A Look Back: 2023 DakCU Highlights

​Jeff Olson with a snapshot of what we accomplished together over the past year. Helping you succeed so you can focus on your members! 

Jeff Olson

by Jeff Olson, President/CEO
 
One of my favorite quotes is from the famous football coach Vince Lombardi: “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”
 
This is especially true for our association. Comparatively, we are a smaller organization, having a staff of just eight professionals. However, what we were able to accomplish last year in the aggregate is quite impressive! I hope you will read through this entire report so you can truly appreciate how your association continues to support and promote credit unions as the best financial choice for individuals, families, and our communities – so that you can focus on YOUR members, and continue to succeed. 
 
Advocacy highlights.
At Dakota Credit Union Association (DakCU), we never forget that we are first and foremost an advocacy first organization. During the state legislative sessions, DakCU evaluated more than 1,500 bills and proceeded to monitor and track 26 bills with potential impact on Dakota’s credit unions. We testified on 8 bills and strongly influenced 12 others by weighing in with our industry’s perspective. Additionally, more than 1,000 electronic messages were sent to our legislative members, and more than 5,000 postcards were delivered to lawmakers, who also received approximately 1.5 million pro-credit union digital messages.

DakCU is also part of a much larger national effort when it comes to advocacy. Using VoterVoice, we are able to collaborate with other leagues to make sure our input is heard whenever there is a legislative issue that needs immediate attention. Some highlights and benchmarks of 2023 included more than 290 million advocacy emails, and a record 8+ million text messages shared by our CU advocates.
 
Regulatory and compliance advocacy and support.
Heading into 2024, DakCU has introduced another dues-supported compliance solution: ViClarity. As a world leader with expertise in governance, risk, and consulting solutions for credit unions, they can be relied on to help you with any compliance question, policy or disclosure review, or even prepare for an external or regulatory audit. Bi-monthly compliance updates will continue to appear in the Memo.

We will continue to offer League InfoSight, a dues-supported benefit for our affiliated members. In addition, 57 Dakota credit unions are active users of CU PolicyPro – with nearly 1,200 logins last year. We provided support and resources with more than 50 compliance related articles, and submitted 6 federal regulatory comment letters on your behalf to the NCUA, CFPB, and The Federal Reserve Board.

With BSA compliance a top priority for our regulators, DakCU compliance staff completed 15 BSA Independent Reviews and provided BSA training, through in-person and virtual training platforms, in addition to offering 4 BSA roundtable meetings, 4 internal auditors meetings, and 4 compliance chats.

Our regulatory advocacy culminated with our annual Fall Legislative Hike-the-Hill, with attendees from 7 unique credit unions joining us for in-person meetings at NCUA, CFPB, and with our Dakota legislative delegation on Capitol Hill.

State-wide Awareness Program (SWAP) is a smashing success!
Throughout 2023, we continued to build on our momentum with credit union awareness among prospective consumers. Through December, our Gas Station TV (GSTV) ads received close to 2 million impressions; our digital newspaper ads exceeded 1.6 million views; while our billboard messages reached an astounding 12.6 million consumers! We also saw success with our geofence ads in cities where we have supporting credit unions; while the Your Money Further national state-specific ads saw close to 200 thousand impressions. We plan to continue our awareness efforts throughout the upcoming year and anticipate even more success.

Communications and Social Media efforts continue to bring added value.  
After the first full year of utilizing our DakCU mobile app, feedback has been positive and our members are finding the platform an easy way to receive communications, especially during our in-person events.  

Our website continues to see increased traffic with nearly 27,000 users and over 55,000 sessions registered last year. The average active user stays for over two minutes at each visit.

Our digital Memo newsletter published more than 550 unique stories in 2023 and the Memo webpage continues to be the biggest draw to our website, with more than 46,000 views last year. Our subscribers have now exceeded 2,100 as we head into the new year!   

DakCU’s social media platforms also continue to draw attention. Our LinkedIn page saw an increase of 200 new followers; our Facebook followers are close to 1,200 and posts have garnered more than 146,000 impressions (up 50,000 over previous year) and have generated more than 3,400 “likes” and hundreds of “shares.”  

DakCU issued 21 individual press releases and op-eds last year which resulted in more than 70 unique spots in national credit union outlets and local print publications.

Education and networking opportunities reach new engagement levels.
We continue to experience success with our educational and networking events. In 2023, we hosted the 6th Annual MonDak Roundtable in Las Vegas; our Annual Meeting & Summit in Fargo; the New Ideas Conference in Deadwood, and the Professionals Forum, just to name a few. We also began offering virtual professional sales training through our relationship with SalesCU, an award-winning and proven workshop that brings sales teams to peak performance.

In the area of leadership development, we saw continued growth and success with our DakCU iLead@11 Emerging Leader Program with 18 professionals completing or currently finishing the program, as well as a record number of Summit Crasher applications. We continue to foster strategic partnerships to help fund these programs for our members.  

Increased business partnerships help Dakota credit unions grow and succeed.
The Dakota Credit Union Service Corps (DakCUSC) researched and evaluated more than 50 companies for potential partnerships and strategic alliances. New relationships were established with an electronic signage and marketing company, digital banking and member engagement products, along with expanded services in the HR space.

Foundation is going strong!   
Thanks to the tremendous support from our affiliated members, the Dakota Credit Union Foundation is stronger than ever after raising a record $56,000+ in 2023. The Foundation Board returned more than $34,000 in grants, scholarships, and other aid. These endowments support our mission of promoting financial well-being for all by providing financial education technology, financial counseling certifications, community financial education events for youth, and credit union employees professional development, in addition to supporting local CMN Hospitals and CU Aid.

Dakota credit unions receive national recognition.
When you succeed, our association succeeds too. We are pleased to share that two Dakota credit unions earned top CUNA Awards in 2023. East River FCU (Madison, SD) received second place in the Dora Maxwell social responsibility category, while Railway CU received an honorable mention in the same category. East River also received second place in both the Louise Herring and Desjardins Youth Award categories. These awards are very competitive and being selected at this level is an honor indeed.

Make the most of 2024!
Your membership in DakCU entitles you to many dues-supported benefits that enhance your relationships with your own members. We encourage you to explore all that DakCU has to offer you in your service to your members. Check out our digital “Membership Matters” brochure anytime for a recap of the many ways your association staff can assist you!
 
Finally, as we continue to adapt to financial service disruptors and industry trends, we strive to keep you abreast by hosting many exceptional educational conferences and opportunities. Some of these are coming up very soon – so be sure to check out our events section at dakcu.org for details.
 
We thank you for your continued confidence and support. Let’s make it a great 2024!

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