Surrey, B.C., Coast Capital has been awarded a 2020 Canadian Credit Union Association, National Credit Union Award in the category of social responsibility for the organization’s Help Heroes Employee Volunteer Program. The award was handed out at last week’s 2020 virtual awards ceremony.
Enhanced and relaunched in 2018, building on 13 years of history, the Coast Capital Savings Help Heroes program is a high impact, employee-centric volunteer program that encourages employees to give back to their community with company support and incentives.
“Coast Capital’s purpose is, together, we help empower you to achieve what’s important in your life,” explains Maureen Young, Director, Community Leadership at Coast Capital. “Our reimagined program strives to align employees with both our organization-wide purpose, and their personal purpose to connect what is important to them here at work and in their lives outside of work.”
The program’s multiple components, and International Volunteer Opportunities, each provide employees the opportunity to power their purpose with reward dollars for each tracked volunteer hour that is donated to the Canadian charity or cause of the employees choosing. Coast Capital volunteers earn $10 for each hour of tracked time up to a maximum of $1,000 per calendar year as well as paid time to participate in volunteer activities of their choosing as individuals and together with their teams.
“Giving back to our communities is something that is a big part of our of who we are as a cooperative organization,” Young says. “Credit unions were established to serve their communities in a way that other financial institutions couldn’t and that is something that we continue to hold to as a value and the foundation of much of what we do and how we do it. The Help Heroes program gives our employees the opportunity to remain true to their personal purpose but also honour the credit union’s legacy. It is a program that we feel very strongly contributes to the health, vitality and spirit of every community we serve.”
In 2019 alone, through the Help Heroes program, Coast Capital employees logged nearly 15,000 hours, donated over $100,000 to causes important to them and supported over 413 Canadian non-profits.
For more on Coast Capital’s Help Heroes program, visit the website.
About Coast Capital Savings
Coast Capital Savings is Canada’s largest credit union by membership and B.C.’s first credit union to become a federal credit union. Owned by its 593,000 members, Coast Capital offers banking and investment services digitally and through its 52 branches in the Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Okanagan, and Vancouver Island regions of British Columbia. An Imagine Canada Caring Company and a Certified B Corporation in recognition of its social performance, Coast Capital invests 10 per cent of its bottom line in youth focused community organizations, programs, partnerships and events. The credit union has been recognized as one of Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures™, and holds a Best Managed Companies Platinum Club designation. Coast Capital has a history of introducing innovative products to help their members achieve financial wellbeing including Canada’s first free chequing account from a full-service financial institution. To learn more, visit coastcapitalsavings.com.