Community Giving Spotlight: HOPE Credit Union is a Beacon of Hope

At PixelSpoke, we’re serious about giving back. In fact, community giving is written into our cooperative bylaws. Each year, we donate 10 percent of our profits to organizations that are creating a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. Five percent of our profits support nonprofits that are dedicated to promoting credit unions as a force for good and/or supporting a cooperative economy. The remaining five percent support nonprofits selected by team members as part of our employee-led giving program.

We’ve been a longtime admirer of HOPE Credit Union and its mission to strengthen communities, build assets, and improve lives in economically distressed areas of the Deep South. This year, we’re excited to support the HOPE Enterprise Corporation—a nonprofit that includes the credit union, a loan fund, and a policy institute—as part of our Community Giving program.

What HOPE does

Based in the Deep South, HOPE serves one of our nation’s most impoverished regions. Through its credit union and loan fund, HOPE fosters ownership and builds household wealth by financing vital community assets such as schools, health care providers, grocery stores, nonprofit service providers, and affordable rental housing. The HOPE Policy Institute leverages analysis and advocacy to ensure that the realities faced by Deep South residents are considered in rooms where policy decisions are made.

How HOPE inspires us

Many credit unions talk about serving the underserved, but their data tells a different story. HOPE is going above and beyond to truly walk the talk. Clearly, we’re not the only ones who are inspired by their work—in 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris accepted their invitation to visit Greenville, Mississippi to learn more about the importance of investing and rural and underserved communities. Our Chief Creative Officer Dave Drouin also got a chance to visit HOPE as part of the Inclusiv Conference this past May (see photo below), where he learned about some of the amazing community development they are doing in rural Moorhead, Mississippi and throughout the Delta.

Beyond the dollars

For a few years, PixelSpoke has participated in HOPE’s Transformational Deposit program, which is designed to help the credit union inject more capital into its community.

Because its ability to secure local deposits is limited, this program aims to import $100 million in deposits, allowing both individuals and businesses outside the region to indirectly support a historically underserved population.

One of our core values here at PixelSpoke is “Everybody Wins,” and participating in HOPE’s Transformational Deposit program is a shining example of this value in action. As part of our ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion work, we are continually identifying opportunities to vote with our dollars, and we know that lack of access to capital for Black communities is a formidable obstacle when it comes to racial and economic justice.

In 2021, we were thrilled to join Mary Bruce Alford, HOPE’s Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, on CU Broadcast to discuss this innovative program. We also invited Kathy Saloy, Senior Vice President of Community & Economic Development at HOPE, and Rashida Ferdinand, Founder and Executive Director of the Sankofa Community Development Corporation (CDC), to our Remarkable Credit Union podcast to talk more about why small businesses matter and how credit unions can better support their growth. We also

We look forward to continuing to support HOPE’s important work in the year to come!