Notice to the Membership of Northwest Community Credit Union: Board Director & Supervisory Committee Compensation

Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU) has established a Compensation Policy to provide reasonable compensation for its Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee. This policy recognizes the contributions of the Board of Directors and Committee members; supports recruitment and retention of qualified representative officers; outlines the performance required for compensation; and provides a framework to ensure compliance with the requirements of the NWCU Bylaws and Oregon law.

As NWCU has grown and become more complex, there is an ever-growing level of responsibility and commitment of time and effort needed from the Directors and Committee members, including a need for a higher commitment to training and education as well as increased professionalism. As elected advocates representing the Membership, the Board of Directors is responsible for setting the vision and direction of NWCU as it serves members and provides high quality financial services, duties which include:

• Serving on multiple committees and attending regular meetings as a Board to establish policy and business strategy; providing feedback and counsel to the CEO, who is hired by and reports to the Board; reviewing financial performance; and overseeing NWCU’s progress toward goals and objectives of NWCU; and
• Supervisory Committee oversight of NWCU’s audit process with annual, independent audit of NWCU’s financial statements and related records and programs verifying the accuracy of member accounts and ensuring that NWCU financial records and operations meet and exceed regulatory standards of the industry.

The scope and complexity of the ever-changing financial services market requires Directors and Supervisory Committee members to have strong business acumen, diverse skills, and dedication to service in order to meet the demands of a competitive and highly regulated financial services business. The time commitments for the Directors and Supervisory Committee members to prepare for and attend meetings, obtain and maintain the requisite regulatory training and continuing education are significant. This warrants fair and reasonable compensation.

Northwest Community Credit Union Financial Performance

NWCU has consistently demonstrated strong financial performance while balancing the delivery of financial services to members with the ongoing safety and soundness of NWCU. To ensure a sound future, NWCU has built net worth that exceeds the levels required by our regulators to fulfill our charge to be well capitalized; while achieving strong net income to maintain net worth, and managing risks within operations. For more information about NWCU’s financial performance, please visit NWCU.com and explore the NWCU Annual Report.

Compensation Schedule

The NWCU Board has conducted due diligence research on compensation structures and compensation levels of credit unions, other financial institutions and non-profit organizations of proportional size, complexity, mission and financial performance as compared with NWCU. The Board reviewed the peer group compensation data and market information of peer credit unions, banks and non-profit organizations for a comparative analysis of reasonable compensation in NWCU’s regional market. Based on NWCU’s strong financial condition and progressive mission the Board established a compensation schedule for the NWCU Officials that is reasonable and consistent among peer credit unions and other organizations.

The Compensation Schedule will be reviewed annually to ascertain reasonableness based on financial performance of NWCU. The Board may make changes to the Compensation Schedule as needed to align with our organizational requirements and to ensure compensation is reasonable.

Compensation, individually or in total, may be suspended by the Board of Directors for:

• Poor financial performance of NWCU
• NWCU does not meet minimal standards of a well-capitalized credit union
• Nonperformance of individual Directors or Committee members.

Compensation may also be suspended at the discretion of the Director of the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation. Compensation will be paid quarterly and prorated based on positions held during the calendar year. Annual Compensation rates are based on a full year of service; Received Compensation rates are based on actual length of service.

¹Took office in March 2020.
²Board chair until March 2020.
³Resigned in 2020.

For additional information, please contact the Board by email at ExecutiveAssistants@nwcu.com.