Uncommon Giving CEO Andy Howell Speaks About the Power of Volunteerism At GAC 2024

Alongside the various financial services they provide, charity is another way credit unions can support their communities. Not only can it help bring credit union staff and the community closer together, it can fellow staff members closer together as well. Of course, if you plan to organize a charity project across the whole credit union, it helps to have a little backup.

At GAC 2024, Sarah Cooke got the chance to talk with Uncommon Giving CEO Andy Howell and discuss the eagerness and readiness of credit unions to give to their respective communities. Howell also talks about the Uncommon Giving platform and how automation can make it easier for credit unions to give.

Read the full transcript below:

Disclosure: Transcript is automatically generated

Sarah Cooke 00:02
Welcome again to the exhibit hall floor or the GAC 2024. I'm here with Andy from Uncommon Giving, once you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about what Uncommon Giving does.

Andy Howell 00:13

Alright, well, I'm Andy Howell, I'm CEO of Uncommon Giving, we automate Community Impact programs for credit unions and banks, we basically provide a platform for employee giving, and volunteering. And if a company does something even extra special, like does matching gifts or allows for payroll deduction, we automate and enable that. And we, we enable companies to set up great volunteer opportunities to get their teams together, doing valuable things in the community. And then we provide that data to the, to the company so they can tell their story, you know, both internally and externally. That's

Sarah Cooke 00:46
great. Yeah. Pretty and certainly need assistance with that. Love the storytelling, yes, yes, it's a powerful tool. So how's the show going for you guys so far?

Andy Howell 00:56

Show's been great, you know, we've had a lot of interest, and a lot of people coming by we're, we it's our first time, as you know, and so I am amazed at how big it is. Yeah, it's really fun having people come by. And, you know, they're asking us about it, they're genuinely interested in generosity, they, we've been overwhelmed by, you know, how much these people these these groups are doing in their communities. But, you know, we've heard, we've heard people are looking for a little bit easier administration of it, maybe a little bit more organization. And definitely that thing we just talked about a little bit easier way to tell their story. So they're communicating all the great things they're doing in their community, right and more consistently,

Sarah Cooke 01:31
in their community that also adds employers, I keep bringing this up, I want credit unions to be employers of choice.

Andy Howell 01:36

I think we've heard that so much. And you know, people are looking for good talent, they want to recruit people, they want to retain people, they want to support them, you know, what resonates for them. And so a platform like ours, at least gives you an opportunity to give your employees choice about where they spend their time or their money. And just do it, you know, really easy, brought to you by your employer.

Sarah Cooke 01:57
right, right. Yeah. And so what are some of the trends that you all are seeing and giving or giving technologies? And?

Andy Howell 02:05

Well, I think that probably the biggest one that I'm seeing more consistently, this week, which has been really fun is the power of volunteerism. So if we talk about people talk about volunteers, we need to do more of that, we need to do more of that. And it's interesting, because I think of it as like one of those activities that just ticks all the boxes. I mean, it's great for your community. And it gives your employees are looking for ways to get out and make an impact in the community. But it's really so powerful for things like career development, or skills based volunteering. So people can go out and do something really valuable for a nonprofit in their community. But it actually helps them build their skill set, and then getting teams together. So we don't all get to see each other all the time in the workplace like we used to. So it's a great way to get people together to go do something that's really impactful. And then they build sort of, I would say even a more powerful relationship than we used to do by the watercooler.

Sarah Cooke 02:58
Right. Right. Yeah, no, absolutely. That sounds great. And very Credit Union line. Well, thank you so much.

Andy Howell 03:07

We also heard involving their members, ya know, in sort of in sort of this and we are platform is a could be a kind of a neat, unique member benefits. You know, and so we had a lot of people ask us about that. Excellent, awesome.

Sarah Cooke 03:19
Well, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Andy Howell 03:21

Thank you.