Blake Jones July 23, 2019
Never one to risk burying the lead, I’ll skip straight to the million dollars. Clean Energy Credit Union has just received what may be its most prominent and exciting vote-of-confidence to date. Coincident with our 1,000-member milestone, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation recently awarded us a grant donation in the amount of $1.0M! The Hewlett Foundation is a huge supporter of climate impact work and, as such, they recognize an innovative and promising venture when they see one. This award is a high-profile nod to what we and 1,000+ members already know—small investments add up to big changes. The generous grant will be used to expand our clean energy lending capacity and to hire six additional staff members, increasing our full time human resources from four to ten.
Speaking of expanded lending capacity, our loan demand continues to outpace our deposit levels. This unmet potential means that somewhere, a whole bunch of people would rather be using clean energy, but might continue using the dirty alternatives until there’s money available for us to loan them. If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a member and/or making additional deposits to help support our outsized clean energy borrowing demand. Literally, every dollar you deposit translates to more clean energy in the mix. We guarantee it.
Presently, your Clean Energy Credit Union deposit options include savings accounts, clean energy CDs, and IRAs. By the end of 2019, we’re expecting to offer checking accounts and money market accounts as well. Our goal is to provide a full slate of low-minimum investment options for clean energy supporters—something for everyone and every budget. On the borrowing side, we continue to offer some of the lowest interest rates for solar PV systems, electric vehicles, and green home improvements. We’re specifically interested in funding more electric vehicle purchases so if you’re looking at a new EV or would like to refinance the one you have, visit cleanenergycu.org for details.
Finally, we thought a couple of simple infographics would help illustrate the depth and breadth of your investments to date. By the time you’re reading this, our clean energy loans will number 650+ to the tune of over $10M – and we’ll have an even greater number of pending loan applications in our queue – and we’re just getting started! Thanks for doing your part to preserve and expand the momentum of environmental stewardship. Indeed, small investments add up to big changes.