| THE GADFLY | ||||||||||||
| September 2014 |
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| The NAR Government Affairs Directors Newsletter | ||||||||||||
| The GADFly is produced by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® to provide Government Affairs Directors (GADs) at state and local REALTOR® associations with tools, news and information to help you serve your members. To add one of your staff members to the distribution list, or to be removed, contact Kyle Lambert London at klambertlondon@realtors.org/202-383-1203. | ||||||||||||
| In This Issue... | ||||||||||||
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| Mark Your Calendars | ||||||||||||
 RPAC Fundraising Partnership Program Grants The final deadline to submit RPAC Fundraising and Conference grant applications for 2014 is September 15. Reminder: in order to be reimbursed, evaluation forms must be completed and sent in with receipts within 30 days of the event. |
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| 2014 President’s Circle Update The President’s Circle has launched all four Rounds of targets to President’s Circle members. Members may invest $500 in Round 1 and $500-$2,000 in Rounds 2-4. All $2,000 in President’s Circle funds is due by Sept. 30 in order to count toward your state’s total number of President’s Circle members. President’s Circle members who complete their $2,000 AND their RPAC Major Investor contributions by September 30th will receive early information on the February 2015 President’s Circle Conference in Arizona. |
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| Streets as Places Webinar Streets make up more than 80 percent of the public space in our downtowns and no public space works harder than our streets. But, streets need to do more than just move cars. Streets need to be designed to meet the needs of people and create great places where people meet, sit, socialize, relax, wander about, play and more. Find out how to transform the streets in your community into great places with a variety of tools including street painting, parklets, plazas, block parties, seating, and other activities. Register today for the 10/14 Webinar. |
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| FINAL Community Outreach Grant Deadline for 2014 is October 15 Grants help REALTOR® associations play leadership roles in their communities through three initiatives: |
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| Diversity Grants – Mobilize your diverse membership to lead your association in to the future. Apply for a grant of up to $5,000 | ||||||||||||
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| Smart Growth Grants – Shape your community into the most attractive, livable, sustainable place it can be. Apply for a grant of up to $15,000. | ||||||||||||
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| Housing Opportunity Grants – Launch innovative activities to make affordable housing more readily available in your community. Apply for a grant of up to $5,000. | ||||||||||||
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| RPAC Deadlines Individual and State Recognition: To be recognized as a 2014 major investor prior to the Annual Convention, the full major investment amount must be completed with 30% received at NAR by October 17, 2014. All states must ensure that funds have been submitted to NAR by this deadline to ensure proper recognition at the 2014 Annual Convention and Expo in New Orleans, LA. For state specific fundraising goals, please click here. Realtor.org login and password required. |
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| Deadline is Fast Approaching for 2014 President’s Cup Is your state in the running for this year’s President’s Cup? States have less than two months to meet all eight goals to qualify for the Cup -- four advocacy and four RPAC. The deadline to reach all goals is October 17, 2014. |
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| 2015-2017 FPC Program Deadline Approaching The deadline to nominate new Federal Political Coordinators for the 114th Congressional cycle is November 20, 2014. NAR President-Elect Chris Polychron and RPMIC Chair Arlene Davis gave a presentation at the NAR Leadership Summit in Chicago highlighting the importance of this valuable program. Please work with your 2015 State Presidents and State Association Executives to appoint stellar new FPCs this cycle. |
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| Save the Date for the 2015 GAD Institute! The 2015 GAD Institute will be held from July 15-18, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Group room rates have been negotiated by NAR at a rate of $159 per night at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. Look for registration information to be available in early 2015. More details to come! |
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| 2014 GAD Institute Survey | ||||||||||||
| 2014 GAD Institute Evaluation Form – We Want to Hear From You! If you have not filled out an evaluation form for the 2014 GAD Institute, please take a few moments to do so now. Whether you went to the Institute or not, if you serve as a Government Affairs Director (or serve in a related role), we would like your feedback. With the shift in focus to increasing advocacy efforts within the core standards of our Associations, and with Government Affairs Directors playing a more central role in this effort, the GADs are putting great emphasis on increasing their professional development. Please help us to make sure that we are meeting your professional development needs. We can only improve these offerings if we hear from you. Thanks! |
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| REALTORS® Conference & Expo | ||||||||||||
| Are you attending the Annual Convention in November? If so, you are invited to attend the 2014 RPAC Fundraising Forum “Carnival Celebration” on Friday, November 7th from 2:30-4:30pm. We are looking for volunteers to provide us with an auction item or fundraising activity for this event. If you’re interested in participating please fill out the information sheet and return it by September 30th. Thank you for your participation and we’ll see you in November! |
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| Government Affairs Directors REALTOR® Party Training at Annual Meeting – Save the Date! This training session will take place immediately following the GAD Meeting on Saturday, November 8 from 12:00 noon – 1:30pm at the Marriott New Orleans Convention Center. This is a closed session, designed specifically to enhance the professional development needs of REALTOR® Association Government Affairs Directors. This interactive learning session will increase your knowledge and effectiveness as a professional as the REALTORS® shift their focus to advocacy. Stay tuned for more details on specific programming. |
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| RPAC Local Board Recognition NAR RPAC is thrilled to announce we will be recognizing Local Boards in addition to State and Territory Associations for their outstanding fundraising efforts this year in New Orleans. The top three local associations will be recognized in each of the four size categories (see below for details). For full details on local, state and territory recognition, please click here. For a local association to be eligible for recognition, they must be active on the PAC management system. |
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| See a Better Block in Action You may have heard of Better Block through NAR’s Placemaking Initiative but aren’t quite sure whether it would work in your town. Well, now’s your chance to see for yourself what it’s all about. A Better Block event, sponsored by the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors, will be happening in New Orleans on Friday, 11/7 from 5 to 9 pm. Check out how the temporary pop-ups, bike lanes, play area, food vendors, live music and more will help to jump start the revitalization of historic neighborhood. |
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| Hot Topic Alert | ||||||||||||
| Sales Tax Last year, 16 states considered an increase or expansion of sales tax legislation. And in many states a sales tax on services has not been completely removed from the table. Sales taxes are unpopular; however, surveys suggest the most hated tax in America is property tax. Beware of proposals promoting a reduction of one tax while covertly increasing another. |
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| REALTOR® Party Tools, Services and Updates | ||||||||||||
| Space to Places: Our New Blog on Placemaking Have you heard about Placemaking but still aren’t quite sure what it is or how to get involved? Then tune in to Spaces to Places, NAR’s latest Placemaking Initiative resource. Spaces to Places is a blog that will expand upon what Placemaking is and how to get started; describe the various types of Placemaking; and demonstrate Placemaking in action across the country, including within the REALTOR® Community. Take a look and start making small changes in your community to make them a better place to live and work. |
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| November Elections Are Just 60 DAYS from Now! With the November elections just two months away, now is the time to contact NAR’s Campaign Services to help you plan how you can support your REALTOR® Champions with independent expenditures. We want to provide to you and your association with as many options as possible, so let us know quickly how we can help! |
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From NAR’s Economist Outlook Blog: |
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Message from the GAD Chair
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| David Stark Public Affairs Director, Bay East Association of REALTORS® |
Late summer by the numbers: 45 candidates, 13 races, 7 cities and one question.
This is a busy time for the Bay East Association of REALTORS® Local Candidate Recommendation Committee. The REALTOR® volunteers serving on this committee and Bay East staff will spend four full days dealing with those numbers.
About that one question: While we grill each candidate on a range of community-specific issues we also ask all of them to respond to one common question: “How will you promote home ownership?”
This question educates and reminds the candidates that our “special interest” is also a fundamental American value.
The candidates we interview also meet with a variety of other interest groups. But none of them represent something as critical in making our communities succeed.
Yes, scheduling all these interviews and keeping the committee members happy is hard work. But it’s totally worth it when the candidates get that one question and realize the importance of our special interest.
Are you crazy busy with candidate interviews? Have you met a wacky candidate? Send me an example and I’ll share the best ones in a future GADFly column. Email davids@bayeast.org or call: 925-730-4068
| Follow the REALTOR® Action Center! |
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GAD Directory |
SAVE THE DATE
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New AE and GAD Orientation (Session is Full) October 6th and 7th NAR Building Washington, D.C. |
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REALTORS® Conference and Expo November 7-10 in New Orleans, LA More information |