Group Will Create Talent Management Project for Small Credit Unions
ALEXANDRIA, VA (April 16, 2013) – A group of South Carolina credit unions are collaborating on a groundbreaking project to improve talent management with the support of a $50,000 National Credit Administration (NCUA) collaboration grant.
Health Facilities Federal Credit Union, a low-income credit union located in Florence, will collaborate with South Carolina Federal Credit Union, located in North Charleston, and its credit union service organization (CUSO), Optimal Talent Solutions, to provide free talent management consulting and training in areas including succession management, recruitment, performance management, and diversity and inclusion.
Two other credit unions, Greenwood Municipal Credit Union, Greenwood, and Spartan Federal Credit Union, Spartanburg, will also participate. NCUA’s Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives (OSCUI) manages the process used by the agency to award the grant.
“Collaborations among small credit unions to help them develop best practices are important to their long-term success,” NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said. “We know credit unions can accomplish more working together than working alone. Employee recruitment, development, and succession are all core needs for any business, but small credit unions with limited capacity and resources have a difficult time managing those needs. This project can help provide that capacity and those resources.”
“Small credit unions are infrequent users of CUSOs,” NCUA’s OSCUI Director William Myers said. “Yet collaboration is necessary for small credit unions to compete. OSCUI will continue to seek out and fund areas of outstanding collaboration for small credit unions.”
The group led by Health Facilities Federal Credit Union was chosen from seven applications. This is the first time NCUA has offered a grant of this size to low-income designated credit unions.
The grant is intended to encourage collaborative efforts that develop innovative, sustainable best practices to improve operations and reduce costs that can be adopted by other credit unions. To qualify, a single low-income designated credit union must partner with at least one other credit union. The collaboration can include other entities, such as state leagues and associations, additional credit unions, credit union service organizations and third-party vendors.
Funding for this grant is provided by the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund, which Congress created to support credit unions that serve low-income communities. NCUA’s OSCUI administers these funds under its grant and loan programs.
NCUA’s OSCUI fosters credit union development and the effective delivery of financial services for small credit unions, new credit unions and credit unions with a low-income designation to enable them to survive and thrive.
NCUA is the independent federal agency created by the U.S. Congress to regulate, charter and supervise federal credit unions. With the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, NCUA operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, insuring the deposits of nearly 94 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the overwhelming majority of state-chartered credit unions.
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