Building Community Assets: Growing Lower-Income Credit Union Membership Through Community and Credit Union Partnerships

This report details the partnership process and lessons learned from a two-year technical assistance program designed to help community organizations partner with mainstream credit unions with the goal of enrolling new lower-income members or expanding an existing partnership. The report uses the stories of these four partnerships as case studies to identify four strategic areas through which partnerships can be strengthened and the common barriers to developing a successful partnership can be overcome. The lessons learned section of the case studies and the report conclusions are color coded to reflect the four strategic areas discussed below: Determining Product Demand and Organizational Capacity; Increasing Access; Negotiating a Beneficial Partnership; Supporting a Partnership