Nicole Curtin had been working at Workers Credit Union for three weeks when her boss asked her to help manage the credit union’s annual fundraising campaign for the United Way of North Central Massachusetts.
Shortly after, her co-captain left the credit union, leaving Curtin in charge.
Curtin quickly revamped the program, creating new events and incentives aimed at building enthusiasm and boosting donations.
For example, each employee who donates an hour’s pay per month gets a paid day off.
“You get a day off and feel good about donating to the United Way,” she explained.
Another hit is a fundraising competition between branches and departments. The winning team gets their cars washed by the credit union’s senior management team.
During Curtin’s first year, pledges were more than 30 percent higher than the previous year. She was recognized by the United Way and received the Extra Ordinary Chairman’s Award bestowed on the campaign chair whose company achieved the highest results.
She has been co-captain of the credit union’s annual United Way fund-raising campaign for four of the past five years.
Curtin was also instrumental in developing Workers’ Financially Independent for Today and Tomorrow (FITT) initiative, a financial literacy program directed at high school students. She helps the credit union’s teaching representative with materials reaching more than 1,000 students annually.
A graduate of Worcester State University, Curtin joined Workers in 2007 after marketing and communications positions in the technology, healthcare and municipal government sectors.
Her most challenging job, she said, was managing media relations for the Worcester Regional Transit Authority during a 55-day bus strike in 2003.
“I had only been there for about six months when the strike happened,” Curtin told Banker & Tradesman. “My kids were very little, and it was tough, but I got through it and learned a lot about myself.”
At Workers, she said, “I feel like there’s a greater sense of family than the other places I’ve worked at.”
Curtin’s mother managed a small credit union for many years in Worcester, and she is a strong supporter of the credit union movement.
“I always felt good about it when my mother worked at a credit union,” she said.
She and her husband, Phil, a science teacher at Fitchburg High School, have two children – Liam, 10, and Riley, 9.
