VACUPAC Tallies $165K in Contributions for 2020; Highest Total in More Than a Decade CONTACT: Lewis Wood Vice President, Public Relations & Communication 800.768.3344, ext. 629 lwood@vacul.org Thank you to all the credit unions and individuals who participated in Virginia Credit Union Political Action Committee (VACUPAC) fundraising in 2020. The $165,334 contributed in 2020 is the most money VACUPAC has raised during the past decade. “We appreciate the tremendous support of our credit unions during the past year,” noted League President Rick Pillow. “Political fundraising is of vital importance in advancing credit unions’ legislative agenda at the state and federal levels.” Participation by individual contributors has remained remarkably steady in recent years, averaging 1,000 participants annually during the past decade. A total of 749 individuals participated in 2020, though it’s likely the pandemic negatively affected credit unions’ VACUPAC solicitation programs. Fortunately, new initiatives like solicitation of corporate contributions from state-chartered credit unions had a positive, outsized impact on contributions in 2020. Virginia’s state-chartered credit unions are authorized by law to make corporate-level political contributions to political action committees (PACs), though they do face additional tax liability on such contributions. Federal law prohibits federally chartered credit unions from making such contributions to either political action committee or candidates for statewide or federal office. Eligible funds from VACUPAC are forwarded to CUNA to support legislative allies at the federal level. Credit unions’ efforts to engage employees also paid huge dividends, with some credit unions implementing payroll deduction options for VACUPAC to boost participation. A number of credit unions have also made a concerted effort to achieve recognition in our “100% clubs,” which recognize credit unions with some combination of staff, officials and management reaching 100% participation in VACUPAC. “I’m proud of the efforts we’ve made in recent years to boost awareness of VACUPAC and what it does to support credit unions’ advocacy efforts,” said Pillow. “I’m also proud of the good work of the StateWide Advocacy Council in helping build interest among our credit union leaders.” The League celebrated another political fundraising milestone in 2020, with credit unions contributing $35,000 to the League’s Political Administrative Fund, bringing total contributions to the PAF to $225,000 since its start in 2015. The PAF complements VACUPAC and our grassroots political fundraising efforts, providing us the resources to engage in political events not otherwise possible through VACUPAC. For example, we’ve used the funds to host political fundraisers at the Credit Union House of Virginia. “What a remarkable level of support, given that contributions to the PAF are completely voluntary on the part of our credit unions,” said Pillow. “This speaks to credit unions’ commitment to our advocacy initiatives and their understanding of the necessity of having the financial resources on hand to promote and protect our movement.”
