Celebrating Every Credit Union’s Impact  

Posted by Lynn Heider on April 2, 2025

Across the six-state GoWest footprint, credit unions contributed 11.3 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provided more than 36,600 family-wage jobs, and, due to their not-for-profit cooperative structure, returned $1.8 billion in direct financial benefits to their members. That data is the result of an analysis performed by Oxford Economics, a global analysis firm.  

Impact was documented at the state and county levels in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, and in all federal congressional districts in the GoWest region. The impressive data was shared this spring at all six state Credit Union Day at the Capitol events, and with Congress during the National Governmental Affairs Conference last month.  

“Sharing data with a state or federal lawmaker helps them to understand the tangible value credit unions are providing to their constituents and to communities,” said Jennifer Wagner, GoWest’s Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy Officer. “They’re more likely to support our legislative priorities and particularly credit unions’ tax exemption when they clearly see the benefits credit unions provide that for-profit financial institutions cannot.” 

Next Steps: Sharing Hyper-Local Impact

Now it’s your credit union’s turn to tell its own impact story. Oxford Economics also performed an analysis for all 311 credit unions with branches in the GoWest footprint in 2023. These reports, distributed to each credit union’s leadership team recently, measure the credit union’s contribution to the GDP, employment, wages, and member benefits.  

“This is important data to share with your members, your boards, your local media, and with local elected officials,” said Christine Ruzzi, Vice President, Member Impact. “If you host city council members or state legislators in your branches, if you have an opportunity to speak at local chamber meetings, or when you’re speaking with reporters and local podcast hosts, this tells and proves a story that credit unions – that your credit union – is proud to serve the community and is an essential part of the economy.” 

Calling all Marketers: Spread the Word!

In sharing your credit union’s individual report, you will also want to highlight credit unions’ impact across your state. More information can be found on The GoWest Economic & Community Impact website, which contains each state’s economic impact analysis, as well as community impact reports, detailing financial education, special lending, service to underserved communities, volunteerism, and more. 

In addition, the 2025 IMPACT Marketing Resource Center (member login required) features a toolkit providing sample social media posts, infographics, a blog post, and more. 

If you have questions or would like assistance from the GoWest team in sharing these impact reports, please reach out to Christine Ruzzi. 

Posted in Across the Region, Advocacy, Arizona, Colorado, Community Impact, GoWest Association, Idaho, Oregon, Regional Member News, Washington, Wyoming.