MADISON, Wis.––The National Credit Union Foundation is reminding the deadline is approaching to apply for funds as its 2019 grant cycle comes to a close.
The Foundation said it has two opportunities for credit unions to apply funds, including Biz Kid$ Business Plan Competition Grants and Financial Health Measurement Grants. The deadline for both is June 30.
Business Plan Competition Grants
According to the NCUF, hosting Biz Kid$ Business Plan Competitions allows credit union organizations to take a leadership role in providing economic and entrepreneurship education to youth, helping them build a solid financial future.
“Through these competitions, students showcase their hard work while practicing financial education, entrepreneurial, public speaking, and teamwork skills. The creation of a business plan truly puts what they have learned in the classroom into action and provides hands on, outcomes based financial education to the students,” the Foundation said.
The Foundation said it is looking to distribute up to $25,000 in grant funds. The application can be found here.
Financial Health Measurement Grants
In addition, the Foundation noted in 2017it funded six credit unions to measure the financial health of their members, using the Financial Health Network (formerly CFSI) financial health segmentation methodology. The aggregate data showed that more than half (58%) of members in the total credit union sample are struggling financially, highlighting a significant opportunity for credit unions to help their members better spend, save, borrow, and plan, the NCUF said.
To build on this work, the Foundation said it will evaluate and fund proposals by credit unions to consider their suite of products and services across the four components of financial health and document the improvement in member and/or employee financial health.
“The intent of this RFP is to support credit union initiatives to measure and document these efforts specifically in the Spend, Save, Borrow, and Plan categories created by the Financial Health Network,” the NCUF said.
Click here to download the RFP
The Foundation said it will review all applications for each credit union’s financial capacity and commitment to improving members’ financial health that directly support the stated objectives defined in the above RFP. Total funding of $75,000 is available with a minimum grant request of $10,000.