Resources for Starting a Local Banking Campaign in Your Community

As part of the New Rules Project's Community Banking Initiative, we have compiled the following resources to help community groups, including Independent Business Alliances and Local First organizations, develop local public educational campaigns that convey the benefits of choosing a locally owned community bank or credit union and help people make the switch.

Please let us know if you have questions, suggestions on what else to include here, or campaign materials from your community to share. We'll be adding more to this page over time, so please check back or sign-up for periodic updates.

We also encourage you to visit the Move Your Money site. 

FLYERS

Top 5 Reasons to Choose a Community Bank or Credit Union

7 Simple Steps to Move Your Checking Account

DEFINITIONS

We define a community bank as one that is locally owned and rooted in a particular community, and that has less than $1 billion in assets. (In banking, the term "assets" includes the total value of items, primarily loans, that are due to the bank. A bank's capital is a small fraction of its assets.) There are currently 7,344 community banks in the United States. Collectively, they hold 12 percent of U.S. deposits.

Credit unions are non-profit financial institutions that are owned and operated by their members, who must share a defined common bond - they are all employees of the same firm, for example, or live in the same community. There are 7,806 credit unions in the United States. They account for about 6 percent of U.S. deposits. All but about 150 of these institutions have assets of less than $1 billion.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are mission-driven institutions that provide financial services to underserved communities. They include credit unions, banks, and loan funds. To be certified as a CDFI by the U.S. Treasury Department, an institution must meet specific criteria regarding the share of its loans and other services that flow to low-income areas. The U.S. is home to several hundred CDFI banks and credit unions.

HOW TO IDENTIFY COMMUNITY BANKS & CREDIT UNIONS IN YOUR AREA

The best way to produce a list of banks operating in your area is to use the FDIC's Deposit Market Share report, through which you can obtain a list of all the banks operating in a particular city, metropolitan region, county, or state. The resulting report will tell you how many offices and deposits each bank has, both within the local area and nationally. This allows you to identify small, local banks, as well as see the share of your community's deposits held by big banks.

Many state community bank associations also maintain online directories, but keep in mind that these organizations may define "community bank" differently. Move Your Money has a handy online search tool as well (although it includes banks of up to $65 billion in assets). 

To find credit unions in your area, search the Credit Union National Association's credit union locater.  Note: This is a directory of all credit unions, including large, non-local credit unions. To determine the asset size of a particular credit union, look it up in the National Credit Union Administration's database. (You can use the NCUA database to identify local credit unions too, but, in our experience, the CUNA directory works better.)

GRAPHS AND CHARTS

You can rely on our growing collection of graphs to convey important information about the benefits of choosing local banks and credit unions. Go here to browse all of our graphs and charts. See in particular:

Average Consumer Fees by Size of Financial Institution
Small banks are significantly less expensive than big banks.

Consumer Services Available at Community Banks
Most community banks offer the same breadth of services as big banks, from credit cards to online bill paying.

Small Banks and Small Business Lending
Community banks do far more small business lending than big banks.

USEFUL ARTICLES

• Big Banks Want You Back | March 11, 2010
  Those who wonder whether public anger at big banks and the Move Your Money sentiment sweeping the country is substantial enough to impact these giants need only look at the banks' own marketing over the last few weeks to see the proof.

• Move Your Money and Save | Feb. 22, 2010
  New data show that big banks impose much higher costs on their customers than small banks and credit unions do.

• Banks and Small Business Lending | Feb. 10, 2010
  Although small and mid-sized banks control only 22 percent of all bank assets, they account for 54 percent of small business lending. Increasingly the availability of financing for local businesses in your community is one of the most compelling reasons to move your money to a local financial institution. 

• Move Your Borrowing Along with Your Money | Jan. 29, 2010
  As we start down the path of breaking up with the big banks and exercising our economic citizenship on behalf of our own interests and that of our communities, we should think about the whole range of financial services we use.

EXAMPLES OF "BANK LOCAL" CAMPAIGN MATERIALS

• Portland's Local Banking Campaign resources:
  • Campaign flyer
  • Complete list of ranked banks and credit unions.
  • Criteria used to rank banks and credit unions.

•  Bank Local campaign developed by Sonoma County Go Local:
  • Bank Local video
  • Why Bank Local?
  • Measuring Localness

• Print ads produced by a coalition of local business alliances in the Bay Area, including Oakland Grown, Buy Local Berkeley, the Sustainable Business Alliance, and the East Bay Express. Also see the coalition's guide to making community-conscious financial choices. 

• "Make the switch" ad by OneCalifornia Bank in Oakland, California.

• "Move Your Money" message on the back cover of Somerville Local First's annual guide.

• "Move Your Money Local" ad by Westerra Credit Union in Denver

MOVING PUBLIC MONEY

A growing number of states and cities are considering legislation that would move government bank accounts to small community banks and credit unions. Local business alliances and community organizations have been instrumental in pushing for these policies.  You can find more information and model bills here.

TIPS FOR TRACKING YOUR PROGRESS

• Develop relationships with local banks and credit unions and ask them to report any increase in new accounts and other activity resulting from your campaign.

• Once a year, the FDIC publishes market share reports. You can see the share of deposits held by each bank operating in your city, metropolitan region, county, or state, and track any changes over time.

CONTACT US

Please let us know if you have questions, suggestions on what else to include here, or campaign materials from your community to share. We'll be adding more to this page over time, so please check back or sign-up for periodic updates.