Typically, donor contributions to the credit unions are targeted and used in the same statutory requirements and restrictions as the Mutual Financial Aid fund as a whole. Credit unions encourage savings of citizens, setting compensation payments (interest) on savings and provide from these savings loans to their members. Typically new members of the credit union become citizens having suretyship or recommendations from their friends - members of the credit union. As of the January 1, 2012 the national associations and confederations unite more than 196 million members participating in the 51,013 credit unions in 100 countries. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. Credit unions are financial institutions, financial cooperatives of citizens, and in this capacity they are above all associations of people, not unification of capitals, which is typical, for example, for public companies.