lives; the jobs you’ve saved, the paychecks you’ve protected, and the houses you’ve kept people in. By literally showing our work, by quantifying our impact at the local, state, and national levels, we will demonstrate that credit unions are truly focusing on the needs of its members.”

State and federal policymakers want evidence that credit unions are fulfilling their mission. The system-wide unity statement is designed to encourage credit unions both communicate and measure the impact they have in their members’ lives.

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