Allegacy Federal Credit Union + Their Financial Well-being Journey

Financial well-being is not A thing credit unions do, but THE thing credit unions do. The Foundation is on a mission to catalyze credit unions into putting financial well-being at the heart of their strategy by providing ideas from organizations who are putting in the work to make that happen. Here are their stories.

Credit Union: Allegacy Federal Credit Union in North Carolina.

What was the financial well-being problem?

To frame the conversation, it is important to share some statistics on the state of financial health in their community:

• The poverty rate in Winston-Salem is higher than that of some comparable cities, and poverty and many of its risk factors and outcomes disproportionately affect women, children, and minorities. (2016 Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force)
• Winston-Salem is the hardest city in the United States in which to escape child poverty. (2015 Harvard study by economist Dr. Raj Chetty)
• Compared to northern states, economic mobility is far lower in the South, and North Carolina suffers from some of the worst economic mobility in the nation. Winston-Salem is one of the communities that has seen strong economic growth despite continued poverty. (Winston-Salem State University Center for the Study of Economic Mobility)
• Winston-Salem has experienced both considerable financial hardship over the past decade as well as physical well-being deficiencies. (Gallup Health ways 2015 Community Well-Being Rankings and Access to Care)

Their community and their members face a range of financial challenges from not having enough emergency savings to being inadequately prepared for retirement. Many face debt from health emergencies, student loans, or chronic unemployment. Their local economy has changed dramatically over the past two decades, shifting from a manufacturing focus to a hub of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship today. While this economic renaissance has brought new residents into their community, it has displaced those who lack the technical and soft skills necessary to thrive in this new economy.

Allegacy FCU fully understands the interplay between financial and physical health and strives to position their financial education initiatives as a part of an overall wellness strategy. Their brand promise of “we will do the right thing for your well-being” only reinforces their commitment at an organizational level to holistic wellness. Financial well-being is one of the five pillars of their wellness philosophy (along with physical, emotional, social, and a sense of purpose).

What did they do about it?

Allegacy’s AllHealth Employee Wellness Program™ started in 2009 when the CEO felt “an indebtedness to help improve the overall quality of life of our employees.” Built as a holistic, health promotion program, it was simply the right thing to do for both employee well-being and for the credit union’s long-term viability. Allegacy has been so committed to creating a culture of health that it made a strategic business decision to extend its passion for wellness beyond its own four walls by living out the brand promise in very tangible ways.

This led to the creation in 2016 of the AllHealth Wellness Savings Account™ that rewards members with a higher dividend when they remain physically active as a member of the YMCA of Northwest North Carolina. In 2018, Allegacy partnered with Wake Forest Baptist Health to launch WellQ™–a wellness center that promotes both physical and financial health–which provided additional opportunities to engage with members on a very personalized basis to address their unique financial health needs.

Another unique offering is Allegacy’s Healthcare Financial Advising™ developed by our investment group. The complimentary service uses predictive data from a member’s Health Risk Assessment to determine, with a high level of accuracy, the impact that future health issues will have on his/her finances. We hired a full-time Financial Education Manager to develop and drive our financial education initiatives. She has recruited a volunteer team of employees who serve on our Financial Education Committee to support idea generation, awareness raising among staff, and service delivery. In 2019, Allegacy delivered over 13,400 hours of financial education to our employees, members, and the broacher community at every life stage and across all affinity groups.

What was the result?