SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan and Senior Vice President of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions and Affiliates Jared Ross shared best practices and key principles in lobbying during the World Council of Credit Union's Lobbying and Governmental Affairs Workshop here.
The primary message: Lobbying is a process, not an event. Ninety-eight credit union executives and board members were on hand to hear successful strategies for engaging with policymakers and developing their own grassroots advocacy campaigns.
"World Council promotes positive change by leveraging the knowledge of our credit union family and connecting our members in the United States with those in Latin America and the Caribbean," said Victor Corro, World Council vice president of member services. "Jared and Ryan demonstrated that elected officials who understand the credit union industry are much more likely to support our mission. Credit unions around the world must actively engage in advocacy to protect the interests of their members."
According to WOCCU, participants witnessed the importance of speaking with one voice by understanding and agreeing on their goals, roles and the process by which they will lobby policymakers. "If credit unions don't speak for themselves, someone else will, and credit unions won't like their message," said Donovan, encouraging participants to take action. "It is clear that there are many passionate advocates for cooperative finance in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one of the added benefits of this workshop for me is being able to take their passion and their experience and apply it to what we are doing in the United States. These sessions are definitely a two-way street."
The international delegation exchanged perspectives and challenges from their credit union movements in Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and St. Kitts.
"Sharing my experiences in lobbying with credit union officials from other countries was an enlightening and rewarding experience. It was so encouraging to see participants recognize the opportunity to apply our experiences and enact meaningful change in their own credit union systems," Ross said.
At right, from left, Jared Ross, League of Southeastern Credit Unions SVP; Ryan Donovan, CUNA chief advocacy officer; and Victor Corro, World Council VP.