June 7, 2023 • 9 mins
As a GBU Life policyholder, you become an owner and a member of GBU Life
A member-owned, not-for-profit provider of life insurance and annuity products since 1892. Based here in Pittsburgh, GBU Life is a member-owned, fraternal benefit society founded by German immigrants to help them secure their futures, build their legacies and impact their community. Today our members come from all different backgrounds but share the same goals – financial protection and giving back to people and causes that matter most to them.
A member-owned, not-for-profit provider of life insurance and annuity products since 1892. Based here in Pittsburgh, GBU Life is a member-owned, fraternal benefit society founded by German immigrants to help them secure their futures, build their legacies and impact their community. Today our members come from all different backgrounds but share the same goals – financial protection and giving back to people and causes that matter most to them.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
And welcome in This is the Heartof Pittsburgh podcast. I'm your host Johnny
Hartwell, old friend. Back inthe studio. Leslie Man from GBU Life,
Good morning, How are you?Good morning. Spend a minute.
It's good to see you. Goit's been quite some time. Well,
you guys are you're a busy organization. We're going to get into that,
but it's good that you came in. So for people who aren't familiar with
(00:26):
GBU, tell us everything we needto know. Sure, we're GBU Life.
We are a one hundred and thirtyyear old fraternal insurance company that started
here in Pittsburgh, exactly in exactlyin downtown Pittsburgh. We're now out in
Brentwood. Everyone knows us. We'reacross from the country Club. But we
offer life insurance and annuities. Andour clients are not clients, but they're
(00:50):
members. Yeah, you don't havelike shareholders, you don't have clients,
And tell us what does that meanfor the people here in Pittsburgh. What
that means is that when you becomea member of GBU, you have the
opportunity to give back to your communityin ways with resources and tools that you
wouldn't have if you just purchase anannuity from a commercial life ensure. One
(01:11):
of our focuses being a fraternal benefitsociety is giving back to the community,
and we offer a whole host ofbenefits and programs to our members that go
beyond the purchase of a life insurancepolicy or an annuity. I don't know
another organization that is more involved inthe community than GBU Alive. I'm not
(01:32):
kidding. I mean, you haveso many charitable ties. But you're speaking
of ties. You have a reallygood relationship with the University of Pittsburgh,
and you have something new going on. Tell us about that. So last
year we entered into a partnership withthem, that concert with the American Cancer
Society that allowed us to support theAmerican Cancer Society while having this great partnership
(01:53):
with the University of Pittsburgh. Andso during football games, if the team
stopped on a third down, wewould donate one hundred dollars to the American
Cancer Society and so our branding wouldgo around the stadium. And so we
had this great partnership there, andthen we did something similar with them on
the basketball side. But the mostimportant part was that we had the opportunity
(02:15):
to recognize the University of Pittsburgh studentsfor their contributions to the community. They
are the number four school in thecountry for giving back to the community,
and we would give a plaque ofrecognition to a student based on the recommendation
of the school. I've said itbefore, I will say it a million
(02:37):
times. Pittsburghers take care of Pittsburghers, and even the students, even the
young Pittsburghers do that too, absolutely, and some of the things that these
students got involved with was so amazing, and so it was really an honor
to be able to participate in itin that manner. Obviously having our branding
was fantastic, but it really wasabout meeting these students and talking to them
(03:00):
about their contributions. So as aresult, they are We've had such a
great partnership, and they reached outto us about expanding the partnership, and
what we intend to do is gobeyond what we've done, have more branding,
which is great for us from asales and marketing perspective, but the
more important part is being able towork more closely with students on activities in
(03:23):
the community and being able to showthem that becoming a social member or an
insured member of GBU gives them accessto all of these benefits and resources that
they wouldn't have if they're doing iton their own. We talked about how
you know GBU doesn't have clients,you don't have sholding shareholders, you have
(03:45):
members, and we talked a littlebit about insured members. But a social
member is something that anybody can afford. For twenty five dollars. What do
you get twenty five dollars. Youget access to the full complement of our
benefits, as well as opportunities toengage in the community up to five thousand
dollars. We can give back ifa number of members join together on a
project, we will reimburse you forup to five thousand dollars. So these
(04:10):
are benefits that you would not getfrom buying an insurance policy from another commercial
company. Just twenty five dollars.Twenty five dollars. GBU dot org is
where you can sign up. Right, it's three letters, John, Right,
you can figure that well. Wetalked a little bit about community involvement
in your association with PITT. Youalso tell us about the Campus View Club.
(04:31):
Is that what it is? Yes? So part of the expansion of
this partnership is that we will bebranding the Campus View Club inside the Peterson
Arena with GBU Life. We'll havea wall that taught inside the club that
talks about what GBU Life does andits contributions to the community. But it's
also you know, a club wherewe can have events there. We you
(04:53):
know, the students, have events, and we'll be able to really leverage
you know, the opportunity. Andone of the first things we want to
do as we think about expanding ourcontributions as our foundation is sixty years old
this year, well happy birthday,so to spy now, and we're really
looking to grow our foundations. It'sbeen around for sixty years, but it
(05:15):
hasn't really had a ton of focusand attention, and so because it's its
sixtieth anniversary, we've really decided totake it to a new level. And
one of the first things we wantto do is have an event at the
Peterson Center in our new branded CampusView Club to support our foundation. What
is the foundation? The foundation hashistorically been supporting only scholarships, so we
(05:39):
give out a couple hundred thousand dollarsa year in scholarships. What we want
to do is grow that and expandthe mission of the foundation to include community
grants. And so we'll be workingacross the country with our members to find
you worthy causes to donate to andgive grants to. So it's real,
it's a new direction for our foundationand really expands the power of the Foundation
(06:03):
to our members across the country.All Right, to become an Insured member
or a social member, all thatinformation is on the website absolutely, and
if somebody becomes an assured an Insuredmember, they are eligible for some of
these benefits. Yeah, if you'rea social member, the only benefit that
you're not entitled to is the scholarships. If you're an Insured member, you
(06:26):
get the full complement of all ofour benefits in addition to the product.
All Right, So we talked alittle bit about GBU sixtieth anniversary of the
Foundation. We talk about community involvementin your association with Pitt. But tell
us a little more about the YouthLeadership Program. What is that? The
Youth Leadership Program is a benefit thatanyone that's an insured or a social member
(06:46):
can participate in, and it isdesigned to engage members at a very young
age, and the program is designedto help build a younger members resume with
leadership and leadership classes, financial classes, any sort of schooling classes throughout school
that they will get points for participatingin that accumulate over the course of their
(07:11):
you know, ten twelve years thatthey're engaged in the program, and those
points can be turned into scholarship pointsas well as sage tuition rewards dollars towards
college. All right. So ifI sign up and I've become an insured
member as a parent, I canenroll my kids into this program and these
are some of the benefits that Ican have for my children, absolutely all
(07:33):
right. So the sign up it'sGBU dot org and that as a member,
I can sign up for any ofthese programs, absolutely all right.
So once again, if somebody who'snot familiar with GBU life, tell us
who you are, what's your history, And if somebody's interested in some of
these programs or signing up for anyof your you know, if they want
(07:53):
to be insured or become a socialmembers, what do they have to what's
all the information they need? Sojust a reminder where one hundred and thirty
one year old insurance company I knowyou're so used to say in one hundred
and thirty years we said, yes, we did one hundred thirty one.
You've matured. Yes. So we'reone hundred and thirty one Fraternal Benefit Society
(08:13):
slash insurance company based in Pittsburgh.It started one hundred and thirty one years
ago right here in the city,offering life insurance and a nudies as well
as social membership and engagement to ourmembers. And all you have to do
is go to the website GBU dotorg and the information is right there in
front of you. And you know, I've said it before and I'll say
(08:35):
it a million times, Pittsburghers takecare of Pittsburghers, but nobody takes care
of Pittsburghers more than GBU Life.You do a fantastic job. And I
don't know even we haven't even scratchedthe surface on some of the things that
you guys and some of the thingsyou participate in the city. So thank
you for everything you do. Absolutely, thank you. I really appreciate the
opportunity. All right, once again, if you want to become an insured
(08:56):
member or a social member. Again, they don't have clients, they have
members. You would like to becomea member. The website is GBU dot
org. All Right, is thereanything I missed? Well, we do
have a member event going on atthe Zoo on July sixteenth, so if
you're interested in becoming a member,that's a great place to show up and
fill out a social member application orwe'll connect you. Leslie. Thank you
(09:20):
so much. Thanks, this hasbeen the heart of Pittsburgh Podcast. I'm
in your host Johnny Hart Well,thank you so much for listening.
And welcome in This is the Heartof Pittsburgh podcast. I'm your host Johnny
Hartwell, old friend. Back inthe studio. Leslie Man from GBU Life,
Good morning, How are you?Good morning. Spend a minute.
It's good to see you. Goit's been quite some time. Well,
you guys are you're a busy organization. We're going to get into that,
but it's good that you came in. So for people who aren't familiar with
(00:26):
GBU, tell us everything we needto know. Sure, we're GBU Life.
We are a one hundred and thirtyyear old fraternal insurance company that started
here in Pittsburgh, exactly in exactlyin downtown Pittsburgh. We're now out in
Brentwood. Everyone knows us. We'reacross from the country Club. But we
offer life insurance and annuities. Andour clients are not clients, but they're
(00:50):
members. Yeah, you don't havelike shareholders, you don't have clients,
And tell us what does that meanfor the people here in Pittsburgh. What
that means is that when you becomea member of GBU, you have the
opportunity to give back to your communityin ways with resources and tools that you
wouldn't have if you just purchase anannuity from a commercial life ensure. One
(01:11):
of our focuses being a fraternal benefitsociety is giving back to the community,
and we offer a whole host ofbenefits and programs to our members that go
beyond the purchase of a life insurancepolicy or an annuity. I don't know
another organization that is more involved inthe community than GBU Alive. I'm not
(01:32):
kidding. I mean, you haveso many charitable ties. But you're speaking
of ties. You have a reallygood relationship with the University of Pittsburgh,
and you have something new going on. Tell us about that. So last
year we entered into a partnership withthem, that concert with the American Cancer
Society that allowed us to support theAmerican Cancer Society while having this great partnership
(01:53):
with the University of Pittsburgh. Andso during football games, if the team
stopped on a third down, wewould donate one hundred dollars to the American
Cancer Society and so our branding wouldgo around the stadium. And so we
had this great partnership there, andthen we did something similar with them on
the basketball side. But the mostimportant part was that we had the opportunity
(02:15):
to recognize the University of Pittsburgh studentsfor their contributions to the community. They
are the number four school in thecountry for giving back to the community,
and we would give a plaque ofrecognition to a student based on the recommendation
of the school. I've said itbefore, I will say it a million
(02:37):
times. Pittsburghers take care of Pittsburghers, and even the students, even the
young Pittsburghers do that too, absolutely, and some of the things that these
students got involved with was so amazing, and so it was really an honor
to be able to participate in itin that manner. Obviously having our branding
was fantastic, but it really wasabout meeting these students and talking to them
(03:00):
about their contributions. So as aresult, they are We've had such a
great partnership, and they reached outto us about expanding the partnership, and
what we intend to do is gobeyond what we've done, have more branding,
which is great for us from asales and marketing perspective, but the
more important part is being able towork more closely with students on activities in
(03:23):
the community and being able to showthem that becoming a social member or an
insured member of GBU gives them accessto all of these benefits and resources that
they wouldn't have if they're doing iton their own. We talked about how
you know GBU doesn't have clients,you don't have sholding shareholders, you have
(03:45):
members, and we talked a littlebit about insured members. But a social
member is something that anybody can afford. For twenty five dollars. What do
you get twenty five dollars. Youget access to the full complement of our
benefits, as well as opportunities toengage in the community up to five thousand
dollars. We can give back ifa number of members join together on a
project, we will reimburse you forup to five thousand dollars. So these
(04:10):
are benefits that you would not getfrom buying an insurance policy from another commercial
company. Just twenty five dollars.Twenty five dollars. GBU dot org is
where you can sign up. Right, it's three letters, John, Right,
you can figure that well. Wetalked a little bit about community involvement
in your association with PITT. Youalso tell us about the Campus View Club.
(04:31):
Is that what it is? Yes? So part of the expansion of
this partnership is that we will bebranding the Campus View Club inside the Peterson
Arena with GBU Life. We'll havea wall that taught inside the club that
talks about what GBU Life does andits contributions to the community. But it's
also you know, a club wherewe can have events there. We you
(04:53):
know, the students, have events, and we'll be able to really leverage
you know, the opportunity. Andone of the first things we want to
do as we think about expanding ourcontributions as our foundation is sixty years old
this year, well happy birthday,so to spy now, and we're really
looking to grow our foundations. It'sbeen around for sixty years, but it
(05:15):
hasn't really had a ton of focusand attention, and so because it's its
sixtieth anniversary, we've really decided totake it to a new level. And
one of the first things we wantto do is have an event at the
Peterson Center in our new branded CampusView Club to support our foundation. What
is the foundation? The foundation hashistorically been supporting only scholarships, so we
(05:39):
give out a couple hundred thousand dollarsa year in scholarships. What we want
to do is grow that and expandthe mission of the foundation to include community
grants. And so we'll be workingacross the country with our members to find
you worthy causes to donate to andgive grants to. So it's real,
it's a new direction for our foundationand really expands the power of the Foundation
(06:03):
to our members across the country.All Right, to become an Insured member
or a social member, all thatinformation is on the website absolutely, and
if somebody becomes an assured an Insuredmember, they are eligible for some of
these benefits. Yeah, if you'rea social member, the only benefit that
you're not entitled to is the scholarships. If you're an Insured member, you
(06:26):
get the full complement of all ofour benefits in addition to the product.
All Right, So we talked alittle bit about GBU sixtieth anniversary of the
Foundation. We talk about community involvementin your association with Pitt. But tell
us a little more about the YouthLeadership Program. What is that? The
Youth Leadership Program is a benefit thatanyone that's an insured or a social member
(06:46):
can participate in, and it isdesigned to engage members at a very young
age, and the program is designedto help build a younger members resume with
leadership and leadership classes, financial classes, any sort of schooling classes throughout school
that they will get points for participatingin that accumulate over the course of their
(07:11):
you know, ten twelve years thatthey're engaged in the program, and those
points can be turned into scholarship pointsas well as sage tuition rewards dollars towards
college. All right. So ifI sign up and I've become an insured
member as a parent, I canenroll my kids into this program and these
are some of the benefits that Ican have for my children, absolutely all
(07:33):
right. So the sign up it'sGBU dot org and that as a member,
I can sign up for any ofthese programs, absolutely all right.
So once again, if somebody who'snot familiar with GBU life, tell us
who you are, what's your history, And if somebody's interested in some of
these programs or signing up for anyof your you know, if they want
(07:53):
to be insured or become a socialmembers, what do they have to what's
all the information they need? Sojust a reminder where one hundred and thirty
one year old insurance company I knowyou're so used to say in one hundred
and thirty years we said, yes, we did one hundred thirty one.
You've matured. Yes. So we'reone hundred and thirty one Fraternal Benefit Society
(08:13):
slash insurance company based in Pittsburgh.It started one hundred and thirty one years
ago right here in the city,offering life insurance and a nudies as well
as social membership and engagement to ourmembers. And all you have to do
is go to the website GBU dotorg and the information is right there in
front of you. And you know, I've said it before and I'll say
(08:35):
it a million times, Pittsburghers takecare of Pittsburghers, but nobody takes care
of Pittsburghers more than GBU Life.You do a fantastic job. And I
don't know even we haven't even scratchedthe surface on some of the things that
you guys and some of the thingsyou participate in the city. So thank
you for everything you do. Absolutely, thank you. I really appreciate the
opportunity. All right, once again, if you want to become an insured
(08:56):
member or a social member. Again, they don't have clients, they have
members. You would like to becomea member. The website is GBU dot
org. All Right, is thereanything I missed? Well, we do
have a member event going on atthe Zoo on July sixteenth, so if
you're interested in becoming a member,that's a great place to show up and
fill out a social member application orwe'll connect you. Leslie. Thank you
(09:20):
so much. Thanks, this hasbeen the heart of Pittsburgh Podcast. I'm
in your host Johnny Hart Well,thank you so much for listening.
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