While we’re certainly one-of-a-kind, we didn’t invent the co-op. Financial cooperatives and credit unions have been around since the 1800s, evolving with a shared set of principles that govern and guide like-minded companies around the globe.
From our commitment to community, to our unique mission in financial services, to your relationship and role as a member – the Eight Cooperative Principles of Credit Unions help to distinguish who we are and what we do. Take the following core principle for example: Cooperation Among Cooperatives.
Cooperation Among Cooperatives
“Credit unions serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative principles by working with other cooperatives through local, state, regional, national, and international structures.” – National Credit Union Foundation
This may seem obvious: cooperatives cooperate. Vital associations within our industry connect us to a dynamic, worldwide movement that strengthens our local impact on members and our communities.
For example, we partner with cooperative trade associations like the Credit Union National Association (CUNA, now becoming America's Credit Unions), New York Credit Union Association (NYCUA), and CrossState Credit Union Association – groups that support our education, advocacy, regulatory compliance, outreach, and more. In return, we don’t just represent Visions, we represent the entire credit union industry. As we grow our membership and our impact, we bolster the collective competition against predatory lending companies and commercial banks – and not only in the United States!
"Through our industry’s growth on a larger scale, we all reap the benefits."
Our collective unity is bigger than our footprint and bigger than our nation. As a member of CUNA, we’re part of an even larger, global collective: the World Council of Credit Unions, which works to ensure that more nations can benefit from strong credit unions in their own communities. Through associations such as these, we cooperate on regional, national, and international levels to improve the community and create a better world.
This unity helps to increase our impact on you, too! Through our industry’s growth on a larger scale, we all reap the benefits. That’s because the credit union movement is focused on people, not profit. Robust and booming credit unions help to build supported, thriving communities. And on a more local scale, when more people join our membership or move deposits to Visions, we’re able to help more people in turn, and offer more competitive products, services, and rates.
In other words, unity is our credit union superpower. As wealth shifts away from banks and toward credit unions, more of that wealth circulates through cooperative values, improving our services and benefiting the world around us.
Learn more about Visions, our mission, values, and the credit union movement.
Explore our cooperative principles:
Autonomy and Education Democracy and Community
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Cooperation Among Cooperatives
