For local business advocates across the country, April marks “Move Your Money Month.” Love Live Local joins these partners along with the American Independent Business Alliance and the Independent Community Bankers of America in urging individuals to support local banks like Cape Cod 5, The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod, and Seamen’s Bank, rather than making their deposits with large corporate banks headquartered off-Cape.
Choosing a local bank is one of the easiest ways to support our local economy and keep it resilient. Thinking locally is about more than spending your dollars locally. It’s about investing in your community as a whole, and that starts with where your dollars are deposited. When you deposit your dollars with local banks, that money is reinvested in the local economy through charitable giving, new residential mortgages, and further small business lending.
“Small businesses, which create the majority of new jobs, depend heavily on small, local banks for financing,” said Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance co-director.“Although small and mid-sized banks control less than one-quarter of all bank assets, they account for more than half of all small business lending. Big banks, meanwhile, allocate relatively little of their resources to small businesses.” Large banks simply take their deposits and invest them far away.
According to the Small Business Administration, community banks served nearly 60 percent of Paycheck Protection Program COVID relief loans to help small businesses retain more than 3.7 million employees. Community banks champion local entrepreneurship and are responsible for over half of all small business loans in the nation, according to the Institute of Local Self-Reliance. On the other hand, national and international banks distributed just 17% of their Payroll Protection Program funding to local businesses.
You can move your money to a local bank pretty easily. Check out the Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod’s Switch Kit, schedule an appointment online with the closest-to-you branch of Cape Cod 5, or if you’re on the Lower and Outer Cape, give Seamen’s a call.
Curious about your bank’s local impact? Find out for every $100 you deposit, how much is invested in the community. Take the Move Your Money quiz to find out.
Thank you to our 2022 Mission Supporters Mid-Cape Home Centers , Cape Cod Five, Duffy Health Center, Nauset Disposal and Cape Cod Healthcare for sustaining our educational + advocacy work.
