A Brief History of Credit Unions
In my last post, I outlined what I hoped all members of the board of directors at my credit unions knew . The first thing on that list was that they had a good background in the history of credit unions. I listed three main reasons this topic was so important. First, I wanted my board to understand that a credit cooperative is not a non-profit or a capitalistic enterprise. It is its own entity with its own objectives and optimal behavior. Second, to broaden their thinking of the kinds of financial problems that credit unions were truly meant to solve. And third, so that those working in credit unions could truly appreciate the giants upon whose shoulders we stand, and take our responsibilities far more seriously (or get out of the movement entirely). To gauge your understanding of credit union history, see if you know the answers to the following questions: What do Napoleon and the Irish Potato Famine have to do with the establishment of credit unions? Which descendant of