about me
Hi, I'm William and I head up the WEB Team (Web Engagement & Banking) at Vancity, Canada's largest credit union.

My opinions and views are just that, and don't reflect the views of my employer (or, perhaps, anyone else).

I can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook

Muhammad Yunus and the concept of social finance.

At Vancity, where I work, we recently created a division called Social Finance. This is where our Business Banking department now resides, as well as Commercial Mortgages and our amazing Community Business Banking team, where many of our most innovative and socially relevant products and services are generated.

Creating and naming this new division was an interesting risk, and as soon as I heard the name Social Finance, I thought to myself: Holy crap I can't believe I get to work here.

What's even more amazing is that our executives created this new name and division based on an understanding of what Social Finance could be, but without a nailed-down definition of what it means for us. That's the work of whoever gets the gig of SVP Social Finance.

Last night we at Vancity brought Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to town. He received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of British Columbia for his amazing work as Banker to the Poor at Grameen Bank, which he founded in his native Bangladesh specifically to help the poor. He spoke about the power of small amounts of money to transform people's lives, and the role private businesses can play in creating change in the lives of our poorest citizens. In the past he has endorsed Vancity's Microcredit Toolkit, and we recently announced that our own microfinance-driven term deposit would now be funding local initiatives.

He calls it Social Business, and it's the subject of his new book, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. We call it Social Finance. It's something that has to be framed for many people, because we have it ingrained in us that there are two options in life: charity and profit.

But there is room for a strong middle ground. Businesses can have as their focus socially responsible goals as their main driver and still sell their products and services in a business-savvy way, repay their investors, pay their employees well and thrive in the business context, and drive their profits back into the work they do. Their work can be of tremendous social value and significance, and yet be no less business-like.

As we deal with issues of climate change and social equity, these kinds of business are cropping up. They could be used to solve the health care crisis in America. To clean up the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, reduce our carbon emissions, provide inexpensive and nourishing food for poor families to feed their children, vaccinate the third world.

The money invested could be reinvested and continue to solve our most pressing problems, rather than giving money away which has no lifespan beyond the initial donation.

Last night was an amazing time. I was so fortunate to be invited to a small private reception to meet Professor Yunus, and then go to hear him speak to several hundred people about his work serving the poorest people on the planet. His work is actually reducing poverty in Bangladesh by significant amounts. He has opened specialized services focused on beggars, and creating Social Finance opportunities such as Grameen Danone and Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest mobile phone company owned in part by the 7.5 million co-operative owners of Grameen Bank.

A Vancity board member asked me at the reception why I had come down to hear Muhammad Yunus speak, and I replied that this kind of activity is the very reason I initially chose to do my banking at Vancity, and why I later decided to work there. Banking is really only marginally interesting to me, but using the platform of banking to solve social problems that we face in our communities is a powerful draw for me. Exploring that intersection where money and community come together is extremely powerful and much needed.

Last night Muhammad Yunus proved how true that is.

Labels: corporate responsibility, credit union, microcredit, politics, poverty, underbanked, vancity, yunus

posted on Saturday, March 15, 2008

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9 comments
Vancity is doing local micro-credit? I've got goosebumps! I live right between gastown/dtes so anything to empower my citizens down the street - I'm all for.
comment from nancy (aka money coach) on March 15, 2008

William, I really appreciate your longer-form 'thinker' posts. In this case, it really brings home the fact that there can a real difference in the credit union world. As a marketer, I sometimes get so focussed on the veneer and the message. It is so good to be reminded of the soul of an organization. Vancity has it going on.

Thanks for reporting on such good work.
comment from

currencymarketing on March 15, 2008

Hi Nancy. I know, it's a great concept.

@Tim - Thanks for the comment. On a very visceral level, I know I'm at exactly the right company. It's good to know.
comment from

wazaroff on March 15, 2008

Inspiring post. One of the phrases that hit most profoundly for me is "Banking is really only marginally interesting to me, but using the platform of banking to solve social problems that we face in our communities is a powerful draw to me."

Thank you for articulating the point so well - it captured something that's been swirling around in my head for some time.
comment from

Bruce on March 16, 2008

William - thanks so much for sharing this! The real power of credit unions lies in our collective story - here in the US, with a deteriorating economy and credit system, CUs have a golden opportunity to once again tell their story to a new generation of consumers.

Although these parameters do not apply to the Canadian economy, it is wonderful to see how Vancity is reaching out in some very tangible ways to people who don't need a handout - they merely need the financial tools to empower their lives.

Kudos to Vancity for participating in this powerful purpose, and to you as a key narrator.

Please keep drinking the Kool Aid, and sharing it with the rest of us! :)
comment from

Jeff Hardin on March 16, 2008

@Bruce - Thanks so much for your comment. As I wrote that I wondered if I would catch some flack for it. We need people who are truly bankers to serve our members, but money in and of itself doesn't really interest me, it's the power of how it can transform lives that hooks me.

@Jeff - I hope we'll get a chance to meet this year. My presentation at the Partnership Symposium will be all about the Social Economy and Social Finance. Should be a great time!
comment from

wazaroff on March 16, 2008

Thanks for not only highlighting an incredible person, but Vancity's ongoing growth in social impact. It's inspirational and refreshing to see this kind of work done by a large FI.

Vancity is one of the most culturally relevant FIs on the map.
comment from

Brent Dixon on March 16, 2008

Fantastic post, William. It inspires me and depresses me at the same time.
comment from

Dan Dickinson on March 17, 2008

@brent - Thanks. It's an exciting place to be.

@dan - I didn't understand your comment, but after your recent blog post, I kinda get it.

Today is gonna be the day that they’re gonna throw it back to you. By now you should’ve somehow realized what you gotta do. I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.
comment from

wazaroff on March 17, 2008

Muhammad Yunus and the concept of social finance.

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