Meridian’s Commitment to Communities

72015 Annual Report | Meridian’s Commitment to Communities

Meridian’s Commitment to CommunitiesMeridian exists to help lives grow. One of the ways we help lives grow is through Meridian’s Commitment to Communities. We uphold this commitment to help build our local communities across Ontario, where we can all grow and have better, more prosperous lives. As part of this commitment, we invest at least 4% of our pre-tax earnings into community investment programs, partnerships and in-kind resources that support our local communities, following the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) Canada guidelines for corporate community investment.Through our community investment programs, partnerships and business operations, we are continually working toward five key goals:

IMPROVING FINANCIAL LITERACYWe work with our Members at each stage of life to manage their money and grow their lives, and financial literacy is essential for achieving overall financial wellbeing. To improve financial literacy for our Members and communities, we team up with leading provincial and national community partners to create and deliver innovative tools and programs. These resources make it easier for Ontarians to save for their children’s education, launch their own businesses and manage their finances. Throughout 2015, Meridian advanced our work in this area by launching five signature tools and programs with our partners:

bizsmarts.ca Through community focus groups in Niagara and Hamilton, we heard first-hand from small business owners of the difficulties of starting, running and growing a business and the confusing array of resources available online. To meet their needs and the needs of thousands of entrepreneurs like them, we worked with MaRS Discovery District,

Futurpreneur Canada and the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs to design and launch an online tool for new and aspiring business owners – bizsmarts.ca. In its first 6 months, over 4,500 entrepreneurs took advantage of tools and insights tailored to their business journey at bizsmarts.ca.

Owners Wanted We understand the challenge – and exciting potential – of taking a business idea from concept to reality. To support aspiring young entrepreneurs at this stage, we partnered with Futurpreneur Canada to co-host a meet-up series in local coffee shops across Ontario. These casual meet-ups engaged over 120 soon-to-be entrepreneurs aged 18-39 to discuss their business ideas and seek advice in an open, friendly environment with Meridian small business advisors, Futurpreneur Canada experts, and fellow entrepreneurs.

82015 Annual Report | Meridian’s Commitment to Communities

Action Entrepreneurship To foster local communities of young business owners aged 18 – 39 at all stages of launching their business, and to engage corporate, not-for-profit, academic and government partners in supporting them, we teamed up with Futurpreneur Canada to present Action Entrepreneurship. This national program is a series of 12 regional community exchange events supporting 700 local entrepreneurs in Toronto, Ottawa and in cities across Canada, culminating in a national summit for 300. Meridian leaders and advisors welcomed and mentored attendees, and invited our credit union counterparts to do the same outside Ontario: Servus, Westminster Savings, Northern Savings and Newfoundland and Labrador credit unions.

Financial Literacy Facilitator Trainings To equip community organizations with the tools they need to empower Ontarians, Meridian partnered with the Prosper Canada Centre for Financial Literacy to co-host four free regional community financial literacy facilitator trainings. In Niagara, Hamilton, Toronto and Durham, Prosper Canada’s facilitators and our team leaders coached 60 not-for-profit representatives from United Way agencies, municipalities and charities in facilitating discussions about pressing topics such as budgeting, saving, credit and debt. In exchange, each participants committed to sharing the educational tools and resources they obtained with at least 15 social services clients; in total, reaching at least 900 Ontario residents. Meridian was platinum sponsor of Canada’s biennial national financial empowerment conference, the ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference. In Toronto, 325 non-profit, public and private sector practitioners convened to share best practices in financial literacy programming.

SmartSAVER.org To ensure Canadians of all income levels, speaking many languages, have the guidance and tools they need to begin saving for their children’s post-secondary education, we partnered with Omega Foundation to launch SmartSAVER.org. In 2015 with SmartSAVER.org, we helped to empower over 180,000 Canadians to learn about the Registered Education Savings Plan, Canada Learning Bond and Canada Education Savings Grant. By year-end, 3,045 Canadians used SmartSAVER.org to apply for RESP’s with Meridian and other partnering financial institutions. From November 15 – 21, we generated awareness for Canada’s 2nd annual Education Savings Week with social media contests and local community events with partners such as the Orillia library, the Best Start Network and the United Way of Greater Simcoe County.

Bill Maurin at the 2015 Futurpreneur Canada Action Entrepreneurship National Summit presented by Meridian. (Photo: Jennifer Blunt)

92015 Annual Report | Meridian’s Commitment to Communities

INVESTING IN OUR COMMUNITIESAs a credit union, we put our Members’ money to work in our communities – helping Ontarians to save, own their home sooner and achieve goals like sending a child to school, launching a business and retiring. We also re-invest a portion of our earnings back into our communities.

Good Neighbour Program Through our Good Neighbour Program, Meridian’s local community sponsorship program, we invite charitable, not-for-profit and public organizations across Ontario that share our dedication to strengthening communities, to apply to become a community partner. Our local community sponsorship decisions are made by each of our branch teams to address the unique needs of each of our communities. Community partnerships are not simply donations – our employees often volunteer, fundraise for and promote the causes we support.

In 2015, through our Good Neighbour Program, Meridian supported more than 300 organizations across the province. A heartwarming highlight this year was our Greater Toronto Area team’s energetic participation in the Strides for Melanoma Walk, raising $10,000 for the Melanoma Network of Canada in memory of Sean Jackson, Meridian’s former CEO.

Meridian Commitment to Communities Sean Jackson Scholarship Meridian created a new scholarship to recognize one graduating Ontario high school student annually

who has demonstrated a strong commitment to their community while achieving academic excellence. The Meridian Commitment to Communities Sean Jackson Scholarship honours the memory of our first President and CEO.The inaugural 2015 recipient of the $10,000 scholarship was Julia Mogus, an Oakville resident who co-created ‘Books With No Bounds’, which provides children in remote communities and developing countries with books donated by publishers, authors and the public. Julia is attending the University of Toronto where she is studying International Relations.

ENGAGING OUR EMPLOYEESOur employees are the driving force in delivering on our Commitment to Communities. In return, we have a commitment to them – to ensure they are equipped to lead healthy, safe, balanced lives and are supported in donating their time, skills and resources to their communities. To magnify the personal contributions of our team members, we offer My Commitment to Communities: donation and fundraising matches and volunteer grants to each of our employees to further support the causes that matter most to them.This past year through the My Commitment to Communities program, Meridian matched more than $75,000 in donations and funds raised by over 200 employees. In 2015, 134 employees personally volunteered more than 5,000 hours of their own time to charities and not-for-profit organizations. Meridian

Employees at the Meridian Grande Parade in St. Catharines.

Employees at the Strides for Melanoma Walk in Toronto.

102015 Annual Report | Meridian’s Commitment to Communities

rewarded their volunteering efforts with grants totalling $33,000 that they could donate to the charities of their choice. Additionally, through our employee-led United Way campaign, we raised nearly $250,000 for chapters across Ontario through employee donations, fundraising and matching funds.

CONTRIBUTING TO A HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENTAs responsible members of our community, we are obligated to help care for it by assessing and minimizing our company’s environmental impact. We are benchmarking our use of energy and materials and implementing initiatives to reduce waste, improve efficiencies and create healthy spaces. This is an ongoing process and one that will contribute to healthier communities.

In 2015, Meridian continued to reinforce our commitment to contributing to a healthier environment. We moved our Toronto corporate office to a LEED Gold certified building that meets some of the highest standards in environmental responsibility. We implemented recycling and organic waste streams for the new office, and ensured the move was low waste by donating remaining supplies to Goodwill. And, we have carefully sourced new environmentally friendly products – from carpet and paint to furniture and coffee beans, and a living wall that balances humidity and improves air quality. For employees, our new Toronto office offers a variety of sustainable commuting options with an attached TTC subway station, access to bicycle parking, and preferential parking spaces for hybrid and carpool vehicles.

SUPPORTING A STRONG CO-OPERATIVE SECTORAs a co-operative business owned by our Members, Meridian is committed to offering the very best products and services that serve our Members’ needs. We’re driven by more than profit and we support others in taking the same approach by championing the development of co-operative leadership in youth and that of new co-operative businesses in Canada.In 2015, Meridian continued our work in this area by helping to organize 32 roundtable meetings and six regional conferences across the province with the Ontario Co-operative Association. These meetings, which focused on ways in which co-operatives can better serve their Members, stakeholders and communities, attracted more than 1,200 representatives from co-operatives across Ontario. We continued our annual support for the Co-operative Young Leaders program by awarding 8 student bursaries, and the All 4 Each youth education program by jointly delivering co-operative leadership workshops to dozens of high school students in Guelph, Cambridge and Orangeville.

Meridian’s living wall at the Toronto corporate office.

Employees participating in the Rankin Cancer Run in St. Catharines.

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