Call for Submissions—Differentiation & Storytelling Research

Research at Filene

The Filene Research Institute is a 501(c)3 education non-profit. As a think tank, Filene works to strengthen credit unions through:

• cutting-edge research, bringing together academic and industry advances
• our FiLab, driving the incubation of research insights into scalable solutions
• advisory services, helping individual organizations implement innovation
• communities and events, connecting leaders to improve financial well-being

In pursuit of our mission of providing cutting-edge insights to credit union leaders, we produce most of our research through a center of excellence model, where we run six simultaneous centers, each focused on a different critical topic for the credit union industry. You can see our current and past centers here.

About Differentiation & Storytelling

Differentiation & Storytelling is our next three-year Center of Excellence, aimed at helping credit unions break through the increasingly competitive financial services space. Taking a data-driven approach, the center will look at how credit units can create a compelling value proposition, align their strategy around what today’s consumers truly want, and communicate their story in ways that build trust, relevance, and long-term loyalty.

Specific projects will be designed in collaboration with an advisory research and incubation council and dedicated research fellow(s); however, the following bullets provide some sense of research areas we’re interested in for this Center:

1. How can organizations access and use insights more effectively to create deep, meaningful connections with consumers?
2. How do credit unions reconcile consumer self-reported beliefs and their contradictory behaviors?
3. What strategies drive consumer action with purpose-driven messaging?
4. How should credit unions measure and increase loyalty? Which actions, moments, or expectations have the greatest impact on long-term relationship strength?
5. How do credit unions define and demonstrate a distinct value proposition that resonates with today's diverse member segments?
6. What it the right narrative and approach to increase awareness of credit unions without "teaching" about credit unions?
7. How do credit unions create brand moments and experiences that break through the noise of the competition?

Being a Filene Researcher

While we are always on the lookout for great collaborators, we are specifically kicking off a search for our newest center of excellence, Differentiation & Storytelling. To publish this research, we engage with academic and industry researchers in two capacities:

1. As Center of Excellence fellows, who help to shape the center's research agenda, conduct and speak on core research areas, and guide the credit union sponsors on a 3-year research journey. Here’s a look at some of our current and recent fellows.
2. As project-based researchers, conducting project-specific research to round out the portfolio of research we publish.

Note that we are not expecting any one researcher to cover all Differentiation & Storytelling potential topics listed above in their own research. Our expectation is that a center’s fellow has a broad hold on the topics and will help to bring a cohesive view to a portfolio of research conducted by Filene and project-based researchers.

Why work with Filene?

In a word, access.

• Access to data—with over 500 members, including some of the largest credit unions and credit union partners, our researchers have access to a large percentage of the credit union and its membership base
• Access to decision makers—in particular, our researchers have direct access to executive teams and boards at our member organizations
• Access to impact—credit unions are driven by the impact they aim to make on a community. Our researchers are a key part of making that happen.

All our fellows and project-based researchers are also compensated for their contributions. They also have many opportunities to do paid advisory engagements with our member credit unions.

Selection Process

To identify potential fellow and research partners, our selection process will have three main phases:

1. Initial submission: interested researchers will submit a CV, abstract, and letter of intent (details below).
2. Extended submission and research presentations: 4-6 researchers will be selected to create 45-minute presentations (30 minutes of content and 15 for Q&A) outlining their current research, potential future directions, and applicability to, and impact on, credit unions. Researchers will have the opportunity to have up to 2 meetings with the Filene team to help shape the tone and focus of their presentation to fit the credit union audience. Researchers will present remotely to Filene team members as well as select credit union leaders. Researchers who complete the showcase will be given a $2500 honorarium for their time and expertise. Note: researchers who are chosen to engage with Filene in the future will be compensated for all research activities, with compensation dependent upon work.
3. Final researcher selection: Filene aims to choose one dedicated Differentiation & Storytelling fellow from this process, along with additional researchers to commission on an as-needed process for supplemental research. This is subject to change dependent on the quantity and quality of work submitted.

Initial Submission Requirements & Evaluation Criteria

All researchers should submit the following:

• Curriculum vitae or resume, including:
  • Professional affiliation
  • Work history/tenure
  • Publication history
  • Sponsored projects and fundraising
• A 3-4-page letter of intent specifying if you are interested in being considered for a fellow, a project-based researcher, or both, and laying out your qualifications, including:
  • Research Perspective – this section should be the emphasis of your submission
    • How your current research and research agenda aligns to the outlined goals of the Differentiation & Storytelling of Excellence, focusing on potential for insights to make real-world impact
  • Research Execution & Application
    • Methodological skills
    • Applied research experience
    • Interactions with industry/policy communities
    • Familiarity with credit unions/financial services
  • Leadership & Service
    • Experience building and running organizations
    • Team leadership and research project supervision
    • Professional research network, including relevant collaborators
    • Preferred working and collaboration style
    • Relationships with philanthropic, government, and/or industry networks

Initial submissions will be evaluated based on:

• Relevance of research and experience to center
• Applicability of research on credit union industry
• Novelty of research
• Orientation towards creating real-world impact
• Leadership qualifications

Additional submission and evaluation criteria for the second phase will be provided to those researchers who are selected to move on. One critical evaluation criterion will be presentation and people skills, as the fellow role, in particular, is a highly visible role with small and large speaking engagements each year.

How to Submit

Please email all materials to our Research Team at [email protected] by March 20, 2026.

Timeline

Please note that this timeline is subject to change. We will reach out by email with any updates.