Vision, mission, values and priorities

Contest

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Our vision for the future

During the 2010 Desjardins Group Annual General Meetings, President and CEO Monique F. Leroux shared her vision for the future of Desjardins Group. Here is an excerpt from her speech.

Speech by Monique F. Leroux

(6 min 20 s)

Our mission

To contribute to improving the economic and social well-being of people and communities within the compatible limits of its field of activity:

• by continually developing an integrated cooperative network of secure and profitable financial services, owned and administered by the members, as well as a network of complementary financial organizations with competitive returns, controlled by the members;
• by educating people, particularly members, officers and employees, about democracy, economics, solidarity, and individual and collective responsibility.

Our values

Fundamental cooperative values
Self-help, self-responsibility and responsibility for others; democracy; equality, equity and solidarity. Cooperative members respect ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

Desjardins Group values
Money at the service of human development, personal commitment, democratic action, integrity and rigour in the cooperative enterprise, and solidarity with the community.

Our priorities

Access to our services	Providing a Web site that is easy to use for the disabled. Improving the accessibility of our points of service and ATMs for people with reduced mobility. Find out more about access to our services.
Sustainable development	Promoting a more ecological and equitable world.
Diversity and equity	Actively promoting the advantages of diversity and equity.
Young people and their place in society	Helping young people make a place for themselves with the Desjardins Youth Focus program. Providing organizations that educate youth with financial backing. Combating the school dropout problem, awarding hundreds of scholarships and bursaries each year, hiring more than 1,000 students each summer, supporting young entrepreneurs. Welcoming young adults to sit on caisse Boards of Directors.
Educating young people about personal finances and cooperation	Teaching children about the importance of saving and budgeting. Promoting cooperation, democracy and group entrepreneurship through the Fondation pour l'éducation à la coopération
Financial support for individuals and microentrepreneurs	Encouraging self-help in individuals, providing financial help to self-employed workers and microbusinesses with solidarity products.
Protecting the elderly from financial exploitation	Uncovering and stopping the financial exploitation of seniors. Find out more at your caisse.
Regional development	Working to reverse the youth exodus by supporting those who want to remain in or return to their region, particularly with the Place aux jeunes du Québec program (in French only). Encouraging business and cooperative start-ups through commitments made by our subsidiary, Desjardins Venture Capital.
International solidarity	With our subsidiary, Développement international Desjardins (DID), helping communities in 22 developing countries establish financial services cooperatives. Find out more about DID activities.
Support to parents in international adoption	Helping make the dreams of those involved in an international adoption come true by offering them advantageous conditions. Find out more at your caisse.

What's more, Desjardins celebrates Cooperation Week every year.