Leveraging the Power of Open Associations to Grow Credit Union Membership

Expanding a credit union's field of membership (FOM) is one of the most direct ways to reach more members, but many credit unions find themselves boxed in by geographic boundaries, exhausted Select Employee Group (SEG) opportunities, or prospects who simply do not qualify. Open associations offer a practical answer to these challenges, and the regulatory environment is making them more accessible than ever.

What Are Associations and Who Can Add Them

At a basic level, associations are groups of people connected by a shared interest or purpose. When a credit union includes an association within its field of membership, all members of that association become eligible to join the credit union. This creates a built-in pathway to membership that does not rely on geographic or employer ties.

Associations can be added by federal multiple common bond credit unions, as well as federal community credit unions that have a limited affinity clause. For state-chartered credit unions, the ability to add an association and the applicable rules vary by state chartering authority, so it is important to understand your specific state rules.

The Strategy Behind Associations

Associations solve one of the biggest challenges credit unions face: eligibility barriers. They allow credit unions to expand beyond geographic limitations and support scalable, digital-driven growth. As Leslie Hemenway, Advisory Consultant at CUCollaborate, explained, "You're no longer limited to who can walk into a branch or who lives nearby. You could run a digital campaign, generate interest from any geography, and then convert those interested individuals into eligible members through the association."

Strong signals that an association may be right for your credit union include:

• Frequently turning away interested prospects due to eligibility restrictions
• Geographic FOM boundaries limiting growth opportunities
• Membership growth slowing as SEG expansion opportunities are exhausted
• Marketing campaigns generating interest from individuals who do not qualify
• Real-World Success Stories

Credit unions are using associational expansion in a number of ways to fortify strategic growth initiatives. Dom Patacsil, also from CUCollaborate's market expansion team, shared several examples during a recent webinar.

Sub-County Geographic Rules: Federal multiple common bond credit unions that serve underserved areas often work with census tracts rather than full counties. Because census tracts are less intuitive than counties, associations can serve as a stopgap to "fill the gaps" so credit unions can memberize more easily across a geographic area.

Bank Acquisition: One federal community credit union converted to a federal MCB charter to support an ongoing bank acquisition. The credit union added underserved areas in the bank's core service facility markets and used an association to ensure that customers living outside those markets would still have a pathway to eligibility.

SEG Deterioration: Another credit union saw major manufacturers on its SEG list shutter their doors due to economic hardship in the service area. By adding an association, the credit union continued extending eligibility across its community while its business development team worked to rebuild SEG relationships and strengthen the cooperative.

NCUA Deregulation: Advancing Associational Flexibility

The NCUA is actively considering changes that would make it easier for credit unions to define what meets the criteria for an association. Under Round 9 of the deregulation project, a proposed change would remove the automatic disqualification of groups that require a purchase to join, shifting instead to a case-by-case review using NCUA's "totality of circumstances" criteria. Public comments are being accepted until June 8, 2026.

This signals that the NCUA sees associational expansion as a meaningful pathway for credit union growth and is working to promote the flexibility credit unions need to strengthen the movement as a whole.

Choosing the Right Associational Partner

Selecting an association should align with your credit union's mission and vision. CUCollaborate works with several associational partners, each bringing a distinct mission:

• Smarter Savings Association provides clear financial education and simple tools to support confident money choices, with broad member eligibility and no restrictions on age, geography, or citizenship.
• TriUnity Foundation provides grants via credit union partners to individuals facing terminal illness, offering peace of mind during life's most difficult season.
• Community Impact Fund partners with employers to empower A.L.I.C.E. (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) individuals toward financial security, including through its no and low interest impact loan fund.

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Many credit unions choose to work with more than one association as a risk management strategy. The NCUA does not limit the number of associations a credit union can add, so diversifying associational partners reduces reliance on any single organization for non-community based memberization.

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The Application Process

Timelines vary based on the size of the association and the specific regulator, whether that is a state regulator or the NCUA. As a general rule of thumb, plan for two to three months from start to approval. CUCollaborate advises credit unions to build in conservative timelines to account for regulatory review.

What Comes Next: Operationalizing Your Association

Adding an association should change how your credit union approaches the member acquisition process as a whole. As Patacsil put it, "In most instances, when you have an association, it allows you to be quieter about your field of membership. You can be more inviting of applications, knowing that with a broad toolkit of field of membership rules, you likely have a pathway to make someone a member."

The challenge then shifts from eligibility gatekeeping to workflow design. Once an association is in place, the priority becomes getting applicants to a "yes, you meet our eligibility criteria" decision as efficiently as possible. That often means redesigning membership applications, rethinking how you talk about who you serve, and becoming more inclusive in your outreach overall.

For smaller credit unions in particular, this can be transformative. A credit union with a single common bond that can only serve certain locations of its sponsor organization, for example, can use an association to stop having to explain the fine print and instead simply tell prospective members, "We can serve you now." It does not strip the credit union of its identity. It allows it to lean into its story without turning every conversation into a description of eligibility.

Is an Open Association Right for Your Credit Union?

An open association may be the right strategy if you are:

• Turning away interested prospects due to FOM limitations
• Looking to expand digitally beyond your geographic footprint
• Facing SEG deterioration or exhausted expansion opportunities
• Pursuing a bank acquisition or merger that requires broader eligibility pathways
• Serving sub-county geographies and looking to create more continuity for prospective members

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Final Thoughts

Open associations give credit unions a flexible, scalable way to overcome eligibility barriers and grow membership beyond traditional geographic or employer-based limits. With NCUA deregulation advancing and a growing network of mission-aligned associational partners available, the opportunity has never been more accessible.

At CUCollaborate, we help credit unions select the right associational partners, manage the application process with regulators, and operationalize associations to drive real membership growth. If you are ready to explore what open associations could mean for your credit union, let's start the conversation.