Looking back at 2022 — Elevations in our community

As we look back on a memorable 2022 and make plans for the year ahead, we at Elevations Credit Union are thankful to our valued members, neighbors and community for helping us accomplish so much.

This year, our friends helped support:

Buffalo Bike Classic, the largest scholarship fundraiser in the state

Now 20 years strong, the Elevations Credit Union Buffalo Bike Classic remains the largest scholarship fundraising event in the state of Colorado. Participants were able to choose from any of nine different bike course options of varying difficulty and length. The ride supports high-merit, high-need students from Colorado who plan to attend the University of Colorado.

Lafayette and Fort Collins Fourth of July celebrations

With Elevations Credit Union branches closed on July 2, employees showed up in force to support the Lafayette and Fort Collins Independence Day celebrations. Nearly 50 employees rallied to help set up and clean up, greet guests, and even run activities for kids in Fort Collins. Elevations’ involvement with the Fort Collins celebration was one of our most comprehensive sponsorships ever. In Lafayette Elevations proved popular by handing out countless Otter Pops and hosting a family activity for attendees to make patriotic bracelets. We were proud to be such a large part of celebrating our great nation’s independence.

Tour de Fat in Fort Collins

Coloradans love their beer, and New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins is famous for making some of the best brews in the nation. New Belgium, however, is known for much more, helping support area nonprofits each September with the ever-popular Tour de Fat. This year, Elevations Credit Union was honored to team up with New Belgium and provide a family fun zone and shade zone at the festival.

Volunteer time off in our community

At Elevations, we’re proud to be a locally-funded, community-grounded credit union with a passion for helping others. We provide each of our full time, salaried employees with 16 hours of Volunteer Time Off each year. This year, as of Dec. 7, we’ve logged 1,454 hours helping our neighbors.

Employees volunteered for river cleanups, where we teamed up with the nonprofit Protect Our Rivers along the Poudre River, St. Vrain Creek and Boulder Creek. A total of 114 volunteers donated 228 hours and removed more than a half ton of trash and another 65 pounds of recyclable material.

Elevations employees also adopted the Betasso Preserve Canyon Loop Trail in Boulder just off Canyon and Sugarloaf Road. As part of the Adopt-A-Trail program, we kept the trail clean and helped identify any maintenance issues.

Elevations also collaborated with community partners and Elevations Foundation grantees, created a list of 14 volunteer opportunities across Fort Collins, Loveland, Lafayette, Longmont, and Boulder to support events leading up to Earth Day. Employees racked up 800 volunteer hours this year for Earth Day alone.

Denver Business Journal DE&I award

The Denver Business Journal recognized Elevations Credit Union at its first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Awards. Elevations was highlighted for:

• Our numerous educational opportunities and resources for employees 
• The creation and development of our Banking Unidos program 
• Our partnership with Gary Community Ventures to provide down payment assistance for Black families 
• The initiation of several employee resource groups such as Out at Elevations 
• Accommodations made to our website to assist members with special visual and mobility needs 

Supporting our Hispanic community

Elevations Credit Union is proud to host financial education seminars in Spanish each year and sponsor important events across the Front Range that highlight Hispanic and Latinx culture.

On Sept. 24, Elevations sponsored the Fiesta and Food Trucks event in Longmont, hosted by the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County. The event celebrated the diverse cultures of the Hispanic and Latinx community in Boulder County with musical and Latin entertainment as well as a one-of-a-kind foodie experience.

Elevations Credit Union was the title sponsor for Longmont’s Dia de los Muertos celebration in October. We supported the Family Fiesta portion of the event, offering educational opportunities, facilitating arts and crafts, and connecting with the Longmont community.

Resources to help victims of the Marshall Fire

The devastating Marshall Fire broke out on Dec. 30, 2021. Elevations Credit Union spearheaded a fundraising campaign to support those affected by making an initial $100,000 donation to Elevations Foundation while asking the community to match. And match they did. Our amazing group of members, their families and friends rallied to raise more than $1.2 million to support victims of the fire.

In addition, Elevations Credit Union hosted two town hall events focused on answering questions for victims of the fire. Subjects addressed at the town halls included how to deal with mortgages, insight working with their insurance companies, how to manage property assessments and more.

The credit union also sponsored a donation campaign to help Resource Central fill up its tool library as it offered free tool usage to those affected by the fire. By the end of the campaign more than 50 pieces had been donated including complete sets of power tools, gardening tools and other useful equipment.

Hosting the Future of Work panel discussion

Elevations hosted the panel discussion, The Future of Work: How to Maintain Performance Excellence in a Dynamic Environment on Aug. 11. This event provided an opportunity for Colorado business leaders to hear firsthand from the state’s Office of the Future of Work and representatives from Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award® recipients. The event was moderated by Director of the Colorado Office of the Future of Work, Katherine Keegan, while the panel included Director of Performance Excellence, Donor Alliance, Grace Harcek; City Manager for the City of Fort Collins, Kelly DiMartino; and Chief People Officer for Elevations Credit Union, Tammy Teitscheid.

Belatedly celebrating a second Malcolm Baldrige award

After earning the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award® for the second time in 2020 (the first was in 2014), the celebration was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On Aug. 6 we were finally able to celebrate the milestone together as more than 370 employees, guests and board members gathered for the event.

Supporting and participating in Bike to Work day

On June 22, Elevations employees hosted Bike to Work (or Wherever) Day stations in Fort Collins, Boulder, and Louisville as part of the “Shifting Gears” theme. The day helped encourage Coloradans to rethink how they get around town.

Recognition in 2022

Elevations’ commitment to quality products and excellent customer service appears to have resonated with our members. Here are some of the “Best Of” awards earned by the credit union so far in 2022:

• Best bank/financial institution, Colorado Daily
• Best bank/financial institution, Boulder Weekly
• Best bank/financial institution, Longmont Times-Call
• Best bank/financial institution, Boulder Gold (Boulder Daily Camera)
• Best mortgage company, Colorado Daily
• Best mortgage company, Longmont Times-Call
• Best mortgage company, Boulder Gold (Boulder Daily Camera)

Employee Resource Groups at Elevations

Employee resource groups give Elevations Credit Union employees an opportunity to connect with coworkers, members and the community. For instance, the Out at Elevations group represented us at several Pride events in our communities this year including Longmont Pride (June 11), Boulder Pride (June 12), and for the first time, PrideFest (June 25-26).

The Mental Health group remains committed to bringing the conversation around mental health to Elevations. The aim is to educate and inform while working to reduce the stigma that follows people with mental illness.

The Women Connect group was also formed this summer, geared toward improving the engagement and confidence level of women at Elevations while providing a forum to share struggles and strategies.

Opening a new Lakewood loan office

Elevations Credit Union opened its newest location — a mortgage loan production office in Lakewood— on May 5. The office is located at 143 Union Blvd., Unit 220, in Lakewood. It’s on the southwest side of Sixth Ave. and Union, across from St. Anthony Hospital. While not a full-service branch, it’s available by appointment only (800.460.2886) and offers all our mortgage loan services.