Tag Archives: vancity

Two articles in the new issue of The Credit Union Journal.

I was interviewed for an article in the new issue of The Credit Union Journal about ChangeEverything.ca and why Vancity created it.

Two articles by Technology Correspondent Kevin Jepson were posted today, and both require a subscription to the magazine, or at least a temp two week online trial subscription (which I signed up for) to read. The first article, CU Challenges Community To ‘Change Everything’ descibes ChangeEverything.ca in context against other CU social media ventures.

Vancity certainly isn’t the first credit union to tap into the flow of social media on the Web. Credit Union Journal recently reported how other credit unions are trying to reach out to the online market by hosting sites at MySpace.com, talking to members and colleagues on blogs or spreading the recorded financial word through podcasts.

But Vancity stands apart from the podcasting, blogging, MySpacing credit unions in a number of ways-in fact, “Vancity is the best example of a credit union building a social network,” according to Trey Reeme, one of the creators of the credit union blog called Open Source CU and executive vice president at Trabian Technology, a business application and development company in Plano, Texas.

Thanks to Trey as always for his kind words.

The other article, Vancity Creates A ‘Thriving E-Community’, describes ChangeEverything.ca and its history including the two events that helped ChangeEverything reach its tipping point: Got Hats? when over 4,000 items of clothing and blankets made their way to local shelters within 48 hours during a Vancouver winter cold-snap last November, and EnviroWoman’s amazing New Year’s resolution to use no plastics in 2007.

Credit unions are reinventing the way they use the web with “social media”: online technologies such as podcasts, blogs, vlogs, wikis and message boards where users share opinions-and advertise.

Change Everything, Vancity CU’s social networking website, encourages members and non-members alike to change something in their lives, or even just to talk about changing something.

The site has produced a “thriving community” of more than 1,000 registered users who offer up some “inspiring” social and environmental changes, explained William Azaroff, interactive marketing and channel manager at Vancity CU.

Pleased that the credit unions are getting this kind of information so more can start harnessing the power of the social web to engage their communities.

What’s the point of a homepage?

Because most banks have homepages that look like web portals from the 90s, I think a lot about the purpose and function of Vancity’s homepage. It’s not as cluttered as some, but not as clean as others.

Then, along comes Seth Godin’s article Blow Up Your Homepage. He says that your homepage is the page for newbies, not a real page people will use over and over again. That it’s akin to the old splash pages with a ‘skip intro’ button. With an Online Banking log in on the homepage, this isn’t as true for banks as it is for some, but still, a clarifying remark. Focus more on major internal pages (that we often neglect) and let the homepage be for those unfamiliar with your company.

Sounds obvious, but I found it rather helpful and timely.

Environmental sustainability as commoditizition insurance.

Wow, that title is a mouthful.

I’ve been thinking about Bank of America a bit lately. As most readers of an FI blog will undoubtedly know, they are making a $20 Billion investment in environmental sustainability over the next 10 years. The money will go to many different things: A big chunk of the money will go to lending to businesses looking to create a more sustainable enterprise. They will also take a more environmentally friendly approach to their own business operations. And lastly, and to me most interestingly, they are rolling out products that have an environmental focus like a WorldPoints Rewards for the Environment (credit card), The Green Mortgage Program and Environmental Home Equity Program.

Sound familiar? It sounds a lot like the things that Vancity, the company I am contracting at does. They have a Clean Air Auto Loan, a Climate Change Mortgage, a Bright Ideas Home Reno Loan and an enviroVISA. Why would BofA do this? I am going to assume that this is a genuine move. I can’t imagine that a company would commit $20 Billion into something they didn’t believe in from both a values and business point of view.

In a vertical where it’s nearly impossible to differentiate yourself based on products, this is a very smart move. If accounts, credit cards, mortgages etc are simply commodities at this point, no different at bank A than at Bank B, then BofA knows that it’s not going to keep or grow its market share by staying the course. It has to stand for something and have a brand that is different from the rest of the players on the marketplace. It will become the green bank, and make a big enough investment into that aspect of its business, that it can truly define its place in the market based, in part, on that.

It must have looked into the future and decided that the environment was going to become a critical issue for consumers over the next ten years and they wanted to get out front early and lead the way. It’s gutsy and brave at this point when so many Americans are still tuned out on the issue. It also has interesting repercussions for a company like Vancity. Granted, Vancity’s a regional player in a different country, but if, say, TD Canada Trust follows suit and does something similar, what would make Vancity unique in the eyes of the consumer? I had never guessed that a big company could compete with a credit union on these types of initiatives.

Now, to be fair, Vancity does all sorts of things around the underbanked and underserved and helping those in poverty start to build asset. But from a consumer point of view, they’re primarily known for their green initiatives. How long will that perception of leading the “green” way last, I wonder. It’s going to be a challenge for the business, but hopefully one that is very good for the environment. It’s especially a challenge that Credit Unions are going to have to start dealing with sooner rather than later.