Community involvement has historically been one of the ways that credit unions differentiate themselves from other financial institutions.  By remaining community-based, locally owned and operated, and by offering substantial financial backing to local initiatives, credit unions across Canada have maintained a leadership role in the arena of community involvement.
 
For five years in a row, Alberta has been involved in annual community involvement studies to identify specific types of community initiatives credit unions are involved in and measure the monetary contributions made to those community initiatives.  The 2006 National Community Involvement Survey is being conducted by Credit Union Central of Manitoba in partnership with Probe Research and VisionCritical Communications.   Alberta results are now in.  Alberta credit unions' response rate was 74%.  Total Alberta credit unions' charitable contributions reached $3,515,079 in 2006, representing an increase of almost 13% from 2005 results.