Credit Unions Can Help “Pay It Forward” Too

Many of you probably remember Oprah’s Pay It Forward Challenge a couple years ago. But can a credit union champion a Pay It Forward campaign in their community? Well, Seattle Metro Credit Union thought so and did!

On October 6th, Seattle Metro Credit Union gave away $10 to Seattle residents who answered the question, “What if we gave you $10? What would you do for someone else?”

The answers were video taped and the TOP 7 IDEAS (as voted by the SMCU staff) have been posted on the www.7principles.coop micro-site where you can vote for the best idea starting October 14th – 19th. The video with the most votes wins a $1,000 grand prize.

You can watch all the videos from the “What if…” Event on SMCU’s YouTube page.

As Principle 7 of Seattle Metro Credit Union’s 7 Principles of Banking with a Co-Op, they emphasize supporting your local community and this campaign fits perfectly with that goal. This is a great example of how a credit union can use a fundamental aspect of their brand and social networking tools to drive awareness, buzz and goodwill within their community without a huge budget.

The Financial Brand has a great article on how they did it and insight from Seattle Metro Credit Union on timing and motivations.