CUA recognised with community contribution award
CUA (Credit Union Australia) has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Australian Business Awards for Community Contribution in the finance industry.
The 2009 awards recognise organisations that demonstrate the core values of business excellence, product excellence, sustainability and commercial success in their respective industries.
CUA Acting CEO Rob Nicholls said he was honoured and proud CUA had received such recognition, particularly since the award win follows the recent appointment of CUA’s first Sustainability Manager.
“I am pleased CUA won this award, especially since we have made such a concerted effort internally to make corporate sustainability a part of our framework and recently appointed our first ever Sustainability Manager, Michael Roberts, to ensure this becomes a reality,” he said.
Mr Nicholls said CUA’s submission put forward the work and investment the credit union had poured into the community, such as localised philanthropic donations and large sponsorships of various national and state charities.
“In our submission we included details of the partnership we began last year with Relationships Australia through which we committed time, money and resources to help them deliver a new community education program that supports Australian families and specifically targets financial issues and their effect on relationships.
“The national program aims to arm Australians with the life skills and resources to affect positive, personal change by building better relationships for themselves and their families, which includes teaching people how to communicate better and handle their finances.”
Mr Nicholls said CUA’s submission also included information about the company’s sponsorship of the national Golden Circle School Fun Run program.
“The Fun Run program, run by The Fundraising Group, was created to provide healthy fundraising alternatives to schools seeking means to raise vital funds other than through a traditional chocolate drive.
“Addressing obesity amongst school-aged children has been a growing struggle for schools across Australia so CUA saw this sponsorship as an opportunity to not only support schools nationwide financially but to encourage kids to get outdoors and have a bit of fun through sporting activities such as a fun run.”
CUA also detailed in their submission their commitment to the “Pets in Crisis” program, run through the RSPCA and dvconnect.
“The majority of domestic violence refuges are neither equipped nor permitted to accept animals and this results in many domestic violence victims choosing to remain in their abusive situation due to an attachment to their pets and the threat of violence against the animals,” Mr Nicholls said.
“Our partnership with dvconnect and the RSPCA meant CUA has been able to assist numerous families over the past three years, helping many women to break away from cycles of domestic abuse.”
Mr Nicholls said CUA’s focus on its members, due to not having shareholders, made it only natural for the company to focus on corporate responsibility and sustainability.
“At CUA our main point of difference to the banks is that all our profits are reinvested back into the organisation creating more competitive, innovative products and services.
We do not have shareholders that require a dividend payment so our focus is not on satisfying profit demands. It’s simply about putting our members’ interests first.
“That’s why corporate sustainability works so well within CUA – our credit union’s core values include having a community and member focus in all decision making.”
CUA also recently won the “Credit Union of the Year” category at the Australian Banking and Finance Awards for a fifth time.
