STOCKHOLM, Sweden—With the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions having now turned 50, its president said the biggest role the organization plays isn’t financial, it’s in building trust.
After outlining all of the financial support the Worldwide Foundation has provided around the world to credit unions and their members, especially in the wake of natural and manmade disasters, Rueter told the World Credit Union Conference, “Credit unions have their doors open in the face of unimaginable uncertainty. Why? Because their members needed more than just money, they needed someone to say ‘we’re still here, we haven’t abandoned you’,” Reuter said, crediting the network of donors who have helped make the Foundation’s work possible.
As an example, he pointed to the response by the Foundation in Ukraine, where it launched an assistance effort withing 72 hours of Russia’s invasion.
Not a PR Move
“It wasn’t a PR move; we didn’t do it out of our obligation,” he said. “It’s because that’s what trust does. People are hurting and that’s what we do at the Worldwide Foundation and the World Council…I believe that the cooperative spirit is borderless.”
During its 50-year-plus existence, Rueter said the foundation has deployed more than $4 million and assisted more than 15,000 people.
“When you believe in purpose, the impact ripples worldwide,” he said.
The Foundation’s Foundation
But the foundation of the Foundation, according to Reuter, remains trust.
“Trust is under attack. People don’t know what to believe. Attention spans are short and cynicism is long,” he said. “And yet credit unions are still the most trusted financial institutions on Earth. Why? Because we’re owned, not owed, and because we show up in so many different ways.
The Next Chapter
“If trust is our most valuable currency, how will we invest it in the next 50 years? Do we trust in the next generation? Do we trust in AI for financial inclusion? We trust in each other,” he continued. “When the next history book is written about our global credit union movement, let it be said that we didn’t just celebrate 50 years, we built a bridge, a global bridge, to the next 50. We invested in trust, we empowered tomorrow and we never forgot why we exist, because when people are trusted, they rise.”
