A cooperative is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise". Cooperatives are democratically controlled by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. Cooperatives may include:
A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision of credit, and other financial services. In several African countries, credit unions are commonly referred to as SACCOs.
The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1968 to advance consumer interests through research, education and advocacy.
The Credit Union National Association, commonly known as CUNA, is a national trade association for both state- and federally chartered credit unions located in the United States. CUNA provides member credit unions with trade association services, such as lobbying, regulatory advocacy, professional development, and professional services management. The organization operates out of its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and an operations center in Madison, Wisconsin. CUNA's president and chief executive officer Jim Nussle has led the organization since September 2014.
Caisse populaire acadienne ltée, operating as UNI Financial Cooperation, is a Francophone credit union based in New Brunswick, Canada whose members are primarily Acadians. UNI's administrative headquarters are in Caraquet on the Acadian Peninsula.
Edward Albert Filene was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for building the Filene's department store chain and for his decisive role in pioneering credit unions across the United States.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, formerly called the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is an umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups.
The National Credit Union Foundation(the Foundation) is the charitable arm of America's credit union movement and works as a catalyst to improve people's financial lives through credit unions. The Foundation is an affiliate of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and is located in CUNA's offices in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in Washington, DC. In 2015, the Foundation unveiled a new logo, shorthand ("the Foundation" in place of "NCUF") and website.
Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) is a not-for-profit financial cooperative and the second largest credit union in the state of Washington. Those who live, work, worship or attend school in the state are welcome to join and have access to the low-cost financial products and services that a credit union is able to offer.
Moses Michael Coady was a Roman Catholic priest, adult educator and co-operative entrepreneur best known for his instrumental role in the Antigonish Movement. Credited with introducing "an entirely new organizational technique: that of action based on preliminary study" to the co-operative movement in Canada, his work sparked a wave of co-operative development across the Maritimes and credit union development across English Canada. Due to his role and influence, he is often compared to Alphonse Desjardins in Québec. The influence of the movement he led spread across Canada in the 1930s and by the 1940s and 1950s, to the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
The Antigonish Movement blended adult education, co-operatives, microfinance and rural community development to help small, resource-based communities around Canada's Maritimes to improve their economic and social circumstances. A group of priests and educators, including Father Jimmy Tompkins, Father Moses Coady, Rev. Hugh MacPherson and A.B. MacDonald led this movement from a base at the Extension Department at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.
Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives. In the early stages of development of a nation's financial system, unserved and underserved populations must rely on risky and expensive informal financial services from sources like money lenders, ROSCAs and saving at home. Credit unions proved they could meet demand for financial services that banks could not: from professional, middle class and poorer people. Those that served poorer urban and rural communities became an important source of microfinance.
The Canadian Credit Union Association is the national trade association for credit unions in Canada. Founded in 1953, it rebranded to its current name in January 2016 to reflect its "evolving role as an association that is focused on growing a stronger... credit union industry."
Credit unions in the United States served 100 million members, comprising 43.7% of the economically active population, in 2014. U.S. credit unions are not-for-profit, cooperative, tax-exempt organizations. The clients of the credit unions become partners of the financial institution and their presence focuses in certain neighborhoods because they center their services in one specific community. As of March 2020, the largest American credit union was Navy Federal Credit Union, serving U.S. Department of Defense employees, contractors, and families of servicepeople, with over $125 billion in assets and over 9.1 million members. Total credit union assets in the U.S. reached $1 trillion as of March 2012. Approximately 236,000 people were directly employed by credit unions per data derived from the 2012 National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Credit Union Directory. As of 2019, there were 5,236 federally insured credit unions with 120.4 million members, and deposits of $1.22 trillion.
Roy F. Bergengren was an American attorney and pioneer of the United States credit union movement. Hired by Edward Filene in July 1921 to head the Credit Union National Extension Bureau, Bergengren carried out an ambitious legislative agenda that resulted in the enactment of the Federal Credit Union Act, the creation of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and the foundation of thousands of credit unions across the United States.
The Credit Union National Extension Bureau (CUNEB) was the organization that advocated for and fostered credit unions in the United States from 1921 until 1934. CUNEB laid the foundation for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and the Federal Credit Union Act. CUNEB was organized and funded by Edward Filene, managed by Roy Bergengren, and was largely responsible for the proliferation of credit unions in the United States.
Summit Credit Union, founded in 1935, is a credit union that was once based in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. In 2019 they moved their headquarters to nearby Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. since April 2022, it has 49 locations throughout the state. Summit has more than 227,000 members and $4.9 billion in assets, making it one of the largest credit unions in the state. Summit Credit Union is regulated by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) as a federally insured state-chartered credit union. It was officially chartered in 1935 and was assigned NCUA charter number 67190.
Fr. Marion M. Ganey, S.J., (1904–1984) was a Catholic priest, member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and missionary to British Honduras, Central America, from 1937 to 1953, where he was instigator of the credit union and cooperatives movement. He became increasingly prominent in this movement, being invited to the Fiji Islands in 1953 and laboring to establish the movement there and throughout the South Pacific until his death in Fiji in 1984.
The cooperative movement in Canada is a social and economic movement that started in the middle of the 19th century and continues until today.
