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Why I "do" credit unions.

Two seemingly unrelated things came together for me this week. One is that yesterday was my second anniversary of being at Vancity and my entry into the credit union movement. The other is reuniting with some of my favourite past colleagues via Facebook and catching up on where we're all at.

Explaining to people I used to work with in Los Angeles and Seattle why I'm working at a 'bank', which is a far cry from the brands I used to work on like Disney and Honda is not always an easy task. I left LA to find a lifestyle that was more aligned with my values, and that path inadvertently led me to credit unions.

Before Vancity, I worked at Telus, one of Canada's top telecommunications companies, and the main telephone provider in BC. I enjoyed working there until the strike in 2005, but I never thought of myself as part of the telecom industry. It was just a job.

But being at Vancity, I have found myself attracted to the philosophy and work of credit unions. If you want to create social change, much of that has to do with money, and that's where getting to the money via the banking industry is actually pretty exciting.

The link between my own engagement in the credit union movement became clearer when I saw a recent post on the always insightful OpenSourceCU. They were recently honoured as the first recipient of the Credit Union Global Spirit Award for translating philosophy into actions. This is a much-deserved accolade, based on their work helping credit unions reach their potential and engage the communities they serve in their mission.

It was awarded by Carol Schillios, whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting, but about whom I've heard so many amazing things.

The video on their page is the pivot point, the reason so many of us are passionate about credit unions. It is about the amazing work that Carol Schillios has done on behalf of credit unions with the world's poorest people.

I have included it below. Powerful, powerful stuff.

Labels: corporate responsibility, credit union, microcredit, opensourcecu, poverty, telus, underbanked, vancity

posted on Friday, September 21, 2007

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Black Hole Blog.

An article in the newest (September 2007) edition of Enterprise Magazine features an interview with me. Black Hole Blog covers social media and how credit unions can embrace it. I talk about how CUs can respond to bloggers, and the writer, Laureen Griffin, also writes about ChangeEverything.ca.

She also interviewed Gene Blishen and Trey Reeme.

I've seen a few articles like this, but I thought this particular one was insightful. It must be hard to write an article that is at once basic and also helpful, knowing that your readers will range from those who don't know social media at all, to those who are eager to try it out.

I like this quote a lot:

If a member of your credit union was standing in the middle of a town square in front of a rapt crowd, praising or criticizing your service or products, would you go outside and listen? If you could go to free credit union conferences to learn about the biggest innovations in credit union marketing, would you go? If your credit union could be the Roman Forum of the community, where people shared their concerns, and spoke from their hearts, would you do it? If you answered "yes," then you are ready to dive into the blogosphere.

A nice way of framing the issue, I think.

Labels: azaroff, banking, blogging, changeeverything, credit union, innovation, opensourcecu, social media, tinfoiling, vancity, web 2.0

posted on Monday, September 17, 2007

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Looking forward to Spokane.

Next week, I'll be at the Washington Credit Union League's annual convention doing a couple of things:

I'll be co-hosting their Spectrum Marketing Awards Dinner, which should be a lot of fun. I was delighted to be asked, and it's a great chance to see the best of the marketing coming out of the credit unions in Washington State.

I'll also be doing a panel on Using Web 2.0 to Build Relationships with Shari Storm of Verity Credit Union and Virginia Brady of UFirst Federal Credit Union's The Boardcast.

I may also help out with the Trabian guys on their panel Social Media Phenomena Explored.

I'll blog from the event, and I'll see you there!

Labels: blogging, changeeverything, conference, credit union, opensourcecu, social media, vancity, verity, web 2.0

posted on Thursday, September 06, 2007

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Why BarCampBank?

One of the interesting things about coming to an event like BarCampBankSeattle is trying to explain it to people who have no framework with which to contextualize it.

What's a BarCamp? Why a BarCamp for banking? Why not just have a regular conference? What are you doing down there in Seattle? Why on Earth would a grown man go to Banking Camp?

It's only now struck me that with new tools emerging to allow for greater online collaboration, whether you're talking about BaseCamp, Facebook, Del.icio.us, LinkedIn or Second Life, the needs for in-person collaboration is changing. For people who are not using these new tools, nothing has changed and therefore they don't need new ways of interfacing with their peers. But for those of us who have embraced these new tools and found that they have significantly improved their ways of collaborating and working together, we want our real world events to change too.

Along comes BarCampBankSeattle. I wouldn't be interested if a traditional conference was organized this way because you'd be in a room full of people who want content served to them, just like people who are used to traditional web experiences (the irony of a term like "traditional web experience" is not lost on me) want content served up to them. They aren't used to co-creating and collaborating.

So the idea of BarCampBank - that the right people are here and the right things are being discussed - really works because the people who have opted in to this process are all on the same wavelength when it comes to collaborating and working together. The guys at Trabian are leaders in this space, because their employees live in different cities and still work together through tools like AIM, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, BaseCamp and so on. So a loose, informal heavily collaborative event like BarCampBank makes perfect sense to the people who are here because we want new models for in-person meetings that fit into our new working relationships.

The penny dropped and it's amazing to be here.

I'll format my thoughts properly and post some content this week - I promise.

Labels: azaroff, banking, barcampbankseattle, blogging, credit union, innovation, opensourcecu, technology, twitter, web 2.0

posted on Sunday, July 22, 2007

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My Net.Finance podcast at OpenSourceCU.

Thanks to Trey and Brent at OpenSourceCU who have turned my Net.Finance presentation in April into a podcast. I hope it holds up without the visuals.

Enjoy.

Labels: azaroff, banking, blogging, changeeverything, corporate responsibility, credit union, innovation, netfinance, opensourcecu, podcast, socialsignal, vancity, web 2.0

posted on Monday, June 18, 2007

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Two articles in the new issue of The Credit Union Journal.

I was interviewed for an article in the new issue of The Credit Union Journal about ChangeEverything.ca and why Vancity created it.

Two articles by Technology Correspondent Kevin Jepson were posted today, and both require a subscription to the magazine, or at least a temp two week online trial subscription (which I signed up for) to read. The first article, CU Challenges Community To 'Change Everything' descibes ChangeEverything.ca in context against other CU social media ventures.

Vancity certainly isn't the first credit union to tap into the flow of social media on the Web. Credit Union Journal recently reported how other credit unions are trying to reach out to the online market by hosting sites at MySpace.com, talking to members and colleagues on blogs or spreading the recorded financial word through podcasts.

But Vancity stands apart from the podcasting, blogging, MySpacing credit unions in a number of ways-in fact, "Vancity is the best example of a credit union building a social network," according to Trey Reeme, one of the creators of the credit union blog called Open Source CU and executive vice president at Trabian Technology, a business application and development company in Plano, Texas.

Thanks to Trey as always for his kind words.

The other article, Vancity Creates A 'Thriving E-Community', describes ChangeEverything.ca and its history including the two events that helped ChangeEverything reach its tipping point: Got Hats? when over 4,000 items of clothing and blankets made their way to local shelters within 48 hours during a Vancouver winter cold-snap last November, and EnviroWoman's amazing New Year's resolution to use no plastics in 2007.

Credit unions are reinventing the way they use the web with "social media": online technologies such as podcasts, blogs, vlogs, wikis and message boards where users share opinions-and advertise.

Change Everything, Vancity CU's social networking website, encourages members and non-members alike to change something in their lives, or even just to talk about changing something.

The site has produced a "thriving community" of more than 1,000 registered users who offer up some "inspiring" social and environmental changes, explained William Azaroff, interactive marketing and channel manager at Vancity CU.

Pleased that the credit unions are getting this kind of information so more can start harnessing the power of the social web to engage their communities.

Labels: azaroff, banking, blogging, changeeverything, corporate responsibility, credit union, innovation, opensourcecu, socialsignal, technology, vancity, vancouver, web 2.0

posted on Monday, May 21, 2007

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Verity's blog has kicked it up a notch.

Wow. I spend a lot of time looking at blogs and after a while they all start looking the same. But Verity Credit Union in Seattle has launched a new blog and has taken blog usability and readability to a whole new level.

By moving to 1024x768 they have three nicely sized columns to work with and they make a lot of their real estate. The left column works like you'd expect a blog to work. The middle column gives you easy access to different posts by department, laid out in a very graphically pleasing way. Really makes you want to click to find out more. And the right column surfaces the people who post and some other blogs they like. Impressive.

It was designed and built by the fine folks at Trabian. It's one thing to know a lot about social media like Brent and Trey do, but to be able to design a site that's attractive and functional, honestly this gives me a whole new appreciation for what they are capable of. Kudos to all of them, and Shari Storm, Verity's CMO who has stuck with this and made it work better than anyone else. If you're thinking of creating a corporate blog no matter what industry you're in, you'd be well served to study what Trabian and Verity have done here.

Jim also gave it a rave.

Check it out, it's well worth a visit.

Labels: banking, blogging, credit union, design, innovation, netbanker, opensourcecu, technology, usa, verity, web 2.0

posted on Saturday, May 19, 2007

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Credit Unions and blogging

Ron Shevlin has a great discussion going on his Marketing ROI blog about tips and pitfalls for Credit Unions that decide to blog. The list is good and comprehensive and Colin from The Bankwatch and Trey from Open Source CU add in some good comments.

Note to self: get the hell off Blogger...

See the discussion...

Labels: banking, bankwatch, blogging, credit union, opensourcecu, verity, web 2.0

posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007

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America Saves

Interesting article in the NYTimes: Can Poor People Be Taught to Save?

Why can't poor people save money? Part of that psychological barrier... was social pressure to not save; the minute people got a little surplus, friends and family would start asking for loans. There were other obstacles too. People in both communities feared losing welfare benefits if they accumulated cash. Many families didn’t even define savings monetarily; they talked about the things they would sell in desperation - baseball-card collections, heirlooms or other low-value assets.

Enter AmericaSaves.org. What is America Saves?

America Saves is a nationwide campaign in which a broad coalition of nonprofit, corporate, and government groups helps individuals and families save and build wealth. Through information, advice, and encouragement, we assist those who wish to pay down debt, build an emergency fund, save for a home, save for an education, or save for retirement.

It's a social network changing the peer pressure in poor communities from spending and lending to saving. According to the article, "about nine million households have effectively no financial assets - nothing to fall back on for emergencies or retirement."

Banks help out by joining the program and creating accounts that charge no fees and have no minimum balance requirements. Amazing.

Something credit unions should get involved with. Creating wealth and assets for those with none. Banking for the under-banked and under-served. Hey, isn't that already our mandate?

PS: Thanks for the link, Rob

Labels: banking, bankwatch, canada, corporate responsibility, media, opensourcecu, socialsignal, vancity, web

posted on Sunday, April 08, 2007

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A new direction

I have recently been asked why I don't give my opinion about web 2.0, social marketing, banking, etc on my blog. Why I limit it to a more frivolous link blog. I was surprised by the question: lots of people are talking social web and FIs. My favourites include:

Social Signal
Open Source CU
Net Banker
NextCU

But then it occured to me, all of those are written by people outside of an FI. They're written by supporters, vendors, partners, but not insiders. So I'm branching out and will start blogging more about trends I'm seeing, things I'm focusing on, ideas percolating under the surface. I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes at these other fine companies and blogs. I admire and respect all of them, and merely am attempting to join their online conversation.

I also hope I won't upset anyone at Vancity. I love the company and my job, and will strive to merely represent how we do business without giving away any trade secrets, inside information or anything else. I'm going to assume I have that freedom unless I'm told otherwise. Sara, I'll wait for your call...

Now the question is, am I doing this for myself only, or is anyone else listening.

Thanks,
Wm

Labels: azaroff, banking, bankwatch, canada, corporate responsibility, nextcu, opensourcecu, socialsignal, vancity, web, web 2.0

posted on Tuesday, April 03, 2007

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