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Desjardins Youth and Adult Financial Literacy Award
Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award
Louise Herring Philosophy in Action Member Service Award
Moses C. Davis Awards

As CUNA extends its national focus on financial literacy, some changes have been made to the annual industry awards programs. The following changes are designed to draw attention to the need for lifelong financial literacy and to clarify the differences among the recognition programs.

 
Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award and Adult Financial Education Award
CUNA has created the Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award, which will recognize model credit union efforts to teach personal finance concepts and skills to members and nonmembers age 18 and older. The adult award will complement the well-established Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award.

As in previous years, the Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award recognizes leadership on behalf of youth financial literacy. It considers all activities supporting the personal finance education of young (18 and under) members and nonmembers including, but not limited to, face-to-face teaching, publicity, lobbying for curriculum requirements, teacher and volunteer training, and promotion and use of the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program® (HSFPP) (involvement in the NEFE program is not required for entries). Credit union chapters (or groups) and individual credit unions are eligible to enter.

Naming the new award after Alphonse Desjardins emphasizes the movement's long-time commitment to youth. Besides founding the first credit unions in Canada and the U.S., Desjardins pioneered youth savings clubs and in-school "banks," known as caisses scolaires.

Dora Maxwell & Louise Herring Awards
The Dora Maxwell and Louise Herring Awards call on credit unions to fulfill the words of pioneer Edward A. Filene when he said, "there is an urgent need to bridge the chasms in human society, and cement the brotherhood of man." The Awards honor two "founders" of the credit union movement whose careers were characterized by tireless work on behalf of their communities and credit unions.

 
The Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award recognizes model credit union, chapter or multiple credit union group efforts to strengthen local institutions and materially improve the lives of nonmembers through community outreach programs other than personal finance education. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, raising funds for a charity, community involvement projects, such as a volunteer fair, building low-income housing, or collecting contributions for a food bank. (Note that lobbying on behalf of school personal finance curriculum requirements now falls under this program, while teaching personal finance in schools remains with Desjardins.)

 
The Louise Herring Philosophy in Action Member Service Award recognizes the efforts of a model credit union to materially improve members’ lives through programs offered to its members other than personal finance education. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, member programs for groups that are often economically or otherwise challenged and programs that do an extraordinary job of encouraging money management and consumer financial education.  (Note that operating a student-run in-school branch now falls under this program, while teaching personal finance in schools remains with Desjardins.). Only individual credit unions are eligible to enter.

CUNA Award Differentiation Chart

 
Moses C. Davis Awards
Since its inception in 1985, the Moses C. Davis Awards have recognized the very best volunteers and professionals of the Georgia credit union movement.

The awards are given in recognition of the highest traditions of service and professionalism that Moses C. Davis embodied. Moses Davis is widely recognized as the founding father of the Georgia credit union movement. The Moses C. Davis Award is a tribute to his tireless commitment to the credit union movement and is presented to volunteers and professionals who personify the credit union philosophy – "People Helping People." Each of the candidates nominated is worthy of the recognition. Their credit unions are better for their efforts, as are the lives of the members they work so hard to serve.