Voting Underway for AEFCU’s Cash Back to the Community Program
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — American Eagle Financial Credit Union (AEFCU) is continuing its mission of supporting nonprofit organizations and the communities it serves by inviting both its members and the general public to take part in choosing the next round of winners for the credit union’s participatory funding program, Cash Back to the Community.
Entering its second year, AEFCU’s Cash Back to the Community program yielded $86,425 in total donations in 2020, providing assistance to financially strained nonprofits during the historic COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to its growing popularity and success in assisting organizations in need, the credit union announced in early January that the quarterly program would continue through 2021 and once again asked the public to nominate nonprofit and/or 501(c)(3) organizations that fit within the program’s qualifying guidelines for the next round of voting.
“When we kicked off Cash Back to the Community at the start of 2020, no one knew how challenging the coming year would be for nonprofit organizations,” said Dean Marchessault, president and CEO of AEFCU. “Each of our recipients make a difference in our members’ communities every single day, and we’re thrilled that we were able to support these deserving organizations and connect our members and the public to our philanthropic efforts. The response to this program has been overwhelming, and we hope that the amazing amount of participation we’ve experienced thus far continues in this latest round of voting.”
As in 2020, American Eagle’s Cash Back to the Community program will donate a portion of its credit- and debit-card interchange income to three organizations at the end of each quarter’s voting period this year. Funding for the program is generated each time its members use an American Eagle Financial Credit Union credit or debit card. At the end of each quarter, 1% of the total interchange income — the fee paid for credit- and debit-card transactions — will be distributed to the three top qualified nonprofits as voted on by a combination of the credit union’s members and the public.
The voting form and the list of nominated organizations for the latest installment of Cash Back to the Community can be found at americaneagle.org/cashbacktothecommunity. Voting ends on March 28, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.