Song is first single from forthcoming financial ed album for kids

Kicking off National Financial Literacy Month, The Disclosures – the Madison-based “musicians with a mission” – have released a new song and music video for kids called “Thank My Piggy Bank”, which introduces basic concepts of saving. This is the first single from The Disclosures’ forthcoming untitled financial education album for kids due to be released later this year.

“Thank My Piggy Bank” is available on most digital music stores including iTunes, Amazon, and CDbaby. The video is available for viewing and embedding on YouTube here.

“Our rock song breaks new ground combining music and humor to teach kids important lessons about money, savings and responsible spending,” said Disclosures band member Chad Helminak.

“It’s not just a song, it’s a teaching tool,” said Disclosure Christopher Morris. “Organizations can use the video for educational social media content and parents can download the song and watch the video with their kids.”

Since the release of their first album in 2011 entitled “(Hey, We’re) The Disclosures” – comprised of songs that focus on credit union history and philosophy – Christopher and Chad have presented highly-rated education sessions and music performances to credit unions, chapters, trade associations and vendors across the nation.

For their next project, The Disclosures have decided to go in a new direction and address a problem that continues to affect almost all consumers – personal finance.

Chad and Christopher work closely with a lot of financial education resources and realize the importance of teaching kids how to responsibly handle their finances. “Thank My Piggy Bank” is the first single from their next album, which they are currently recording. The pop/rock album – due to release in late 2013 – will be entirely focused on youth financial education, the first of its kind.

“Thank My Piggy Bank” was written and performed by The Disclosures and mixed and mastered by Morriss Partee/Squirrel Trench Audio. Video was directed by The Disclosures. Song lyrics are available here.

Connect with The Disclosures on Facebook to get the latest news about the band and their efforts to raise awareness of the need for youth financial education.

About the band: Christopher Morris and Chad Helminak are musicians with a mission based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Outside of their day jobs, they moonlight as the music duo “The Disclosures” and write songs and perform presentations about the importance of financial literacy and social responsibility. To learn more, visit thedisclosuresmusic.com.

We had such a great time playing in Washington, DC last week at a few events related to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC). At both shows, we talked about our unique history as a “credit union” band and played a few songs. We also decided at the last minute to unveil a new song (“Thank My Piggy Bank”) from our forthcoming youth financial education album we are currently recording and the response was incredible! It makes us really excited at the new direction we are focused on. We can’t wait to release the album later this year!

The first show we played was at Clyde’s of Gallery Place for the Tom Connors Memorial Luncheon. This is a special event for alumni of the Credit Union Development Education (DE) Training Program and we were humbled to be on the agenda for the event. The band met at DE Training in 2009 and is a major reason why we’ve chosen (and been inspired) to write and perform songs about financial literacy, cooperatives and credit unions.

We also played at the Friends of the Foundation reception, a private reception held prior to the National Credit Union Foundation Dinner Presenting the Herb Wegner Memorial Awards. As you can see by the pictures, it was a formal event and we were so honored to be asked to perform and tell our story!

The Disclosures are pleased to announce that they’ll be in Washington, DC for the upcoming Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) and performing at two separate private events related to the conference.

First, the band will be at Clydes of Gallery Place on Saturday, February 23 for the Tom Connors Memorial Luncheon. Chad and Christopher will be performing a few songs and sharing their unique story at the special luncheon for Credit Union Development Education (DE) Training alumni. Click here for registration information.

On Monday, February 25, The Disclosures will be performing a few songs at the Friends of the Foundation Reception prior to the National Credit Union Foundation Dinner presenting the Herb Wegner Memorial Awards at the Grand Hyatt. This is an invitation-only reception for Foundation supporters.

Hope to see you at one of the events! Otherwise we are looking forward to meeting you at the conference!

Chris and Chad perform the “Theme Song from Estes Park”, which was a song originally performed at Estes Park, CO in 1934 as part of the infamous credit union meeting that sparked the national credit union system.

More information about the songs sung at Estes Park with lyrics can be found here.

A few pictures from our session at Estes Park, Colorado for a pre-conference event at the CUNA Community Credit Union & Growth Conference. Video to come soon!

The Disclosures are proud to announce that we will be performing at the famed Estes Park location as part of a pre-conference event for CUNA’s Community Credit Union & Growth Conference!

Estes Park is one of the most famous places in credit union history. It was a historic summit where nearly 100 credit union leaders met in 1934 after President Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act. The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) was formed at that meeting as well as the seeds for CUNA Mutual Group. In a letter to Edward Filene before the famous meeting, Roy Bergengren “I sincerely believe that what we are going to do at Estes Park will have extraordinary consequences.”

Aside from taking a tour of the nearby Stanley Hotel made famous from Stephen King’s The Shining, the pre-conference event will include an interesting tour of Estes Park focusing on the famous 1934 meeting. The tour will include a stop at the Estes Park Museum where we will learn about credit union history and see items from the founding of CUNA. We will take a group photo, restaging the historic Estes Park group picture (shown above).

After the tour, The Disclosures we’ll be performing a special “Estes Park Edition” of our Credit Unions Rock! Getting in Tune with our Roots and Philosophy education session.

Here are the session details: Revisit your credit union roots as The Disclosures provide a musically-driven overview of the origin of credit unions, their expansion across America and the cooperative principles they were founded on. In this one-of-a-kind musical session, you’ll learn about how it all began right in Estes Park, the site of the organization of CUNA. For the first time ever, hear The Disclosures perform a few of the songs from that historic moment in credit union history. This session is like a credit union version of “VH1 Storytellers.” As Christopher and Chad discuss, these topics are more relevant than ever to credit union staff, boards and members alike.

Hope to see you there!

> Click Here for More Information on the Event & Registration

Work in credit unions? Live in Louisiana?

You need to come to the Louisiana Credit Union League’s 2012 Annual Meeting & Convention on August 1-4, 2012.

With excellent education sessions, networking, golf tournament, social event on Friday night (“Friday Night Lights”), recognition awards and more…it’s bound to be an informative and memorable event

The Disclosures will be there too! You’ll see us on the general session stage introducing sessions and playing songs. Then, you’ll see us hosting the exhibitor luncheon. Plus, we’ll be performing both(!) of our education sessions on Friday.

If you are a young professional or interested in credit union history and philosophy, definitely check out our music-driven “Credit Unions in the Key of Awesome” session. Actually, it’s applicable to anyone in the industry, as it’s like a credit union version of “VH1 Storytellers”.

For those in marketing/communications or CEO/management, you might like our “Add More Cowbell to Your Credit Union Messaging” session. Among other things, we’ll be demonstrating the creative process of morphing credit union communications into creative, interactive messages that work well over social media and other channels.

Hope to see you in the Big Easy!

> Click Here for More Information on the Event & Registration

We’ve been busy lately.

In the last few weeks, we played to some great audiences. First, we kicked off the picnic at the Credit Union Development Education (DE) Training in Madison to an audience of credit union professionals from across the United States, Africa and Scotland. Since the band was formed after meeting at DE Training, that event was pretty special for us to return three years later to play a few songs and talk about our journey and experiences as a credit union band.

The next week, we drove to Schaumburg for the Illinois Credit Union League Annual Convention to perform our education session “Credit Unions in the Key of Awesome.” Carla Day was in the audience and did a nice write-up  afterwards at CU Chat Up. She also recorded a video of us performing “Credit Union History (Fact)” from our session. Enjoy:

Last week was probably the biggest week for us as we returned to the Wisconsin Credit Union League’s Annual Convention & Exposition as event emcees. We had fun and kicked off all the general sessions for the conference. We even played some live versions of “Building a Better World,” our song for Bank Transfer Day, and many others. We also did a special credit union history and philosophy session for the “Crashers” or young professionals at the conference. Oh, and we met baseball legend Rollie Fingers!

Click here for part of our live “Building a Better World” performance last week.

We had a great time sharing our music, passion and stories about what makes credit unions unique and powerful the last few weeks. Hope to see you at an event sometime soon!

Does your credit union organization have an event or staff meeting coming up? Check out our booking page to learn more about how we can rock out with you and your attendees/employees.

The Disclosures are excited to present/perform at the Credit Union Association of New York’s 2012 Annual Meeting & Convention:

Join us on June 7-10 at The Sagamore Resort on Lake George. For more info on the event, visit https://www.cuany.org/services/convention.

Hope to see you there! Inspiration awaits…

The Disclosures will be returning as event emcees for the Wisconsin Credit Union League Annual Convention on May 9-12, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin!

For more information on the event and to register, visit http://www.theleague.coop/convention.

Hope to see you out in the crowd!