Giving like we live here.
At the heart of our mission is improving the beautiful places we happily call home.
Community Investment @ StellerVista
Why Community Investment Matters
Core to our existence is the betterment of these glorious places that we get to we call home. Yes, we are first and foremost a financial institution – but remember, we’re the local one. The jobs, the profits, and the people making it happen are all here. As is every dollar we give back through donations, grants, student awards and all in-kind efforts that help make this region a better place to live.
We thrive when our members and neighbors thrive, and the success of our credit union relies on a strong, resilient, and vibrant region. The better our families and communities do, the better we do. The better we do, the more we can give back. The more we give back, the better our families and communities can do… and the cycle goes on.
We invite you to learn more about our Community Investment Programs and look forward to hearing about the exciting ventures and projects taking place.
Key Areas of Focus
Community Building
Education & Financial Literacy
Family & Youth Programs
Health & Recreation
Arts and Culture
Regional Quality of Life
Our Guide to a Successful Funding Request
Keys to a successful application
At StellerVista, we want to support your success. Here are a few things you can add to your application to help make it successful:
- Be clear on your objective
- Show leadership
- Introduce your team
- Demonstrate how your goals align with StellerVista’s
- Allow enough time for the application to be processed
- Be clear on what your success looks like
See What is Ineligible
Ineligible applicants
Support is generally not given to the following types of projects and organizations:
- Government entities
- Political parties
- For profit organizations
- Causes which carry a religious bias or other religious activities
- Private businesses (could support an event supported by the private business if it is valued by membership)
- 100% operating or administrative costs, wages, retroactive funding, deficit reduction
- Donations that are outside trade area that do not benefit the cooperative moment
- Requests from national organizations or organizations that do not provide a direct benefit to StellerVista communities
- Individual pursuits or interests that are primarily for personal gain
Giving like we live here. Circa 1950.
While we are constantly looking for creative ways to support our communities, in terms of financial support, there are three main ways we issue funding:
Branch Donations
Every branch of StellerVista has their own budget work with, and can recommend various projects for funding. The goal here is keep those with local knowhow leading the charge within our branches. If you don’t know where to start, speaking with someone in your local branch is a great first step.
StellerStarts
Every year we will be running “StellerStarts” – a program focused on providing smaller grants to communities and groups that are helping bring local events, projects, and other special items to life. Applications for “StellerStarts” are open April – May.
StellerImpact
The focus of our “StellerImpact” program is on providing grants to larger one-off special projects led by proven community advocates. If your initiative is focused on an area we serve, and boosts quality-of-life for a broad group of residents, we want to know about it. Applications for “StellerImpact” are open July – Sept.
While we are open to any and all things that improve life for people of our communities, we do tend of focus our support within some key strategic areas. As such, we encourage all applicants to review our eligibility criteria, as well as our key areas of focus before applying.