Community Champions: Credit Unions, CMN and Social Impact

Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) President/CEO Patty Corkery interviewed CU4Kids Board Chair John Bratsakis and Board Member Caroline Willard to discuss CU4Kids, Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals and the credit union movement’s involvement with these organizations.

Alongside their involvement with CU4Kids, Bratsakis is also President/CEO of MD & DC Credit Union Association, and Willard is President/CEO of Cornerstone Credit Union League.

The discussion, which took place on MCUL’s podcast series, Credit Unions, Coffee and Conversation, goes in depth about credit union fundraising, generally, as well as how fundraising for CMN speaks to the larger social mission of the credit union movement.

Willard mentions that, since the mid-1990s, credit unions have raised $180 million for CMN. That total, according to Bratsakis, makes the industry the third-highest donor to CMN behind Costco and Wal-Mart. The two tackle how credit unions stay hungry on the fundraising front rather than resting on their laurels.

The interview arrives just ahead of this month’s CU4Kids and CMN In the Cellar event, held Sept. 22 at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. In the Cellar is a fundraising event dedicated to championing for children to provide mental health resources in the communities this industry serves.

You can listen to the interview here.

You can donate to CMN here.

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