here&now

Blog post – Community Lottery delivers for non-profits

As credit unions, both Savings & Loans and Australian Central have a long history of community support. We both contribute to the Credit Union Christmas Pageant, one of the nation’s greatest family events, and support local sporting teams, community groups and charities.

We don’t see these activities as donations or expenses, but as investments in our community; investments that pay dividends through creating a more vibrant, happy and healthy society.

One of Australian Central’s major community investments is the Australian Central Community Lottery, a unique program that will deliver up to $1.4 million to a range of charities, not-for-profit groups and sporting clubs in 2010.

The Australian Central Community Lottery provides groups with a chance to be part of a lottery with over $280,000 in prizes – well beyond the capabilities of most community organisations. Australian Central and our business and media partners supply all of the prizes for the Community Lottery, as well as the tickets, promotional material and opportunities to sell the tickets in prominent locations.

Tickets for the Community Lottery are $2 each, with the charities and clubs keeping 100% of the proceeds of ticket sales. We’ve distributed 700,000 tickets to hundreds of groups, ranging from regional social clubs to The Smith Family, one of Australia’s largest charities and Savings & Loans’ major charity partner.

So why do we support the Australian Central Community Lottery?

Well, we know that our community wouldn’t be as strong or vibrant as it is without the thousands of sports teams, community groups, charities and social clubs right across the country. They provide support to those who need it, keep us fit and healthy and care for the vulnerable.

We also know that while these groups need money to continue doing their great work, it’s difficult to continually ask their volunteers to fund them. Through the Australian Central Community Lottery we give volunteers the chance to raise money for their club without dipping into their own pocket.

The Australian Central Community Lottery was expanded this year to include a special allocation of tickets to groups and clubs associated with Savings & Loans. And we’re looking into expanding the Community Lottery outside of South Australia and the Northern Territory to help even more community groups raise much-needed funds.

Time’s running out to buy tickets for this year’s Australian Central Community Lottery, with sales finishing at the end of June. To find a participating group in your region and buy last minute tickets, visit the Australian Central website.
 
Peter Evers

Technology and businesses - what do you want?

The way businesses communicate with consumers has changed considerably over the last decade, and will continue to do so into the future. More people than ever are calling for transparency and open lines of two-way communication with the businesses they deal with.

Naturally, being a member-owned organisation, we think this is a great idea. We’ve got a long history of talking to our members and making sure they know how involved they are in the way we operate. The best example of this is our Annual General Meeting (AGM), where our senior executives and the credit union’s Board present our members with details of our previous year’s financial performance, along with our vision for the future.

We encourage members to ask questions during the meeting, and give members an opportunity to chat with staff or directors after the meeting. The AGM is great opportunity for important interaction between people at all levels of the organisation, but it only happens once a year.

But advances in technology are allowing us to expand this two-way communication and invite our members to talk with us. CEOlink is a great example of this; it lets members find out more about their credit union and, importantly, ask questions about it.

Blogging is part of what’s known as Web 2.0, a term used to describe the ‘second generation’ of the internet. Other aspects of Web 2.0 include ‘wikis’ (such as the popular Wikipedia), social networking sites (like the (in)famous MySpace), RSS feeds and podcasts.

More and more financial institutions are using the internet to communicate with their members or customers, and credit unions are leading the charge. Verity Credit Union, from Seattle in the United States, has staff from right across the credit union contribute to its blog. VanCity (Canada’s largest Credit Union) has launched Change Everything, which aims to bring the wider community together to make positive changes to their lives.

A site that brings together the best of credit union social engagement through technology, Open Source CU, has examples of strategies that have worked incredibly – as well as those that have failed.

We now have the ability to provide podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts) to our members about what’s happening at Savings & Loans, as well as banking tips and tricks. The question is whether or not you, our members, want this?

These are some new and exciting opportunities, and we’ll move into it as we see our members doing it. I realise I’m probably preaching to the converted, but is this something you’d like to see from us?

Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Greg