Farmway Credit Union welcomes future members from birth to graduation

Farmway Credit Union in Beloit, Kansas, introduces its brand at birth by distributing piggy banks at the local hospital. They then maintain engagement through a cash-for-grades program that invites students to physically visit branches and make deposits. The $104 million-asset organization's engagement strategy addresses the aging demographic challenge facing many credit unions by building familiarity and savings habits from infancy through high school.

Farmway Credit Union's strategy for building the next generation of members starts on day one-literally. The Beloit, Kansas-based organization provides branded piggy banks to every newborn at the local hospital.

"The problem I think a lot of credit unions face is their aging demographic, and so we want to capture the youth and get them in the door," Farmway Compliance/Loan Officer Sherri Smith explained. The hospital embraced the idea enthusiastically, even proactively calling the credit union when piggy bank supplies run low.

The piggy banks feature Farmway's logo and come with a welcome message. When parents bring the filled piggy bank in to open a savings account, Farmway matches the contents up to $10.

Getting students in the building

As children age, Farmway maintains the connection through its cash-for-grades program. Students in kindergarten through 12th grade receive $10 per quarter for bringing in report cards with one deliberate requirement.

"The student must come in," Mary Eberle, Farmway IT and member service representative, emphasized. "The parents cannot bring their grades in. The kid has to bring them in. That gets them in the building."

By ensuring students physically visit the credit union multiple times per year, Farmway creates familiarity and trust during formative years. Students must deposit at least half of their $10 payment, reinforcing the importance of establishing good savings habits.

The program evolved from grade-based payouts to a flat amount after varying grading systems created complications. It also expanded to include high school. "The expansion into high school aged students keeps them here until they're ready to go to college. They'll think, oh, what about money for school? What about that first car loan? You know, this program captures them," Smith noted.

In the 2024-25 school year, 255 students participated, with Farmway distributing $8,580 and opening 28 new accounts as a direct result.

Addressing fraud through community collaboration

Beyond youth engagement, Farmway recently helped organize a "Hack-Free Holiday" event bringing together Farmway, four banks, Cunningham Telephone and Cable, and local IT service providers to educate the community about fraud.

What surprised organizers was the community participation. "The community members really participated to a greater extent than I thought they would," Farmway President/CEO Joe Deneke noted. "Community members started sharing their own experiences, which surprised me because it can be embarrassing to a lot of people."

The willingness to share these challenging experiences reflects fraud's prevalence. Consumer reports of fraud increased by 25% to $12.5 billion in 2024, with 79% of credit unions experiencing more than $500,000 in direct fraud damages.

Building culture through peer recognition

Behind Farmway's exceptional member service lies a deliberate investment in employee culture. The credit union uses Motivosity, a peer-to-peer recognition platform that gives each employee $5 monthly to recognize colleagues for going above and beyond.

Unlike traditional top-down recognition programs, the system empowers employees to acknowledge each other's contributions. "It allows individual employees to recognize each other," Deneke explained.

The platform functions like a social feed visible to the entire organization, creating awareness around positive contributions that might otherwise go unnoticed. "It's things that you maybe don't know about that go on outside of your office door that somebody is doing inside the credit union walls," Smith noted.

This culture of mutual recognition directly supports the personal service that members experience. When employees feel valued by their peers, that positive energy translates to member interactions, creating an environment where staff proactively offer solutions like equity loans to struggling members, consistently greet people by name, or celebrating students' accomplishments.

For credit unions facing demographic challenges, Farmway's birth-to-graduation approach offers a strategic model. Operating in North Central Kansas, where the primary challenge is a declining rural population, they have positioned themselves as the natural choice to meet life's pivotal financial moments. A small $104-million-asset credit union is creating a large pipeline, one piggy bank at a time.