Share Newsletter: Spring 2024

• Celebrating 60 Years
• ISO Dividend Rate Update
• Annual General Meeting
• Wealth & Investment Webinars
• Kindred Credit Union Charitable Fund 2024 Grant Recipients
• Raising $63,000 for Food Security!
• Spotlight on Dairy Farming in Ontario
• The FHSA is here!
• Reminders

Celebrating 60 Years:
Helping You Make Peace with Your Money!

"For six decades, we’ve been blessed to have thousands of Ontarians choose to bank with us, entrust us with their money, and select us to help steward their personal and business finances," said John Klassen, Kindred’s Interim CEO.

Like a beautiful patchwork quilt of many unique pieces, our members from various walks of life, from different communities across Ontario, have joined together around our shared values of integrity, compassion, and stewardship to make Kindred cooperative banking that connects values and faith with finances, inspiring peaceful, just, and prosperous communities.

A lot has changed since we launched on March 21, 1964, yet who we are has remained woven into the fabric of our credit union. With variations of how we’ve expressed ourselves throughout the years, we have adapted and we continue to adapt, with our foundation remaining strong.

We’re planning a number of exciting ways to commemorate our milestone with our members and teammates throughout 2024. We hope you will join us as we celebrate the past 60 years of banking with purpose and look forward to continuing to help you Make Peace with Your Money for years to come.

What does it mean to Make Peace with Your Money?
Make Peace with Your Money is about peace of mind

It’s the contentment that comes with being a good steward of the money, time, and other resources that have been entrusted to you. It’s the comfort that comes from having a plan for how you give, live, and grow your money. It’s also the confidence of knowing that your money is entrusted with a financial cooperative that shares your values and supports the common economic and social needs of its members. It’s the harmony you feel when you connect your values and faith with finances and the satisfaction of knowing that through cooperative banking, you are helping to inspire peaceful, just, and prosperous communities.

Make Peace with Your Money is about the impact you make with your money

As a financial cooperative, it’s our shared purpose and values as well as our heritage that make us who we are. They shape what we do and how we go about doing that together – through mutual aid, economic justice, and selfless service in our day-to-day financial lives, we make peace with our money.

Our founders’ radical vision was to see mutual aid put into faithful practice – individuals or groups bearing one another’s burdens, helping each other out in times of need and in times of plenty. As a financial cooperative, this is the basis of how we operate: one member’s deposit is another member’s loan – the dollars our members invest with us are reinvested into loans for individuals and small businesses in our communities, contributing to the financial health and peace of our communities.

Since our earliest days, Kindred has also fostered mutual aid and economic justice by providing more ways for members to support each other and our communities.

Our Affordable Housing GIC and Loan, Community Inspiration GIC, and Crisis Care GIC and Loan are mutual aid products that facilitate members supporting others in community and promote sharing and acts of compassion – an essential part of inspiring peace.

Economic justice is additionally furthered through our socially responsible investment options. All of Kindred’s GICs are socially responsible and our mutual fund options through our partner Qtrade Advisor and Qtrade Asset Management include a wide range of socially responsible mutual funds. Investing responsibly can help build a more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable and peaceful world.

Through selfless service, giving of our time and resources, we are deeply invested in our communities. Our community engagement and philanthropy builds relationships and impacts community organizations through sponsorships, Kindred Charitable Fund grants, volunteering, and gifts-in-kind. As our communities benefit from this support and our teammates and members are inspired to live out their values alongside us, together, we make peace in practical ways – doing what we can to make sure everyone has enough food to eat, a safe place to call home, and that there is mutual wellbeing.

We’re grateful to our faithful members and community partners who help bring our purpose to life every day in the communities we’re so fortunate to serve. It’s our privilege and pleasure to serve you and help you Make Peace with Your Money.

ISO Dividend Rate Update

We’re happy to announce that the 2023 Investment Share dividend declared by our Board of Directors for all three series (2005, 2019, and 2022) was 6%. This is higher than the previously proposed rate. This return was paid to members on January 25, 2024.

As shareholders request to sell their shares, they become available for purchase by other members, so if you’re looking to further diversify your portfolio in a safe, secure investment, Investment Shares are available as TFSAs, RRSPs, and non-registered investments.

Meet with a member of our Wealth and Investment team today or visit www.kindredcu.com/investment-shares for more info.

Join Us!

60TH Annual General Meeting
WHEN: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 7 p.m.
LOCATION: Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb St. W, Waterloo ON

As a member-owner, you have an equal voice in how the credit union is run. For six decades we’ve been blessed to have thousands of Ontarians choosing to bank with us, entrusting us with their money and selecting us to help steward their personal and business finances.

We’re planning a number of exciting ways to commemorate our 60th anniversary with our members and teammates throughout 2024, beginning with our AGM.

While we’d love to see you in person and enjoy some fellowship with special draws and giveaways, there will also be an option to join us online.

Registration and more details will be available soon!

Are you a family member of one of our 22 founders? Do you know someone who is? As part of our 60th Anniversary celebrations, we'd love to connect with you! Please email marketing@kindredcu.com or speak with your local Branch Manager.

Call for Applications!

Want to make a difference, but not sure where to start? The Peace Innovators Scholarship & Mentoring Program is for youth who are passionate about working for peace. You can learn more about the Peace Innovators Scholarship, application dates, and past applicants, by visiting www.uwaterloo.ca/centre-peace-advancement/peace-innovators

Wealth & Investment Webinars

At Kindred, financial literacy is important to us. We’ve partnered with Aviso Wealth Inc. to create a series of free webinars on important financial topics that matter most to our members.

This spring, why not attend one of these free sessions?

Learn more about all the upcoming 2024 webinars by visiting www.kindredcu.com/webinars for information or to register!

Engaging in Governance of Kindred Credit Union – Join Kindred’s Council of Members

Are you interested in contributing to the governance of your credit union? Your expertise and input are vital to growing Kindred into the future!

As a representative of the Council of Members, you will work alongside other members from our Kindred branches, responsible for finding suitable and qualified candidates to serve on the Kindred Board of Directors. This important Council meets twice a year (April / November) as they work together to support the future success of our Credit Union.

Speak to your Branch Manager about this position today!

Kindred Credit Union Charitable Fund Announces 2024 Grant Recipients

Kindred Credit Union is pleased to announce the Kindred Charitable Fund 2024 grant recipients. After reviewing 67 applications, the committee selected 15 organizations to receive a total of $100,307 in funding. Each selected organization actively inspires peaceful, just, and prosperous communities within the themes:

Community Food Security;

Financial Empowerment; and

Safe and Affordable Housing.

Including the 2024 recipients, the Kindred Charitable Fund has distributed over $1.57 million in support of 205 congregations and charitable organizations since its inception in 1999. These organizations have used the grants to support 394 projects that positively impact people and communities across Ontario.

Kindred builds relationships with community organizations through sponsorships, volunteering, and gifts-in-kind, as well as through the Kindred Charitable Fund. We believe that our communities benefit from this support and that our actions inspire our members and team mates to live out their values in tangible ways. Our partnerships and people, our giving and programs, combine to create a unique approach that inspires peaceful, just, and prosperous communities.

Read more about our Charitable Fund grant recipients for 2024!

Kindred and Local Communities Help Raise $63,000 for Food Security!

Kindred teammates, members, and community came together in the month of November to donate a total of $63,000 to community food security. Read more about this recent journey in addressing local food security concerns.

Spotlight: Looking at Dairy Farming in Ontario
From Farm to Milk Glass, How We Support Dairy Farmers and Work Toward Food Security

Recognizing the unique challenges that comes with operating a farm is something we understand. Not only are we the second largest agricultural credit union lender in Ontario, several Kindred staff members happen to own farms, themselves. That means we have decades of experience in working with agriculture – from finance to field, to table! Read More.

Effective April 1, 2024, Credential Securities, Credential Asset Management, Qtrade Asset Management and Qtrade Advisor will merge under the new name Aviso Wealth.

Formed in 2018 with the merger of Credential Financial, Qtrade Financial Group and NEI Investments, Aviso is one of Canada’s largest independent wealth management  rms. Owned by credit unions, Aviso serves over 375,000 members at 150 credit unions across the country and has the resources to bring competitive products and services to your credit union.Our purpose remains the same. We are focused on combining the capabilities of your credit union with the resources of Aviso to achieve the best possible financial outcomes for you.

The First Home Savings Account
is Here!

Contribute up to $8,000 per year toward the purchase of your first home. The FHSA offers both tax deductions on your contributions (like an RRSP) AND non-taxable earnings (like a TFSA).

Speak with a member of our Wealth and Investment team today about whether an FHSA is right for you.
With Kindred, you’re closer to home!

Reminders

60th Annual General Meeting – April 16, 2024
Registration and more details will be available soon!

Peace Innovators Scholarship and Mentoring Program
Call for Applications!

Holiday Closings:
Good Friday: March 29, 2024