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ABOUT COMMUNITYAMERICA
Press Releases Archive
Annual Meeting at Ballpark Draws Thousands
Unique setting, festival atmosphere boost usual attendance by twenty fold
Lenexa, Kan. ( 06/15/2007) -- KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- No bank has ever thrown an annual meeting quite like this.
Member-owners munching hot dogs in baseball stadium seats. Families strolling the base-paths. Children with painted faces turning somersaults in the outfield. A live band belting out classic rock tunes from just above the left field wall. Fireworks, moonwalks, video games and the Kansas City T-Bones mascot, Sizzle, high-fiving kids from atop the dugout. And the CEO riding a mechanical bull.
The unique business model of credit unions - not-for-profit cooperatives owned and operated by members - has always set them apart from traditional banks. But the annual meeting conducted Thursday night (June 14) by CommunityAmerica Credit Union was a departure even from that standard. The setting at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, the festival atmosphere, and a drawing for $4,000 in prizes helped drive attendance at the annual meeting from the typical 200 in past years to nearly 4,000 this year.
As board chairman Allison Waggoner said to the crowd, "How many financial institutions do you know that throw a party like this for their annual meeting?"
The highlight of the night's festivities was the mechanical bull-riding display put on by Dennis Pierce, CEO of CommunityAmerica Credit Union. It was fulfillment of a pledge Pierce had made to employees as an incentive to raise more than $30,000 for Junior Achievement during their annual Bowl-a-thon. CommunityAmerica not only broke the record, they shattered it, raising $38,618.12 for the financial education organization, more than any other organization has collected in the fundraising event's 23 years.
Pierce was dressed for the part, in Western shirt and jeans, bolo tie, cowboy hat and a big silver belt buckle. With Matt Dillane, president and executive director of Junior Achievement at the bull's controls, Pierce hung on for 22.3 seconds. He then boosted the CommunityAmerica donation to Junior Achievement by an additional $5,000 making the grand total $43,618.12.
To start the "formal" meeting, board chairman Waggoner - speaking from a lectern between the pitcher's mound and home plate - declared that the attendance did, indeed, exceed the 20 member-owners needed for a quorum. Calling the gathering "a celebration of credit union membership," she presided over the election of board members and announced the non-profit's 2006 owner-participation dividend of $1 million.
"It's about people, not profits," Waggoner said, summing up the essential difference between banks and credit unions.
Pierce then addressed the meeting, stating that the owner-participation dividend returned to member-owners is only a part of the advantages a credit union can provide because of its business model, and an attitude, of "we start where banking stops."
He outlined what he called five key "Advantages" of credit union membership:
- A business model advantage based on the credit union's not-for-profit approach
- A service advantage that stresses customer service and convenience, not profits
- A financial advantage that delivers consistently better value over the long haul
- A values advantage based on "the things we believe in very strongly: respect, loyalty, equality, and being a part of our members' success"
- A social advantage based on "being here for a larger purpose to be a part of the community" through charitable and educational efforts.
Summing up the past year's performance, Pierce said CommunityAmerica had added more than 10,000 new members, opened several new branches, and has a healthy capitalization rate of 12 percent. "Our institution is very sound, and our future is very bright," Pierce said.
About CommunityAmerica Credit Union
CommunityAmerica Credit Union is a full-service financial institution with more than 132,000 members nationwide. As of Dec. 31, 2006, CommunityAmerica had more than $1.5 billion in assets, ranking it among the nation's largest credit unions. Based on deposits, CommunityAmerica ranks among the top 10 Kansas City-based financial institutions. There are 20 CommunityAmerica branches in the Kansas City, St. Louis and Topeka areas.
CommunityAmerica provides a full suite of financial products, including checking, savings, loans and money market accounts. As a not-for-profit, member-owned financial institution, CommunityAmerica can offer highly competitive rates on deposits, loans and investments. Other products and services provided by CommunityAmerica include 24-hour online banking and 24-hour telephone banking, Visa credit cards, insurance and financial planning products.
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