Non-Profit Profile: FISC

Founded in 1994, FISC is a community organization that helps families and individuals improve the quality of their lives through the teaching and application of sound financial principles.

What was the inspiration behind the founding of the organization?

Two men started FISC in Menasha, Wisconsin in 1985. One of them, Dennis, had gotten into so much debt that he was using checks from one credit card to pay another and was late on house payments, so the bank was about to foreclose on the home. His wife was home raising their three kids and had no idea that they were in so much debt. Dennis sold life insurance for a company and felt so much shame and guilt that he wanted to take his own life. He knew he could do it in a way that would pay life insurance to his family and felt that then they could get out of debt.

Instead of taking his own life, he told his co-worker, John, who talked him out of it and helped him set up a workable spending plan. They together, called the credit card companies and bank and arranged repayments on all the debts. John and his wife went with Dennis to help him tell his wife all this. They stayed together, repaid all the debt and kept the house.

Dennis and John then started FISC to help others overcome the shame and guilt of being in too much debt. In 1992, they had to become a licensed CCCS (Consumer Credit Counseling Service). FISC has offices in northeast Wisconsin and all but the Sturgeon Bay office, are under Goodwill Industries now.

The Sturgeon Bay FISC office serves Door and Kewaunee counties and is a stand-alone 501c3. We opened in July 1994 and are celebrating 15 years of service this year. We are a United Way funded partner and United Fund of Kewaunee County agency. We are accredited through the Menasha office and licensed by the State Commissioner on Banking.

What type of programming do you offer and who benefits from the work that you do? Who are the primary targets of your work and services?

FISC serves people of all income levels in Door and Kewaunee counties. We provide budget and credit counseling services, financial literacy education, debt management plans, bankruptcy pre-filing counseling and pre-discharge education, as well as teach a system of money management that really works to help people get out and stay out of debt. We also provide foreclosure mitigation services, Level 1 HUD housing counseling and homebuyer education.

Can you provide us with a specific case or instance that exemplifies how your work benefits the Door community?

We receive funding from the Door County Community Foundation and another local foundation to provide a very well-received and frequently-requested financial literacy presentation in Door County high schools. The activity we do in class really leaves kids with a sense of how to manage money.

How is your organization weathering the storm that has hit the non-profit community in the wake of the financial crisis?

We are struggling, as most non-profits are. FISC serves clients that use many of the other non-profit agencies in the community. Money issues cut across everything from AODA to business failures. We are a part-time office and people must wait up to three weeks for an appointment.

We have never been needed more and donations are down from funding sources. We are hanging in there, costs are very low and all we can do is cut staff time/office hours if we do not receive enough funding.

What is one thing about your organization that most people may not know?

We serve people of all income levels and financial situations. If people come to us before they get in over their heads, we can help them avoid bankruptcy and get back on track.

Is there a shocking statistic related to your organization’s efforts that our readers might be interested to know?

We are the only budget and credit counseling service in Door and Kewaunee counties; although we serve 150 – 200 new clients each year, there are only 30 people on debt management plans paying off a total of approx. $1,300,000 in credit card debt; a debt plan usually takes five years to complete.

For more information about FISC Consumer Credit Counseling Services, Inc., located at 57 No. 12th Ave., Sturgeon Bay, contact Director Gay Pustaver via email at [email protected] or by phone at 920.743.1862. http://www.fisc-cccs.org