Project Differentiation

Project Differentiation and the Statement of Commitment to Members

For years credit unions have emphasized the fact that they're different than other financial institutions. The time to prove it has come.

More and more as of late, the media, consumers, legislators, and bankers have all begun to call for substantiation the claim that credit unions are different. "Don't just tell us you're different," they say. "Prove it."

But it's often difficult to prove it. It's hard to articulate the difference. We know that we're different, but we just can't explain it beyond, "We're not-for-profit cooperatives."

It's time to change that, because now there's an easy program for your credit union to put into words what it's doing that makes it unique. The program is called Project Differentiation.

Project Differentiation provides credit unions with a template by which they can easily express and organize their differences--not just on a movement-wide level, but on the individual credit union level. The core of the project is the Statement of Commitment to Members, which gives a detailed list of activities, plans, and efforts to serve members.

The Statement of Commitment is easy to complete. It takes little more than brainstorming among the employees of your credit union. The League completed its Statement of Commitment in about three hours (see the statement here).

The statement can be of use in marketing efforts because it can show exactly what the benefits of membership are. The statement could also be used to gain new members by showing how the credit union can improve potential members' quality of life.

For more information about completing your Statement of Commitment to Members, visit this page.