Savings revolutionaries, that is. How do we change the current culture of families living paycheck to paycheck?
One family at a time, according to GECU of El Paso, Texas. Their 2007 Savings Challenge sparked inspiration and implementation for a Filene i3 team to adopt the objective and take it to a national level with the Savings Revolution.
The Savings Revolution is like NBC’s Biggest Loser television show, only for your finances. It is a savings innovation that can utilize a wide range of approaches, like television, radio, and newspaper interviews, social media, online interaction, and personalized planning and coaching to help credit union members reduce their debt, increase their savings, and gain control of their finances.
The Savings Revolution is composed of two parts.- The first part is the Savings Challenge, which is a reality-based event in which credit union families compete to achieve stretch goals for paying down their debt and accumulating savings. Their journeys are publicly chronicled and one family ultimately wins a grand prize, although all that commit to the program end up winning a whole new financial life.
- This serves as motivation for the second part of the innovation, which is a set of online tools that allow all members to join in, set their debt reduction and savings goals, and succeed with encouragement from family, friends, and community. These two parts are engineered to bring about a culture change and set a revolution in motion.
Now, five years and one recession later, the personal savings rate has climbed to 5.8% in the third quarter of 2010, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Of course, you all know that credit unions have helped encourage savings. Here at Filene, we’d like to hear about your savings revolution programs.
If your credit union, state chapter, or league has revolutionized savings in your community, tell us all about it. We’d like to help you get the word out, celebrate your success, and learn about best practices.
Here are some of the Savings Challenges we are aware of…
- Credit Union Association of New Mexico – Savings Challenge
- Educators Credit Union – Savings Challenge
- GECU – Savings Challenge
- Wright-Patt Credit Union – Savings Race
Email Filene to share your revolution.
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