On the page one of Lakes District News you will see a picture of the Bulkley Valley Credit Union (BVCU) Lakes District branch giving away money. It’s a regular occurrence and usually every other week they will be in the paper for this reason.
Last week the biggest cheque totalling $17,500 was presented to the Lakes District Fall Fair Society in celebration of the credit union’s 70 years of community service.
On the surface the Bulkley Valley Credit Union looks like any financial institution, but they are not a bank.
Banks make money by charging interest on their loans, gathering account fees and then reinvesting all this money to earn a profit.
Credit unions are owned by their members, the people in the community that hold an account at the institution. Any profit that is earned by the credit union is either invested back into the organization or paid out to members as a dividend.
Each member aged 19-59 must hold a minimum of 25 class A equity shares, members under 19 and over 60 must hold a minimum of five. Shares have a par value of $1 each and allows the member one vote in the decision making at the credit union’s Annual General Meetings.
In 1939 10 Smithers farmers applied to the University of British Columbia for a course in credit union operations. Then in April 1941 the farmers put funds of $50 together and the BVCU was formed opening it’s doors in May of 1941. Since this time it has integrated into a national network with more than $66 billion in assets.
Members of the BVCU are also asked to vote to elect a board of nine directors. This board of directors is nominated from all the account holders.
The board is responsible for setting the BVCU’s policies which are then implemented by the chief executive officer.
The BVCU has four branches across the North. One in Burns Lake, another in Houston and Smithers and one in the Hazeltons.
This year also marks the 10 year anniversary for the credit union’s Community Builder Campaign. For every dollar that a member deposits in their Community Builder Term Deposit account the credit union makes a donation to a local community group.
To date a total of $157,542 has been donated to community beneficiaries of the Community Builder Campaign since 2002 across the region.
During 2010, the Burns Lake Curling Club were the local beneficiaries receiving $1,500. This year the beneficiaries will be the Mother Millie Fund.
In 2010, the BVCU also contributed over $230,000 to more than 175 local groups through in branch donations, the Community Builder campaign and donations from the Economic Development Committee and the Community Support Committees.
In addition six high school bursaries of $1000 were awarded to students in the four communities in 2010.
I guess by doing business at the credit union you are doing the community a favour too. It is not every day a financial institute gives that much money back locally.
And let’s not forget the fall fair people ...good job rallying the votes and winning the competition.
So you can see that by doing business at the BVCU the whole community benefits.