NEW! NCUF Announces Financial Well-Being Grants

The National Credit Union Foundation has two new grant opportunities to bolster credit unions’ ability to offer financial coaching and to combat hunger. 

The National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) has announced two new grant opportunities to bolster credit unions’ ability to offer financial coaching and combat hunger.
 
Applications for both grants are now open and all credit unions are encouraged to apply.
 
“Recent data shows that the nation’s financial health continues to worsen through record-high inflation, economic uncertainty and widening wealth gap,” said Chad Helminak, the Foundation’s chief impact officer. “These two grants present a timely and important opportunity for credit unions to strengthen their commitment to improving financial well-being in their communities.”
 
The Financial Empowerment Through Coaching grant will pay for up to ten credit unions to receive the Pathways to Financial Empowerment service. The service was launched in 2015 by Inclusiv and Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners to help credit unions integrate financial coaching into their operations through best-in-class financial coach training and licensing of a digital platform to track member outcomes.
 
Successful applicants will also be enrolled in Inclusiv’s new Financial Empowerment Learning Center training to ensure the successful adoption and integration of the Pathways program.
 
The second grant opportunity will provide credit unions with up to $10,000 to enhance or establish a sustainable financial well-being program focused on addressing the issue of hunger. Food insecurity affects almost 34 million people nationwide and is one of the key Development Issues the Foundation identifies as a fundamental barrier to achieving financial freedom.
 
Both grant initiatives are now open for applications. Deadline for submissions is Friday, Nov. 11, 2022 at 5 p.m. EST. Successful applicants will formally begin their grant projects in January 2023. Further information on the individual grant programs and how to apply is available on the Foundation’s website.
 
Questions? Contact Sam Plester, Marketing and Communications Director, National Credit Union Foundation at splester@ncuf.coop or 414.439.9783.
 
Additional notes:
 

• The National Credit Union Foundation
  The National Credit Union Foundation (the Foundation) is the charitable arm of the U.S. credit union movement, serving as a catalyst to improve people’s financial lives through credit unions. Learn more at www.ncuf.coop

 

• Inclusiv’s mission is to help low- and moderate-income people and communities achieve financial independence through credit unions. Inclusiv has nearly 500 member credit unions that serve more than 18 million residents of low-income urban, rural and reservation-based communities across the US and hold more than $255 billion in community-controlled assets. By providing capital as a certified CDFI intermediary, making connections, building capacity, developing innovative products and services, and advocating with and for its member community development credit unions, Inclusiv transforms local progress into lasting national change. Founded in 1974, Inclusiv is headquartered in New York, NY, with offices in Madison, WI, Atlanta, GA and Albuquerque, NM. Learn more: www.inclusiv.org

 

• Financial Empowerment Through Coaching grant - The Foundation grant will pay for up to ten credit unions to implement Inclusiv and Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners’ Pathways to Financial Empowerment program. In addition, it will pay for up to two members of staff from each successful credit union to enroll in Inclusiv’s Financial Empowerment Learning Center training. Technology, training, and the practice of financial coaching will be the three main elements of the grant, spanning a 21-month period. The grant application is now open with the hopes of selecting 10 credit unions (two employees at each) to participate beginning January 2023.

 

• Pathways to Financial Empowerment program - Inclusiv launched the program in 2015, in partnership with Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners. The program integrates financial coaching into credit unions operations to improve financial well-being. Pathways supports credit unions to provide best-practice financial coaching and leverage technology to streamline coaching delivery, relationship management, and measure impact on financial well-being and product use over time.  Pathways has a strong track record of improving participants’ financial well-being: 61% of participants improved credit scores, with an average improvement of 49 points. Learn more: www.inclusiv.org/initiatives/financial-empowerment

 

• Financial Empowerment Learning Center - To provide additional support to credit unions looking to launch or grow financial coaching programs and implement the Pathways program, Inclusiv has launched the Financial Empowerment Learning Center. Credit unions awarded a Financial Empowerment Through Coaching grant will be the first to enroll in the Center’s three-month Financial Coaching Program Development and Management training. This training will support credit unions and the employee counselors who seek to initiate the Pathways program.

 

• Financial Well-being – Hunger grant - The Foundation is making $100,000 available through this grant. Credit unions can apply for up to $10,000 each to enhance or establish a sustainable program focused on improving its employees’, members’ or community’s financial well-being by addressing food insecurity.

 

• Hunger as a barrier to financial well-being - As reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over 10% of households in the United States were food insecure in 2021. This amounts to 13.5 million households or 33.8 million people. While these statistics differ between economic and social conditions as well as demographics, both adults and children were affected equally. This means that due to a lack of resources, the quality, variety, and frequency of diet is either unsafe, unacceptable, or unavailable. As a result, hunger ensues. Elements such as climate change, COVID-19 and systemic financial inequalities all affect the growing disparity of food security. President Biden recently announced plans to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030.

 

• Development Issues - For 40 years the Foundation has transformed credit union leadership, strategy, services and community engagement by immersing participants in Development Issues through its signature Development Education (DE) program. The Foundation describes Development Issues as interlinked core barriers to achieving financial well-being. Learn more about DE.