For six months at the end of 2013 and into 2014 I was privileged to lead Vancity’s Communications department on an interim basis between permanent leaders. One of the projects I was most interested in was leading the team during the creation of our 2013 Annual Report.

At Vancity we create an integrated annual report, combining our reporting on our financial performance and metrics with our social and environmental performance and metrics. We do this to get a more holistic view of what we’re trying to do, where we’re successful and where we’re falling short and still need to improve what we’re doing.

It’s a great companion piece to our 2014-16 Three Year Plan, which we released publicly in March. In our annual report, we talk about our successes and dilemmas as we orient ourselves more and more towards our vision of redefining wealth and putting an increasing amount of our capital (financial, human, social, etc…) towards positive impact in our communities.

In her letter at the opening of our Annual Report, our CEO Tamara Vrooman has a quote that I think summarizes what credit unions should be all about.

Our role is to ensure that the money our members entrust to us for their own financial future is invested in ways that also ensure a healthy, collective future.

The microsite alone will give you a sense of how our 2013 was, what we accomplished and where we still need to focus. It lets you build your own report from the sections that most interest you, and includes this video that gives an overview of our 2013:

I invite you to take a look.