The Results Are In! 130,000 Credit Union Employees Participated in CU Forward Day Nationwide

Over 300 credit unions in six states participated in coordinated service events on the Federal Holiday in October. In addition to collective volunteering, the annual kindness day initiative raised nearly $550,000 impacting over 2,000 organizations.

Nearly 130,000 credit union employees gave back to organizations, members, and communities by stocking food shelves, helping seniors with yard work, and serving dinner for cancer patients and their caregivers.

​Saint Paul, MN-based Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union hosted its first organization-wide Plus It Forward Day in 2013. A play on “pay it forward,” the Plus It Forward concept grew out of an employee-driven idea of what it meant to be a part of the community and how credit unions could randomly spread kindness. As the concept grew among additional credit unions, the Minnesota Credit Union Network assumed the coordination under the umbrella name “CU Forward Day” starting in 2017, and has continued to hold it annually on the second Monday in October.

CU Forward 2024 Wrap Up by Julia Miller

Over a decade later, this Kindness Day Initiative has spread to six states – Illinois, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In Minnesota, 58 credit unions participated with over 4,000 volunteers spending 18,865 hours on one day giving back.

​The initiative will take place next year on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025.