The importance of donations

 

How can I help the Permaculture Credit Union?

There are many ways to contribute to the Permaculture Credit Union’s mission. Please send a message to the Board expressing your interest and providing contact information and someone will follow up with you.

But the most important thing to help us grow and increase our impact is to donate to our Capital Fund. Credit union regulations require that we add $1.00 to our permanent Capital Fund for each $14.29 in member deposits. In other words, our Capital Fund must exceed 7.00% of member deposits. Our Capital Fund is a reserve of money that the credit union uses to protect the deposits and loans of our members.

There are only two ways to increase our Capital Fund:

· Donations from supporters like you

· Earning and retaining a profit from our lending operations

Your donation helps us serve unmet demand for our services

We have just reached the point at which we are earning a small profit for the first time this year. But without your donations we do not project that we can grow faster than approximately 4% annually. This is respectable, but does not allow us to serve all of the demand for our services. This is unfortunate, but it is a situation you can help to correct. With your donations we can grow and meet this demand much more quickly.

How your donation to our Capital Fund works

Your donation to our Capital Fund allows us to bring in more member deposits, which allows us to provide more loans, which increases our impact significantly and sustainably.

Example donation

Capital         -> Deposits -> Loans -> Positive Impact

$70 donation -> $1000 new deposits -> $1000 new loans -> 14x impact!

If you estimate that if each loan is made for five years, over the course of one generation (25 years) your donation will be leveraged to benefit the planet 71 times!

And if we use the Native American concept of considering the effects of our actions on the next seven generations, your donation will make a positive impact 497 times greater than its cost to you. We are in this for the long haul, and your donation will be too.

Unique leverage and impact

We are not aware of another environmental organization that can offer you this kind of leverage on your donation.

• Your donations are tax deductible[1].
• Your donations are immediately leveraged 14 times via new loans that we will be able to make.
• Your donations are “evergreen” and need only be made once to help the Credit Union indefinitely because your donation will likely never be spent. Your donation helps year after year.

Donations allow us to offer new services

Your donation allows us to grow, and as we grow we can offer more services. Services we look forward to offering include:

• More first mortgages
• Checking
• Small business loans

Your donations will help us move closer to offering these services.

Who else has donated to the Permaculture Credit Union?

• We have already received many donations from members like you.
• In addition, we have received support of repeated gifts from an anonymous donor, RSF Social Finance and the McCune Charitable Foundation.

How are we different from other credit unions?

Most credit unions are created by established corporations or associations that can provide them with “start up” capital. Unlike these other credit unions, we are organized around shared values and have not had access to similar resources. This is an opportunity to serve a broad membership, but it is also a challenge because we must solicit donations (capital contributions) individual by individual, which is slower and more difficult. But you can help us, and in doing so you become a part of a movement to heal our planet and our communities.

Thank you for your support.

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[1] When made through our sister organization, the Permaculture Guild. 98% of your donation will go directly to our Capital Fund and can be claimed as a charitable 501 c(3) donation on your tax return.