Community Involvement

Community Involvement Statement

LA Financial endeavors to give back to the community and provide ongoing support and commitment to worthy causes. Through direct financial support or other in-kind contributions to worthwhile organizations, and by participating in public service activities, LA Financial strives to be an active partner in our community with special emphasis on our youth.

LA Financial is a proud supporter of the Ronald McDonald House

LA Financial Credit Union has partnered with Operation Hope and their Banking on our Future program.

The mission of the Banking on Our Future (BOOF) program is to execute a global delivery system for financial education for youth ages 9-18 at no cost to school districts, with a focus on urban, under-served communities.  The program consists of five modules, I. Basics of Banking and Financial Services, II. Checking & Savings Accounts, III. The Power of Credit, IV. Basic Investments, and V. Dignity that are taught by volunteer HOPE Corp members who are trained to break down their knowledge of banking and credit into terms that youth can understand and utilize immediately.  In addition to financial education, the students are left with a message of empowerment, a message of responsibility, and most important, a message of HOPE.

Banking on Our Future is the recipient  of the Oprah's Angel Network "Use Your Life Award," the U.S. Treasury Department's John Sherman Award for Financial Literacy Excellence and is the national partner for financial literacy empowerment with the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund in South Africa.  Since 1996, over 228,000 students have been empowered to take control of their financial future in over 700 schools and community based organizations, and investment of $8,360,000 into the community.

A partnership between LA Financial Credit Union and Operation Hope led the Pasadena-based credit union to teach 1,400 local area students the basics of finance. Meanwhile, the credit union’s Break Up With Your Bank campaign not only helped members know the credit union difference, but also netted more than 2,500 membership applications.

For these two distinct and successful efforts, LA Financial Credit Union recently won first-place statewide honors in two annual credit union industry recognition programs. The Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Recognition Award program recognizes credit unions for socially responsible community projects. The Louise Herring Philosophy in Action award honors credit unions for practical application of the industry philosophy of “People Helping People” within the actual operation of the credit union.

The credit union—honored in the $200 to $500 million asset category for Dora Maxwell and the greater than $250 million asset category for Louise Herring—will now compete at the national level of the two competitions.

The credit union partnered with Operation Hope, a non-profit, public benefit organization founded in Los Angeles, to deliver a financial education program to local high schools and partner companies. Between July 2009 and June 2010, LA Financial Credit Union employees volunteered 148 hours while teaching 49 Operation Hope’s Banking on Our Future classes to 1,400 students. In the end, 626 young people opened up Green Accounts, a new youth program offered by the credit union.

The Break Up With Your Bank campaign was an internal program launched in July 2009 to help explain to members and potential members the difference between credit unions and other financial services providers. Using a variety of mediums—from website pages and magazine ads to bus advertising, the innovative campaign generated more than 900 online membership applications by year-end 2009 and more than 2,500 membership applications in its first year.

“We’re very honored to receive both of these prestigious awards,” said LA Financial Credit Union VP Marketing Renee Mackanin. “We’ve received a lot of attention with our “Break Up With My Bank” campaign. “The breakupwithmybank.com website is a fun way to educate the community about the differences between banks and credit unions,” she added.

The awards program is administered at the state level by the California Credit Union League, the state trade association for credit unions in California and Nevada, and nationally by the Credit Union National Association. Entries were submitted to the League and judged by a committee from the Arizona Credit Union League. First-place winners advance to the national competition.

LA Financial Credit Union is a full-service, federally insured, community credit union available to anyone who lives, works, volunteers, attends school or worships in Los Angeles County, California. Originally chartered as Courts and Records Federal Credit Union in 1937, the $350 million Credit Union is headquartered in Pasadena, California.