LIVONIA, Mich.–Additional insights are being shared into what the new “Backbone” coalition of credit unions is all about. 

As The CU Daily reported earlier here https://thecudaily.com/credit-union-backbone/,  11 credit unions that span the country have partnered to launch “Backbone,” which it said is designed to strengthen and defend the “essential role credit unions play in American communities.”

According to the organizations, they will “work together to protect consumers’ and communities’ rights to access a variety of financial options. Consumers need to know that credit unions answer to their communities — not Wall Street shareholders — and put members’ interests first.”

The credit unions have launched a website here,

‘Not Sharing’

“We were started during the Great Depression when people needed to come together to have a place they could count on to save their money and for people to have a trusted place to take out loans,” Backbone leader Tansley Stearns told TriplePundit.com in an interview. “What we’ve heard very clearly is there’s a lot of economic pain happening across the country, and unfortunately, [credit unions] haven’t done a great job of sharing our story.”

Stearns, who is CEO of Community Financial Credit Union in Livonia, Mich., told the publication that “Being able to come together and make sure that we beat that drum and share that story is really important so we can create more impact, which is what we were designed to do. It’s all about storytelling. We have so many exceptional stories every single day from credit unions around the country.” 

CU Story Example

As an example, Stearns pointed TriplePundit.com to Palmetto Citizens FCU in South Carolina, which is a member of the Backbone coalition and which opened a branch in a small town of 1,400 people after the only bank in the community suddenly closed.

“Those are the kinds of stories that I think really connect with human beings,” Stearns told TriplePundit.com. “In a very crowded media cycle, being able to talk about the impact that credit unions make for human beings is the way that we break through.”

Stearns said Backbone is also working to dispel the perception that credit unions are behind the curve in providing consumer-friendly technologies serve members, saying CUs have entered into numerous tech partnerships.

“We’re really enthusiastic to be able to have 12 of us marching forward, and we hope that there are even more over time,” Stearns told TriplePundit.com. “The really interesting thing about the financial cooperative model is that when we grow, we can bring even more value back to every member who started with us.” 

The Coalition Members

In addition to Community Financial, the members of Backbone include:

• Bethpage Federal Credit Union (New York)
• Community Financial Credit Union (Michigan)
• Credit Union 1 (Alaska)
• Ent Credit Union (Colorado)
• Everwise Credit Union (Indiana)
• Farmers Insurance Federal Credit Union (California)
• OneAZ Credit Union (Arizona)
• Palmetto Citizens Federal Credit Union (South Carolina)
• Vantage West Credit Union (Arizona)
• Verity Credit Union (Washington)
• WEOKIE Federal Credit Union (Oklahoma)