Vancity’s commitment to member and community well-being is highly important in members’ decisions to join us (44%). In 2012 we asked members if they agreed that Vancity’s contribution to the community has had a positive impact on their personal well-being. We set a target range of 47-49% agreement by the end of 2012, which we exceeded. 50% of members stated that they strongly agreed with the statement.

At the same time, we wanted to develop a more robust measure to better understand how members think about their personal well-being. We asked them what well-being means to them, recognizing that it’s a complex idea that means different things to different people. We learned that members generally feel safe in their communities and are relatively satisfied with their overall quality of life. We also found members tend to be less satisfied with their progress toward achieving goals, with their amount of time they have for leisure activities, and with their financial security. Members’ sense of feeling part of their community emerged as the area of lowest satisfaction. Based on this feedback we’ve developed a well-being index, which we’re now testing.