WASHINGTON—Will allowing for membership choice in CUNA/leagues be the best means to drive maximum dues dollars to support advocacy efforts? And what happens in the event membership choice is unexpectedly voted down when ballots are tallied next month?
Those are two questions on the minds of credit union leaders in a lightly attended CUNA GAC session reviewing the new, proposed CUNA bylaws. Below are some of the questions from member CUs asked during the session, along with answers from CUNA Chief of Staff Rich Meade, who led a three-member panel.
Question: I do have a concern that the bylaws may not pass. If that happens, will each of these bylaws issues be brought forward separately?
Rich Meade: So what is the plan if these bylaws don’t pass? I don’t know. Our plan has been to pass these rules and move forward. If they don’t pass we will have to re-evaluate what we do and maybe the plan will be to break up the issues. Maybe do another survey to find out why our members were not supportive. We have yet to construct a plan B.”
Question: We are in favor of the bylaws. I know this may be difficult to answer, but did CUNA look at what options (membership choice or dual membership) provide the most dues to support advocacy?
Meade: We are hopeful that providing credit unions with choice we can collectively pull in more credit unions than we do today.
Question: If the bylaws pass and membership choice is allowed, how will dues be collected?
Meade: It makes a lot of sense to continue to work with the leagues and continue the practice of having the leagues collect dues. But each league is independent, so we will work league by league.
Question: If the optionality part of the rules does not pass, is the league concerned that it will be cutting off members where there are leagues allowing for choice?
Meade: We firmly believe that the best choice for credit unions is CUNA and the leagues. And what we have seen so far in states allowing choice is very good interest from credit unions joining both.
Question: When are the ballots due?
Meade: Members have until March 18 to respond. So far we are a little more than 25% of the way into the “voting turnout” if you will. Typically we get about 40% of our members voting (on an issue), and we are currently trending to a 40% participation rate.