By Frank J. Diekmann
It’s CUToday.info’s first birthday. But we’ve decided to dispense with the toddler-to-teen years and leap right to adulthood.
One year ago this week in 2014 CUToday.info went live and immediately began providing credit unions with the most comprehensive source for news and resources available anywhere in Credit Union Land.
In this space a year ago I announced we would dedicate ourselves to fulfill our tagline, “For Better Credit Unions Tomorrow,” and I think we’re off to a pretty darned good start. Our goal was then and is now to help you in your job, and to help credit unions to grow, prosper and better serve their members.
Our success in year one is completely due to credit unions, and to celebrate our first birthday we want to give back, so we’re doing two things:
1.Credit unions love a bargain, and many continue to feel strains, pains and not a lot of gains on their bottom lines. So we’re offering the Big Book of Bargains, which includes more than a dozen special offers, freebies and more from a group of partners we call “Collaborators.” You can download a copy of the Big Book of Bargains, which is free, here.
2.We have launched the CUToday For a Better Tomorrow initiative, and more than 65 credit unions from around the world have now signed up. CUs participating in the CUToday for a Better Tomorrow initiative have agreed to help one extra member in some way during October, November and December, with an overall goal of helping that person to have a better financial 2016. Each of those CUs will be compiling a paragraph each month to summarize who they helped and how. CUToday.info will then aggregate all those stories into one document illustrating how credit unions have made for Better Tomorrows.
In the lead-up to the launch of CUToday.info we teased, “something cool is coming.” We were slightly off in that prediction, as a whopping 5,735 things have arrived! That’s how many pieces of news reporting and other pieces of content we’ve delivered. That’s an incredible 110.2 items every week—all in a concise, easy-to-read format. And that doesn’t even include The Spin!
And unlike some of those stale, legacy publications that provide less than half the news and resources for hundreds of dollars per year, CUToday.info’s price comes in a nice round number: FREE. (And we’re proud to note we have no ties to the banking industry.)
Even More Free Resources
If you’re new to CUToday.info, or haven’t taken the time to leverage all of the resources, here’s some of what you’ll find:
* Fresh Today. This is our daily reporting of fresh and breaking news, with short, tight news items. Fresh Today items are also delivered to e-mail inboxes every morning. If you’re not already on the list, make sure to drop me a note at Frank@CUToday.info. In year one we reported 3,217 different Fresh Today items.
* The Feature. This is where we’ll highlight more in-depth reporting, some 223 stories in year one.
* The Vault. This vault happens to have a screen door, and it’s where we compile white papers, research and more from across the CU community and elsewhere. This is one of the most collaborative features of CUToday.info, so make sure you don’t just take from the vault, but contribute, as well. You’ll find nearly 100 free items in the vault already.
* The Vids. These are videos and commercials by credit unions and others that deserve a view—grab some popcorn, as there are more than 185 Vids to be watched.
* The Boost. This reporting focuses on growth strategies, a core focus of CUToday.info. Looking for some ideas? There are more than 135 to be had.
* The Buzz. What’s buzzing in social media and elsewhere? That’s what The Buzz is all about.
* The Globe. You don’t need to travel to find out what credit unions around the world are doing. CUToday.info’s The Globe has more than 160 stories.
* The ‘Tude. This is where you’ll find views and opinions, with many of the 184 pieces showing a little ‘tude.
* The Neighborhood. Credit unions are active in many ways in their local neighborhoods, as the more than 800 examples here make clear.
* The Market. This is where the new product and service solutions are highlighted. You’ll find almost 500 such announcements here.
* The Corner. In the corner you’ll find more than 40 different takes on management and leadership, by successful leaders both inside and outside credit unions.
* The Gov. Credit unions and their trade associations interact nearly daily with various government entities. We’ve compiled comment letters, testimony and more in The Gov.
* The Spin. What are credit unions doing online? Visit The Spin and you’ll be taken at random to a CU website so you can check it out.
* The Credit Union Mall. Looking for a product or service solution? Then shop first at The Credit Union Mall.
CUToday.info may be new, but our editorial team has more than 50 years’ experience in writing and reporting on financial institutions and credit unions. We don’t just know credit unions, we believe in credit unions. I’m proud, for instance, to have graduated from the National CU Foundation’s CU Development Education program, and to have more recently have earned an International CUDE designation.
But while credit unions have a right to be proud, they do not have a right to rest. That kumbaya stuff and a superior business model in and of themselves are not enough. CUs need to grow. Organizations need to evolve with the times. And leadership needs resources. That’s where CUToday.info fits in.
CUToday.info will continue to grow and evolve—and we’ll do it with your input. That’s how collaborations work.
We’ve got a lot more planned. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
Frank J. Diekmann is Co-operator-in-Chief of CUToday.info. He can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info.