credit union business plan template

Credit unions

Writing a business plan: credit unions.

If you wish to set up a credit union, find out how to write a business plan to support your organisation.

On this page

• Who writes the business plan
• What to include in a business plan
• Review your business plan
• More information

All credit unions must have a business plan.

The business plan is an important tool that the board will use to:

• direct the credit union’s activities
• monitor its performance
• identify risk
• set out objectives of the credit union

You’ll need a draft business plan before you can apply for authorisation to become a credit union.

The board is responsible for writing and updating the plan. But it may ask the chief executive or the general manager to write it.

The plan should be a rolling plan, covering the current year and the next two financial years.

It should include:

• the aims of the credit union
• the objectives of the credit union
• details of how the union will organise its resources to meet those aims and objectives

When you’re writing the plan, think about:

• what you want to achieve
• how you’re going to do it
• what resources you need, eg money, staff, systems and equipment
• possible risks, ie, what might adversely affect what you’re trying to achieve
• what you can do to lessen the risks and their effects

If you think it’s useful, you can add historical or biographical information, but keep this in a separate document.

We don’t provide templates for business plans because plans are specific to each credit union.

Remember to:

• write clearly and concisely
• structure the plan well
• present and print the plan professionally

It is important that you review your business plan annually or as and when necessary. This review should reflect on:

• what has changed
• how the initial plan has worked
• what risks can be identified and how they can be mitigated
• what your objectives are and how they be achieved

Read more about writing a business plan .

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Creating a Business Plan

The decision to create a business plan is an important one, whether you are starting a new business or growing an established one. A solid business plan is fundamental to long-term business success.

It serves two main purposes:

• It acts as a roadmap for your business.
• It is a tool that helps you obtain outside financing.

While the phrase “creating a business plan” may conjure up feelings of trepidation and dread, it will not be as difficult if you break your business plan down into its more essential parts.

Why Do You Need a Business Plan?

Benjamin Franklin said it best: “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” While a business plan will not guarantee success, failing to have one almost guarantees that you will not find the success you seek.

Remember the roadmap analogy? It is an accurate one to consider. The first thing you need to do before creating the roadmap, though, is to figure out where you are heading.

In order to do that, you should ask yourself four simple questions.

• How do you want your business to look in one year?
• How would you like it to look in three years?
• Where do you want to see your business going in five years?
• What would you like to have accomplished by your tenth year in business?

Seek the answers to those questions, keeping in mind profits, revenues, expansion, growth and other critical drivers and metrics for your business.

What Does a Business Plan Include?

In order to build the roadmap to reach your intended business destinations in a timely manner, you must include key pieces of information and analysis in your plan. The many moving parts of running your business become the fundamental building blocks of your long-term business plan. Consider each of them a pit stop along the road to business success.

Business Concept

Your business concept is a summation of your company in a few concise and simple sentences. It should clearly communicate the idea, design or value proposition behind your business so that a customer, investor or potential partner can quickly grasp what you will do and the value it will provide. Keep the concept statement to one paragraph.

Business Strategy

Your business strategy provides the detail on how you will execute the business concept. It describes your industry, explains your product or service, and the critical factors that will drive your business success. Those factors might include such things as your management team, operational plans or cost advantages. In essence, it is an executive summary that explains why your business is uniquely suited to succeed.

Specific things you should consider while creating the strategy section of your plan include:

• Products or services offered now.
• Products or services to offer in the future.
• The size of the market.
• How the market is changing.
• Industry trends.

Market Analysis

In the market analysis section of your plan, you need to explore the ins and outs of your potential customers or markets.

• Who are they?
• Where are they?
• What motivates them to buy the items or services you offer?
• What do they want or need from you?
• How are you going to attract new customers?
• What do you plan to do to keep them coming back?

Most importantly, though, is to answer this one question: “How are you profitably going to meet the needs of your target customer?”

Competitive Analysis

In order to be complete, your marketplace analysis must pay attention to your competitors. This is necessary whether you are an established business looking to expand or a new business interested in taking business away from other established businesses in the area.

Questions to ask yourself here, include:

• How is your business going to succeed in a market that is already being sufficiently served by another business in your industry?
• Is there sufficient demand to bring another business into the market or expand your existing business?

Financial Analysis

This section of your business plan will look at the financial aspects of your business. As a new business you will need to include:

• Break-even analysis.
• Financial ratio calculations.
• Internal and external funding requirements.
• Projected revenues and profits over one, three, and five-year terms.

Don’t forget to include plans for assets the business needs to acquire and the costs of the marketing plan the business intends to follow coming out of the gate.

Existing businesses need to include cash flow statements, balance sheets, and pro-forma income statements, for example.

Keep in mind, you should provide information that will assist potential lenders (banks and credit unions) and investors in approving loans or green-lighting investments in your business.

Maintaining Your Business Plan

You should not just write a business plan and place it in a drawer. To get the most benefit from it, it should be a dynamic evolving plan. You must adjust your plan as necessary with changing markets, new product concepts, evolving technology, need for additional financing, and goal achievements, just to name a few. An old business plan may not reflect reality any longer, so be sure to revisit your business plan periodically. Having a update checklist helps you to do just that.

In the beginning, making a business plan may seem like a onerous task. It can be simpler if you break it down into its individual components. Once you have a plan in place, you will begin to see the effectiveness of how such a simple business tool can take the guesswork out of starting a business or growing one.

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Financial calculator.

How to Start a Credit Union

Starting a credit union can be very profitable. With proper planning, execution and hard work, you can enjoy great success. Below you will learn the keys to launching a successful credit union.

Importantly, a critical step in starting a credit union is to complete your business plan. To help you out, you should download Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template here .

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here

14 Steps To Start a Credit Union :

• Choose the Name for Your Credit Union
• Develop Your Credit Union Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Credit Union
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Credit Union (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Credit Union with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Credit Union
• Buy or Lease the Right Credit Union Equipment
• Develop Your Credit Union Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Credit Union
• Open for Business

1. Choose the Name for Your Credit Union

The first step to starting a credit union is to choose your business’ name.  

This is a very important choice since your company name is your brand and will last for the lifetime of your business. Ideally you choose a name that is meaningful and memorable. Here are some tips for choosing a name for your credit union:

• Make sure the name is available . Check your desired name against trademark databases and your state’s list of registered business names to see if it’s available. Also check to see if a suitable domain name is available.
• Keep it simple . The best names are usually ones that are easy to remember, pronounce and spell.
• Think about marketing . Come up with a name that reflects the desired brand and/or focus of your credit union.

2. Develop Your Credit Union Business Plan

One of the most important steps in starting a credit union is to develop your business plan. The process of creating your plan ensures that you fully understand your market and your business strategy. The plan also provides you with a roadmap to follow and if needed, to present to funding sources to raise capital for your business.

Your business plan should include the following sections:

• Executive Summary – this section should summarize your entire business plan so readers can quickly understand the key details of your credit union.
• Company Overview – this section tells the reader about the history of your credit union and what type of credit union you operate. For example, are you a corporate, community, state-chartered, faith-based, or a federal credit union?
• Industry Analysis – here you will document key information about the credit union industry. Conduct market research and document how big the industry is and what trends are affecting it.
• Customer Analysis – in this section, you will document who your ideal or target customers are and their demographics. For example, how old are they? Where do they live? What do they find important when purchasing services like the ones you will offer?
• Competitive Analysis – here you will document the key direct and indirect competitors you will face and how you will build competitive advantage.
• Marketing Plan – your marketing plan should address the 4Ps: Product, Price, Promotions and Place.
• Product : Determine and document what products/services you will offer 
• Prices : Document the prices of your products/services
• Place : Where will your business be located and how will that location help you increase sales?
• Promotions : What promotional methods will you use to attract customers to your credit union? For example, you might decide to use pay-per-click advertising, public relations, search engine optimization and/or social media marketing.
• Operations Plan – here you will determine the key processes you will need to run your day-to-day operations. You will also determine your staffing needs. Finally, in this section of your plan, you will create a projected growth timeline showing the milestones you hope to achieve in the coming years.
• Management Team – this section details the background of your company’s management team.
• Financial Plan – finally, the financial plan answers questions including the following:
• What startup costs will you incur?
• How will your credit union make money?
• What are your projected sales and expenses for the next five years?
• Do you need to raise funding to launch your business?

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

3. choose the legal structure for your credit union.

Next you need to choose a legal structure for your credit union and register it and your business name with the Secretary of State in each state where you operate your business.

Below are the five most common legal structures:

1) Sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a business entity in which the owner of the credit union and the business are the same legal person. The owner of a sole proprietorship is responsible for all debts and obligations of the business. There are no formalities required to establish a sole proprietorship, and it is easy to set up and operate. The main advantage of a sole proprietorship is that it is simple and inexpensive to establish. The main disadvantage is that the owner is liable for all debts and obligations of the business.

2) Partnerships

A partnership is a legal structure that is popular among small businesses. It is an agreement between two or more people who want to open a credit union together. The partners share in the profits and losses of the business. 

The advantages of a partnership are that it is easy to set up, and the partners share in the profits and losses of the business. The disadvantages of a partnership are that the partners are jointly liable for the debts of the business, and disagreements between partners can be difficult to resolve.

3) Limited Liability Company (LLC)

A limited liability company, or LLC, is a type of business entity that provides limited liability to its owners. This means that the owners of an LLC are not personally responsible for the debts and liabilities of the business. The advantages of an LLC for a credit union include flexibility in management, pass-through taxation (avoids double taxation as explained below), and limited personal liability. The disadvantages of an LLC include lack of availability in some states and self-employment taxes.

4) C Corporation

A C Corporation is a business entity that is separate from its owners. It has its own tax ID and can have shareholders. The main advantage of a C Corporation for a credit union is that it offers limited liability to its owners. This means that the owners are not personally responsible for the debts and liabilities of the business. The disadvantage is that C Corporations are subject to double taxation. This means that the corporation pays taxes on its profits, and the shareholders also pay taxes on their dividends.

5) S Corporation

An S Corporation is a type of corporation that provides its owners with limited liability protection and allows them to pass their business income through to their personal income tax returns, thus avoiding double taxation. There are several limitations on S Corporations including the number of shareholders they can have among others.

Once you register your credit union, your state will send you your official “Articles of Incorporation.” You will need this among other documentation when establishing your banking account (see below). We recommend that you consult an attorney in determining which legal structure is best suited for your company.

4. Secure Startup Funding for Your Credit Union (If Needed)

In developing your credit union business plan, you might have determined that you need to raise funding to launch your business. 

If so, the main sources of funding for a credit union to consider are personal savings and checking accounts, family and friends, credit card financing, business loans, crowdfunding and angel investors. Angel investors are individuals who provide capital to early-stage businesses. Angel investors typically will invest in a credit union that they believe has high potential for growth.

5. Secure a Location for Your Business

When looking for a location for your credit union, there are a few factors to consider. Credit unions need to be located in areas that have a lot of people who can use their services. Credit unions should also be close to public transportation so that members can easily get to and from the credit union. Finally, credit unions should be located in an area that will be affordable for the business. 

6. Register Your Credit Union with the IRS

Next, you need to register your business with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which will result in the IRS issuing you an Employer Identification Number (EIN).

Most banks will require you to have an EIN in order to open up an account. In addition, in order to hire employees, you will need an EIN since that is how the IRS tracks your payroll tax payments.

Note that if you are a sole proprietor without employees, you generally do not need to get an EIN. Rather, you would use your social security number (instead of your EIN) as your taxpayer identification number.

7. Open a Business Bank Account

It is important to establish a bank account in your credit union’s name. This process is fairly simple and involves the following steps:

• Identify and contact the bank you want to use
• Gather and present the required documents (generally include your company’s Articles of Incorporation, driver’s license or passport, and proof of address)
• Complete the bank’s application form and provide all relevant information
• Meet with a banker to discuss your business needs and establish a relationship with them

8. Get a Business Credit Card

You should get a business credit card for your credit union to help you separate personal and business expenses.

You can either apply for a business credit card through your bank or apply for one through a credit card company.

When you’re applying for a business credit card, you’ll need to provide some information about your business. This includes the name of your business, the address of your business, and the type of business you’re running. You’ll also need to provide some information about yourself, including your name, Social Security number, and date of birth.

Once you’ve been approved for a business credit card, you’ll be able to use it to make purchases for your business. You can also use it to build your credit history which could be very important in securing loans and getting credit lines for your business in the future.

9. Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits

To open a credit union in the United States, you will need to obtain a credit union charter from the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). You will also need to obtain a license from your state’s banking regulator. In addition, you may need to obtain other licenses and permits depending on the products and services you offer.

10. Get Business Insurance for Your Credit Union

The type of insurance you need to operate a credit union will vary depending on the state.

Some business insurance policies you should consider for your credit union include:

• General liability insurance : This covers accidents and injuries that occur on your property. It also covers damages caused by your employees or products.
• Auto insurance : If a vehicle is used in your business, this type of insurance will cover if a vehicle is damaged or stolen.
• Workers’ compensation insurance : If you have employees, this type of policy works with your general liability policy to protect against workplace injuries and accidents. It also covers medical expenses and lost wages.
• Commercial property insurance : This covers damage to your property caused by fire, theft, or vandalism.
• Business interruption insurance : This covers lost income and expenses if your business is forced to close due to a covered event.
• Professional liability insurance : This protects your business against claims of professional negligence.

Find an insurance agent, tell them about your business and its needs, and they will recommend policies that fit those needs. 

11. Buy or Lease the Right Credit Union Equipment

To run a credit union, you need the following equipment:

• A computer with internet access
• Software to manage your credit union’s finances
• A fax machine
• A secure location to store your credit union’s records and funds

12. Develop Your Credit Union Marketing Materials

Marketing materials will be required to attract and retain customers to your credit union.

The key marketing materials you will need are as follows:

• Logo : Spend some time developing a good logo for your credit union. Your logo will be printed on company stationery, business cards, marketing materials and so forth. The right logo can increase customer trust and awareness of your brand.
• Website : Likewise, a professional credit union website provides potential customers with information about the services you offer, your company’s history, and contact information. Importantly, remember that the look and feel of your website will affect how customers perceive you..
• Social Media Accounts : establish social media accounts in your company’s name. Accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and/or other social media networks will help customers and others find and interact with your credit union.

13. Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Credit Union

To run a credit union, you will need accounting software to track your income and expenses, as well as banking software to manage your customers’ accounts. Additionally, you’ll need customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage your customer interactions.  

14. Open for Business

You are now ready to open your credit union. If you followed the steps above, you should be in a great position to build a successful business. Below are answers to frequently asked questions that might further help you.

How to Finish Your Ultimate Business Plan in 1 Day!

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your credit union business plan?

With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

How to Start a Credit Union FAQs

Is it hard to start a credit union.

There is no one size fits all answer to this question because the difficulty in starting a credit union depends on many factors, including the location of the potential business, the experience level of the management team, and the availability of startup funds. 

The first thing to do is find like-minded individuals who share your vision and are willing to pool their resources together. Once you have a group of committed individuals, you'll need to file paperwork with your state's financial regulator to establish your credit union. The process can be tedious, but if you follow the steps above, you should be able to open your own credit union without too much difficulty. 

How can I start a credit union with no experience?

There are a few ways you can open a credit union with no experience. You can start by contacting your local credit union or the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The NCUA is a government agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. Additionally, you can speak with someone who has experience starting a credit union.

What type of credit union is most profitable?

There is no one size fits all answer to this question because profitability depends on many factors. However, since credit unions are owned by their members, profits are reinvested into them to be used to better serve their members. So, the more members a credit union has, the more profitable it may become. Community based credit unions and basic service credit unions are also profitable. 

How much does it cost to start a credit union?

Different types of credit unions differ in start-up costs. Typically, it runs from $5,000 to $50,000 to open a credit union, depending on the state. This is because there are many fees associated with starting a credit union, including the initial application fee, chartering fees, and bonding fees. States with lower costs of living have a lower cost of starting a credit union.

What are the ongoing expenses for a credit union?

One of the ongoing expenses for a credit union is its insurance premiums. Other ongoing expenses include credit union staff salaries, occupancy costs, and technology expenses.

How does a credit union make money?

A credit union makes money through the interest it charges on loans and the fees it charges for services. Another way a credit union can make money is by issuing shares of ownership in the form of dividends. Full-service credit unions also make money by loaning money to each other.

Is owning a credit union profitable?

A credit union can be quite a profitable financial institution because it is a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative. This means that the members share in the profits generated by the credit union. Basic credit unions also often have lower fees and interest rates than other types of financial institutions. This makes them a more affordable option for people who need to borrow money. 

Why do credit unions fail?

Credit unions sometimes fail because they are not able to keep up with the competition from banks. They may also fail if they do not have a good business model or if they are not well managed. 

Another reason many credit unions may fail is because they are not able to generate enough revenue. This can be a problem if the credit union does not have enough members or if it is not able to attract new members. Finally, credit unions may also fail if they are not able to control their costs.

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

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Business Plan Template

Below is a business plan template that VantageOne has created specifically for our prospective and existing members. Other business plans are complicated and lengthy – that’s why we condensed our planning template down to only 10 pages. This tool is great for business start-ups and expansions and is commonly requested by lenders for credit applications.

Check out our Business Plan Template Here!

Use this plan to put all your creative ideas and goals in writing. It can be referred to and revamped at any point in your business planning cycle.

Tip: Remember that business plans aren’t “set in stone” they need to grow and change and remain flexible, just like your business when it comes to market change. Being adaptable is one of the best qualities a successful business owner can have and having a plan in place will help you navigate future change. So once you have a plan in place, make sure to review it annually to ensure it still meets your needs and goals.

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Starting your business: business plan template.

Business & Commercial

• Download your   Business Plan Template.
• Where needed, sections have summaries that briefly explain how to fill out each box. Detailed guidance on completing the various sections of this business plan template can be found at the end of the document.
• The structure of the template is a guide only – you may wish to delete (or add) sections to your plan depending on your business type or the intended audience.
• The document appendix covers extra support information to help you complete the sections.

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Writing A Business Plan

It's a money thing lesson #41.

When's the best time to write a business plan?

Writing a business plan is an essential part of building a successful business. At its core, a business plan is a road map for your project: it establishes your purpose, it sets goals and expectations, and it forecasts the relationship between cost and revenue. Business plans exist in many forms: some formal and some informal.

Business plan sample questions

• What is the business?
• How does it work?
• Who is the team?
• What is the market?
• Who are your competitors?
• What is the market strategy?
• What are the numbers?
• What do you need?

A business plan doesn’t have to be formal in order to be effective. There are valuable insights to be gained whether you answer each of the questions above in a few sentences or with pages of in-depth research. Business plans are adaptable, and you will find that the level of detail you include will change depending on what stage of business development you’re in.

The best time to write a business plan

We often think that business plans are reserved for specific high-stakes situations—like pitching to a panel of investors on a reality TV show. In fact, the process of writing a business plan can be a helpful tool at multiple points along your entrepreneurial journey. The best time to write a business plan is any time you can benefit from more focus and direction. This might be when you’re in the early stages of exploring a new idea, when you’re ready to commit to your idea, when you’ve been running your business for years, or even a combination of all three. We’ve highlighted three different phases below to demonstrate the many ways a business plan can support your vision over time. 

The idea phase

Writing a business plan in the idea phase:

• Solidifies your idea by filling in the major details
• Identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to your business
• Helps you determine whether or not your idea makes sense to pursue
• Identifies the bare minimum of what you need in order to get started

The launch phase

Your initial idea has passed the test and you’re going all in—congratulations! During the launch phase, you will likely be communicating your business idea over and over again to others. You might be assembling a team, hiring employees, registering your business, or applying for grants or loans. In each of those situations, your idea will be challenged by others and you will find yourself having to answer all sorts of questions about your business. The launch phase is therefore the perfect time to develop a comprehensive business plan. Research your industry and learn about your potential customers. Forecast costs and revenues as realistically as possible. Explore different business models and determine a pricing strategy. The more you know about your business, the easier it will be to communicate your passion with others and get what you need in order to be successful.

• Determines what you need from others (like employees, vendors/suppliers or outside funding)
• Improves your expertise in the industry
• Enables you to speak confidently about your business to others
• Prepares you for questions about cash flow, profit and loss
• Identifies what makes you stand out from your competitors

The growth phase

A business plan can help you start your business, but did you know that it can still come in handy even if you’ve been successfully running your business for years? After some time, you may discover an opportunity to grow or expand your business. It’s an exciting prospect, but potentially overwhelming—that’s where your business plan can help. Rereading your business plan will remind you of the goals you established when you were first starting out. This information helps you make decisions that are in alignment with your original purpose. Revising and modifying your business plan allows you to grow in a strategic way and to include any areas that were missing from previous iterations. If your team is growing, sharing your business plan with your employees is an excellent way to connect them to your mission.

Writing a business plan in the growth phase:

• Reminds you of your goals and acknowledges the progress you’ve made
• Gives you perspective and eases decision-making
• Allows you to address new areas or concerns
• Helps you clearly communicate your vision to your team
• Realistically identifies what you need in order to grow

Whether your business is a fragment of an idea or already up and running, writing a business plan is a versatile and powerful tool that will help you run your business thoughtfully and successfully.

Do you have a great business idea, but don't know where to start? Iron out the details using a simple business plan! Click the image to open the  PDF printable version  that also includes Jen's example.

Was this information useful? Visit our   It's A Money Thing home page   for more quick videos and helpful articles to help you make sense of your money, one topic at a time! Check back, new topics will be introduced regularly.

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Business Support Resources

Business plan basics.

These pages come first. And they’re very important. After all, they’re the first pages any reader (including a prospective investor or lender) will see.

But don’t worry. The Cover Page just includes basic information with your company name and contact information. So you can create one in five minutes by following a standard template.

• Here is an example of a business plan cover page from SCORE of Greater Rochester  (see page 2).

The Table of Contents provides a detailed list of all the topics covered in your plan. So it gives readers a quick overview of the content. It also helps people quickly find specific information as long as you remember to number your pages.

• Here’s a quick tip. Write your entire plan before you tackle the Table of Contents. That will help you save time on unnecessary revisions.

In a world where people have short attention spans, a short, easy-to-read Executive Summary is essential. So describe your business. Explain your motivation for starting it. Talk about the keys to your success. Then summarize the other major points in your plan.

• One piece of advice. Try to keep your summary to just a few paragraphs. 

Of course, that may take some writing and revising time. And you may need help to hone it to perfection. But when you’re done, you will be able to clearly communicate the vision and strategy behind your business.

Don’t let the title of this section scare you. It’s simply a way to bring in some facts and figures from the local and national economy that support the business case for your business. If you’re a home builder, for example, population growth in your area would be a good fact to add. If you offer services to senior citizens, a statistic on the increasing number of local retirees could show that you have a real opportunity to grow your business in the future. With a little thought and research, you’ll have no trouble finding relevant economic data to include in your plan. In fact, here are a few great sources of information to consider:

• The Small Business Administration
• Economic data for the Greater Rochester Area (from ACT Rochester)
• Census Data

You’ve talked about your customers, your target audience, the competitive environment and your location. Now it’s time to discuss another very important subject: your marketing plan. Your marketing plan covers the strategy and tactics you will use to get the word out about your business to your customers and prospects. So make sure you include the following information in this section of your business plan:

• Your communication goals 
• The key messages you intend to send to your customers and prospects
• The specific communication channels you will use to reach your target audience. These channels can include everything from traditional collaterals like brochures and signage to print and online advertising, social media, your website, Search Engine Optimization, broadcast TV and radio, and more.
• The estimated annual cost of your marketing efforts
• The additional revenue you expect to generate once you put your marketing plan into action

No question about it. Marketing plays a pivotal role in business success. But first you have to develop a sound marketing plan. And put it into action.  Learn more at sba.gov .  

• Income Statement
• Balance Sheet
• Cash Flow Projections
• Operating Data
• Personal Financial Statement
• Debt to Worth Ratio
• Gross Profit Margin

If you take the time to include all of this important information, you’ll be able to tell an effective story about your business to any target audience you have in mind, including investors, partners, prospective team members, and more.

But your plan also serves another purpose. It can help you get a business loan.

Of course, you’ll need to identify the specific amount you want to borrow and discuss how the money will help you achieve your goals.

You should also explain how the financial information in your plan gives a strong indication that you will be able to repay your loan while managing all of your other business obligations.<

No question about it. A sound business plan plays a major role in a prospective lender’s decision-making process. Consider it another important reason why you need a great business plan.

Ready to apply for a loan to help your business grow? Apply now !

Get the help you need to start your business plan today. Ready to start working on your plan? You’ll find links to a wealth of helpful resources in the business resources and tools section of this site.  For helpful and free business plan templates, you can download the  SCORE of Greater Rochester Business Plan Template  or check out a Step-by-Step Business Plan Tool on sba.gov . 

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Business Continuity Planning for Credit Unions

The Federal Financial Institution Examination Council (FFIEC) recently updated guidelines for credit union business continuity, the latest revision since first establishing such guidelines in 2003 . This revision serves as a great opportunity to revisit the importance of business continuity planning for credit unions and lay out the basics any credit union should understand in its obligation to meet FFIEC guidelines.

This is a requirement of federally insured credit unions. NCUA Guidance Part 749, Appendix B, mandates that a credit union disaster recovery and business resumption plan:

• Is commensurate with the institution’s complexity
• Minimizes interruptions to members and maintains member confidence
• Is reviewed annually and addresses changes in the credit union’s operations.

FFIEC’s goal for business continuity is to provide a basis for minimizing operational interruptions for credit unions and their customers after a serious event or disaster. The first step required by the FFIEC is to construct a business impact analysis (BIA). According to ready.gov, a BIA “ predicts the consequences of disruption of a business function and process and gathers information needed to develop recovery strategies .”

The FFIEC wants the BIA to include these five steps:

• Assessment and prioritization of all business functions and processes
• Potential impacts of business disruptions
• Identification of the legal and regulatory requirements
• Examination of the maximum allowable downtime and acceptable loss
• Estimation of recovery time objectives (RTOs), recovery point objectives (RPOs), and recovery of the critical path.

Universal Musts

A credit union needs to understand the principles of business continuity planning and disaster recovery and then apply them to their unique functions and commercial purposes. That said, much of the work is similar to other industries.

For instance, any plan should receive the support of the board of directors. Therefore, the board should be informed and its buy-in is essential.

Along with buy-in from the board, it’s essential to designate a manager who has the board’s authority to enact the plan and that person can run point to prevent inertia from stalling progress. From that point, decisions can be made about how to communicate with other important stakeholders throughout the process. In a credit union, this means asking members, internal stakeholders, and any other stakeholders, such as any regulatory bodies. Disaster planning also requires the point person to set parameters for reviewing and revising the plan. This should be done annually at the least, and most likely more often.

Credit Union Specifics

Only a credit union can judge what its critical processes are and how long it will take to get them back up and running. What might be an acceptably short period of time for a manufacturing company with a long lead time and extended sales process will not work for a credit union, whose members usually need access to funds immediately. In planning for a problem such as lost internet access, you will need to determine how long you can go without it before members alter their perception of the credit union or choose to conduct business elsewhere. This is your RTO. Similarly, data can be lost. Some isn’t critical (say, video for a webinar), while others are life-or-death (such as transaction records).

Your impact analysis should address the relevant functions of the credit union, and determine which items are problems in which time periods (see below). Be sure to reach out to the important personnel because your BIA will address all of these matters, it’s the foundation for your business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plan.

Building Your Critical Path

The results of the BIA will lead to the vital exercise of building a recovery plan. You know now which items are important, and you know which items have time-critical elements. This allows you to build a critical path — the series of contingent actions that result in the minimum time needed to achieve recovery.

The chart below describes the functions that must be addressed first.

• On which processes is continuity of business dependent? (For instance, bagel Friday is probably less important than a working internet connection.)
• Conduct an inventory of applications, then examine each one with an eye to what to do if an emergency renders it unavailable (temporarily or permanently).
• List all locations, identify their capabilities and whether they can back each other up. (For instance, if the northern branch loses six employees in a plane crash, can the branch be backed up by employees from other branches?)
• Related to this is staffing: Who in the organization has which skills? Can they back each other up right now, or with cross-training? Are there people in the organization with institutional knowledge that everyone relies on, but which has never been codified or trained?
• What about your roster of vendors? How would they respond in an emergency? Is your business as critical to them as theirs is to you? Could they be a point of failure for any number of reasons — geography, business size, a poor relationship?
• What records are needed? Digital data, backup servers, and the cloud have made this less of a problem, but are there one-of-a-kind documents that would prove to be a problem if lost in a fire?
• What equipment will help you recover, whether it’s backup servers, fire-resistant vaults, or four-wheel drive vehicles in a region where it doesn’t usually snow?

Once the critical path is identified, budgeting decisions can be made, spending on the critical operations first and foremost.

How to Get Started

To get the data above and build a plan, don’t go off into your office and close the door for two weeks. While the board’s approval provides clout, implementation requires elements of the entire credit union. Identify those people or groups (examples include IT, mortgage banking, commercial lending, personal loans, and teller operations, but this will depend on each credit union’s structure), then reach out to get their input. A kickoff meeting that includes at least one member of the board to underscore the importance of the process is a good way to roll out the planning work.

The planning can be done with one-to-one meetings, but it may be more beneficial to workshop the problem. With everyone in a room together, connections that might have been overlooked in a one-on-one meeting are more likely to pop up. Hypotheticals are essential. For all of your critical-path activities, everyone involved should be asking what they or their department would do if that activity is unavailable. For instance, if IT isn’t available for two weeks, how would that affect human resources? What about car loans? How could those departments work around the problem — or should they just wait?

The Nitty Gritty

The planning will provide a whole range of data. Pulling it together will be a challenge. Some credit unions (and other businesses) have attended to this task with their favorite spreadsheet, or pulled notes together in a word processing document that’s revised and re-revised. This adds a layer of complexity to an already-complex task because it requires planning how to organize and write the plan, then ensuring that the nuts and bolts of the document are correct as well as the plan itself being appropriate.

This is where a business continuity software tool like Infinite Blue’s BC in the Cloud provides support and direction. All the data entered into its transparent relational database makes organization simple, repeatable, and refreshable. The messiness of merging documents from disparate sources is avoided. You’ll be able to analyze the data, make charts, and produce analytics. Risks uncovered during the process can be assigned to an employee to address. Perhaps most helpful is the ability to use the multiple factors you’re investigating to create a risk score.

Analyze the data and then use them to build the plan. Scoring will help clarify the critical path. Enlist the management team, because only they can determine what the credit union’s appetite for risk is. Make sure they have all the data possible.

Ways to score risks should include thinking about how likely an event is, how frequently it will happen, and how suddenly it might occur. Some risks can affect operations; others can affect the credit union’s image. For instance, if the credit union submits to a ransomware event, it may keep the credit union functioning for its members, but it may also create a negative image among potential members or business partners. Comfort with those possibilities should be determined before engraving them into the plan in stone.

Having a plan alone is not enough. The plan and its recovery strategies should be tested to confirm that it’s suppositions work. When you test the plan, involve everyone in the exercise, including vendors whenever possible. Test the whole plan, and do it multiple ways: conduct a tabletop exercise at your facility, then test it away from your facility to confirm the plan will work when you can’t be there. Note the results, and update as needed.

What The NCUA Examiners Will Look For

Once the plan is validated, it will need to be ready for audit by National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) examiners. Because the NCUA is charged with insuring credit unions in the United States, it places a high level of importance on a credit union’s preparation for continuity and disaster recovery. To be ready, be sure that you’ve done your best to PREPARE (yes, it’s an acronym):

• PLAN: Ensure financial services to members
• RESOURCES: Allocate sufficient equipment and facilities
• EXERCISES: Create realistic and challenging situations
• PEOPLE: Maintain the readiness of staff and officials
• ALLIANCES: Establish and rely on relationships with other organizations
• REVIEW: Look at plans, then update them for maximum effectiveness
• EXPERIENCE: Incorporate lessons learned.

How To Finish

It should be evident now that there is no true end to credit union continuity planning and disaster recovery. The NCUA’s guidance demands it because most credit unions will change, becoming more complex, either by serving more customers in a region or expanding to other regions. Doing the work of creating a BIA so you know your strengths and weaknesses, enlisting management at the top to give the task weight, involving managers across departments to create the best chance at missing nothing, and securing the participation of vendors to make recovery a holistic solution provides the best chance to do that. Paying attention to that detail by relying on business continuity software like BC in the Cloud to simplify and organize will focus effort on the plan and not its medium.

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