Founded in 1989, the institute is named for
Edward Filene, a
Boston,
Massachusetts-based businessman and
philanthropist who was instrumental in the creation of credit unions in the U.S. In 1993, the institute published a research report on the evolution of credit union field of membership, helping to lay the groundwork for H.R 1151, the
Credit Union Membership Access Act. In 2003, the institute started the REAL Solutions project to study financial services for low-income households and address
predatory lending and other fringe financial services. The project became a program of the
National Credit Union Foundation in 2007. In 2004, the institute launched an innovation training program called i3 (for "Ideas, Innovation, Implementation"), which brings together credit union executives to identify new solutions and business models in financial services. In 2010, the institute established the Cooperative Trust program and community to support credit union young professionals. In 2017, the Cooperative Trust was awarded the Herb Wegner Memorial Outstanding Program Award by the National Credit Union Foundation The institute engages several prominent
academic researchers, including: •
Sekou Bermiss •
Dennis Campbell •
Robert Hoel •
William E. Jackson •
Jinkook Lee •
Robert D. Manning •
Bill Maurer •
Hayagreeva "Huggy" Rao •
Quinetta Roberson •
Barbara J. Robles •
J. Edward Russo •
Hope Schau •
Lisa J. Servon •
Peter Tufano •
James A. Wilcox ==Partnerships==