Happy Earth Day! This year, April 22 is particularly special to the Green Movement, as it’s the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Last month, Callahan & Associates hosted a complimentary Go Green webinar to get credit unions thinking about how they can protect the environment and their bottom line.
Today, we’re bringing you 9 more ideas to help you reduce your environmental footprint while supersizing your place in your local ECOnomy.
Lime Green (or short-term initiatives)
These are options you can put into motion today with little to no planning.
- Encourage your members to switch from paper statements to electronic statements. Add an incentive if necessary.
- Sponsor a Shred-A-Thon for all the businesses and consumers in your community. Recycle the shredding. Make it a competition among branches to see who can shred the most pounds.
- Switch the default fonts on Outlook to a font that uses less ink to print. Take a page out of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s playbook and swap Arial for Century Gothic.
Granny Smith Apple Green (or mid-term initiatives)
New lending products can boost loan growth and promote planet-friendly behavior. These initiatives take more thought and planning and are great options for innovative credit unions.
- Solar Loans. Addison Avenue opened 480 loans worth $13.2 million with its groundbreaking solar lending program.
- Hybrid Loans. So what if the competition is returning to the auto market? Show your commitment to the community by offering a 1% rate discount on qualified hybrid autos. Add an eStatement and auto pay requirement to reduce coupon and mailing clutter and costs.
- Bicycle Loans. Rebrand your line-of-credit product or create a new free-standing option. Either way, summer is here so jump on the two-wheeled bandwagon.
Forest Green (or long-term initiatives)
It might not be easy being green, but these initiatives show serious commitment to movement’s values.
- Expansion on the horizon? Make sure any new buildings are LEED certified (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design).
- Host an Eco-Expo with community partners such as alternative energy companies. Give away compact florescent light bulbs and reinforce your institution’s daily eco-conscious activities.
- Set a goal to reduce the amount of waste your credit union sends to the landfill. Then hold yourself accountable through monthly, quarterly, yearly updates.