Your Weekly Update from Montana's Credit Unions

WEEKLY UPDATE FROM MONTANA'S CREDIT UNIONS | February 28, 2025

Happy Friday! Our favorite day of the week is perfect for cleaning out inboxes, making to-do lists, scheduling your social media content for the following week, and registering for some of our upcoming events. More information is below!

FOR YOUR DUES

It's not too late to have your breakthrough!

The Must-Attend Event of the Season: At the 2023 Women’s Community Conference, participants gained refreshed perspectives, new insights, and valuable connections.

Register today for the 2025 Women’s Community Conference and leave feeling more confident and ready to conquer Imposter Syndrome to revitalize your career goals. This year’s event is March 18-19 at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. Have questions or need help convincing yourself to attend? Email Karen for more details.

Still not convinced this event is right for you? Watch the video to the left to hear from our facilitators.

Join us at Old Works for Two MCUCD FUNdraisers: When registering for Power Up on May 21-22 at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort, don’t forget to sign up for one of the FUNdraisers benefiting MCUCD and its mission to improve the social and economic well-being of all Montanans. There’s a golf and non-golf option, and they're BOTH at the beautiful Old Works golf club on May 21. Registration for each FUNdraiser is $150/person. Visit our website for more information and to register.

Lending Conference in Billings: Registration is now open for our Lending Conference on April 23-24 in Billings. Don Arkell from CU Lending Advice — along with other lending experts — will be facilitating this two-day training covering a variety of lending topics, actionable steps, and information to increase your loan-to-share ratio, decrease expenses, and more. Whether you’re new to lending or a seasoned lender, you don’t want to miss this training.

What We're Reading, Watching, and Listening To

A Key Part of Main Street Success: Credit unions and small businesses are the hearts of any community. A recent letter from America's Credit Unions' Jim Nussle outlines ways “Credit unions are uniquely positioned to advance the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) goals" and offers three recommendations he and his team made to the SBA this month.

If You're Looking for a Side Gig: This article from KXLH might give you an idea. We love the Sip 'N' Dip, quirky Montana locations, and mermaids! If you're looking for a deeper dive (🧜‍♀️get it?), follow Sip 'N' Dip owner Sandra Johnson on Facebook for her infamous mermaid interview stories.

A CU Seat at the Table: We've listened to the first episode of "A CU Seat at the Table," and we encourage you to do the same. Preserving the credit union tax status is possibly the most important issue facing credit unions, and the more you know, the better you can advocate for it. Host Anthony Demangone, who is joined by TruStage Vice President of Corporate Legislative Affairs Alane Dent and America’s Credit Unions Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt, leads a lively discussion you'll enjoy.

This Week's Blogs

A Direct Line: As the Montana Legislature nears the halfway point, lawmakers are focused on fulfilling their primary constitutional responsibility: producing a balanced budget. This week's blog and accompanying podcast discuss what legislators are doing to ensure a balanced budget and provide a legislative update on two key bills you'll want to know about.

Personal Finance Blog: On Monday, we wrapped up our Love & Money series with a blog about the importance of planning for retirement with your partner. In the blog, you'll find tips to start your planning process and links to similar blogs for extended reading.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

Business Partner Highlight: Douglas Wilson and Company offers credit union-specific services like audits, accounting, and payroll. Visit our website for information about them.

Save with a Series: Purchase webinars individually or register for a full series at a discounted price. Learn more about the different series available now from our partner, Credit Union Webinar Network.

THE CREDIT UNION DIFFERENCE

Clearwater CU at Watson Children's Shelter

As part of Clearwater CU's onboarding process, new team members volunteer at a local organization. This week, new CU team members in Missoula volunteered at Watson Children's Shelter (pictured here; click to enlarge). In a Facebook post, Watson Children's Shelter said, "Thank you for being so community-minded, you guys rock!" We agree!

PARTING SHOT

An introduction to our 2024 Impact Report

We are excited to share our impact across the state in 2024! The video above introduces the report, but I encourage you to explore the full 2024 Impact Report. I am proud of our team of committed leaders who support you as you serve your members and communities. We continue to focus on our three pillars: advocate, educate, and collaborate, which are highlighted in the report.

Please join me in celebrating our mutual success and impact across the state — more Montanans are members of credit unions, Montanans have greater access to financial services through your credit unions, you and your staff are better equipped and connected, and we all have business partners that are committed to our mutual success. We have big plans for 2025 building on our success and impact in 2024!

We’ll continue to share pieces from this report over the next few weeks. Enjoy your weekend.

Cooperatively, Gerry

This is an internal publication of Montana's Credit Unions intended for our affiliated credit unions and their official family.

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