By Andy Loving
What does it mean to be an antiracist organization? Many Alliance members have struggled with our Baptist legacy of racism and gone through antiracism training and reflection. This article is my attempt to consider what it means to be an antiracist organization with the money that our members and churches do not give away. That may sound a bit strange, but this article aims to explain exactly what I mean.
In 2018, the Alliance embarked on a journey toward becoming an antiracist organization. On April 5, 2022, the Alliance took a significant step by depositing $250,000 of their reserve funds at Hope Credit Union in Jackson, Miss., as an act of solidarity with people of color. Hope Credit Union is a Black-led, majority-Black, government-insured credit union that provides banking services in five states of the Midsouth (Miss., La., Ala., Ark., and Tenn.) with a focus on BIPOC and low-income people who have been unbanked or underbanked, meaning they have little access to wealth-building loans and services. The Alliance deposit into Hope Credit Union helps to provide more of Hope’s members with home mortgages, small business loans, and basic banking services that help build Black wealth and narrow the racial wealth gap.
I truly believe that this is a viable option for almost anyone‒individual or church‒to move toward becoming more antiracist. I am reminded of a quote I read many years back that has continually challenged me saying that the most the average Christian can hope to do is to take hold of the near edge of one of the world’s great problems and act at some cost to themself.
Note that the Alliance reserve funds are a deposit into Hope and not a gift. The money can be retrieved by the Alliance when and if it is needed. Church people are more accustomed to giving money to the work of the church, but gifts cannot be returned. In contrast the deposit into Hope CU does two things at the same time. It acts as part of the Alliance’s financial reserve, and it helps build Black wealth through the work of Hope Credit Union.
The average white family in the US has 10 times more wealth than the average Black family ($180,000 to $18,000), a result of hundreds of years of slavery and personal and systemic racism.
The following quote from Hope’s 2022 Impact Report explains why the credit union began to reach out beyond their five-state service area for deposits from across the country.
“Three out of four Hope members earn less than $50,000 a year, and two out of three members on any given day have less than $1,000 in their savings account. As a result, in many of the communities we serve, the assets are simply not available to create a deposit base for Hope’s service in the same way that traditional banks use customer deposits to fund products such as loans and lines of credit.”
In a recent survey, 46% of Hope’s members were unbanked or underbanked before they joined Hope Credit Union, while only 19% of the total US population is unbanked or underbanked.
Hope launched a program called Transformational Deposits in 2021 bringing in over $150 million in deposits. The deposits have come largely from individuals, companies, and corporations outside Hope’s five service states flowing into CDs and money market accounts to provide loans for Hope members’ homes (mostly for first time homebuyers) and small businesses.
You may be thinking, “Have any Alliance people or churches made a deposit in Hope?” And the answer is “yes.” Remember that $250,000 of Alliance reserve funds were deposited in Hope in 2022, but there are several more examples of Alliance participation. Central Baptist Church in Wayne, Pa., is an Alliance church and has deposited $50,000 in Hope. I know of at least seven or so other Alliance churches with individual members who have made deposits as well. I am a member of an Alliance congregation, Jeff St. Baptist Community at Liberty in Louisville, Ky., where ten family units have together deposited more than $260,000 into Hope during the last two years. These folks are all examples of people and institutions doing justice with money that they are not giving away.
In my socially responsible financial planning practice we extended an offer to our clients to help them open a Hope Credit Union money market account that included free checks, government deposit insurance, and a modest interest on their account. The modest interest which changes based on interest rates, enables Hope to do more of their great work. During the last few years, about 100 of my clients have deposited over $7 million into HOPE, an overwhelming response to this high-impact opportunity. I would also be happy to talk or communicate with any individuals or churches who might want to know more about how the account works. You can contact me at Andy Loving, Just Money Advisors, 1927 Harvard Drive, Louisville, KY 40204, 502-454-3839, aloving@justmoneyadvisors.com.The minimum to open an account is $1,000 plus a small Hope CU fee to become a member.
I receive no financial payment for any of this work with Hope. It has been a privilege and joy to be able to support the work of Hope and get to know some of the great people who work there.
I truly believe that this is a viable option for almost anyone‒individual or church‒to move toward becoming more antiracist. I am reminded of a quote I read many years back that has continually challenged me saying that the most the average Christian can hope to do is to take hold of the near edge of one of the world’s great problems and act at some cost to themself. Racism is indeed one of the world’s great problems. Depositing money in Hope Credit Union that you are not giving away to be used to build Black wealth is a simple yet courageous act of antiracism.
…
Andy Loving is an Alliance of Baptists board member and is an investment advisor representative of Natural Investments, LLC or PPT. www.naturalinvestments.com
Recent Comments