2014 Applicant: Jen Laud

Jen Laud is a 27-year-old Director of Marketing & Innovation at First Financial Credit Union ($67 M) in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Project Title
Local Collaboration for State-Wide Awareness

Short Pitch
Facilitating local collaboration to build state-wide credit union awareness.

Synopsis
Credit Unions are great at collaborating, especially when sharing internal best practices. However, even with large campaigns like Don't Tax My CU and Unite for Good, we could be better about creating local, outward awareness for each other and our movement. My project helps us tell our story and educate consumers through online and in-person collaboration. 

With the Illinois Credit Union League, we're creating an easy way for Illinois Credit Unions to join a larger conversation that promotes each other and how we are impacting our communities. We'll start by creating a microsite within the League's website for social media support and planning. It will help Credit Unions not utilizing social media to create a presence and meaningfully grow an active community. The site will host a community calendar to show national, regional, and city events and campaigns to promote for each other: hashtags like #100MM, local financial education sessions, and a designated Illinois hashtag to tie us all together. 

Because we are striving to develop advocates and deeper community relationships, we will pair the online community with live events. Through the site and chapter events, we'll encourage local collaborations to bring our communities together, educate and celebrate the Credit Union difference. Events can range from large-scale festivals like the Co-opalozza, to smaller-scale fundraising competitions between nearby Credit Unions. 

This program will help individual Credit Unions and the movement gain more awareness so Illinois consumers are choosing Credit Unions as their best financial partner.

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