October 2014
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Being Prepared… It's All About Members, Staff and the TAF

For many, 'be prepared' is an important motto. In our everyday lives it can cover a vast array of situations from lending someone a handkerchief if they sneeze to having a flashlight and batteries handy if the power goes out. For an association, the essence of being prepared is ensuring you have enough of the right resources on hand to tackle any issue, no matter how large or prolonged those issues may be.

NACWA's most critical resources can be grouped into three equally important categories: staff, members, and finances. NACWA's staff is the engine that drives the NACWA train. I have always said that NACWA's most important asset walks in the door in the morning and goes home at night. 'Human Capital' is NACWA's essential infrastructure without which the Association would not exist. Maintaining a strong, committed staff that is dedicated, knowledgeable, and credible with Congress, EPA and other stakeholders is critical to being prepared.

Equally important are NACWA's members. NACWA's staff can only be as effective as the support it receives from the membership. NACWA's members are true water quality professionals, with expansive knowledge, great ideas, and powerful influence. Ensuring NACWA's ability to face any challenge will require a strong committee structure and ongoing if not expanded member engagement at all levels.

Good financial health is a 'no brainer' when it comes to being prepared and ensuring the success of the Association. Sustainably growing the general fund budget, through expanded membership and other means, is important. But NACWA's Targeted Action Fund (TAF) is what sets its financial structure apart from other associations. Prior to the TAF's establishment, the Association relied on voluntary assessments to fund key projects and these efforts fell short. NACWA's Targeted Action Fund (TAF), which was established on the occasion of the Association's 25th Anniversary, is an unparalleled tool that provides NACWA staff with consistent resources to leverage existing capabilities and maximize benefit to the membership. Almost 20 percent of member dues is directed to this fund to support the Association's advocacy agenda.

The TAF supports all of the Association's program areas, including regulatory, technical, legislative and legal issues. In fact, given its use, it might be better called the Targeted Advocacy Fund. For nearly two decades, the TAF has enabled NACWA to complement its existing staff with outside experts on an as needed basis, develop highly-respected analyses of key policy issues, and engage in precedent-setting litigation. In other words, the TAF has enabled NACWA to best represent the interests of the NACWA membership at a lower cost through leveraging and targeting resources on an issue by issue basis where they are needed most.

Most recently, the TAF's advocacy support made it possible to ensure a variety of key changes to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program, including making it possible to get a 30 year, rather than just 20 year, loan repayment period for CWSRF loans. The TAF also made it possible for NACWA to successfully ensure that the Farm Bill's Resource Conservation Partnership Program specifically made clean water agency partnerships with farmers to control nutrients eligible for grant funding.

Simply stated, the TAF allows the NACWA staff to remain lean and nimble and to react to issues faster than any other organization in the water sector. In line with this, some members have envisioned the TAF as a type of "warchest" that can support both long-term advocacy goals as well as short-term objectives that enable us to react swiftly and effectively to issues that may arise more suddenly.

In contemplating the concept of a warchest, NACWA's legal advocacy is always central. While NACWA has been particularly effective in leveraging the TAF in the legal arena to engage in a wider array of cases, the notion of proactively bringing lawsuits has received increasing attention lately. A more detailed discussion of legal trends and NACWA's legal program will be the focus of next month's Power of Water issue.

Use of the TAF is member driven. Funding requests may come from staff or through the committee structure, but ultimately the Board of Directors decides when and how to spend its resources in the TAF consistent with the strategic objectives of the Association. Policies and procedures are in place to guide the process, but the process is not cumbersome and review is rapid when needed for a critical advocacy issue or legal action. Recognizing the importance of the TAF, the NACWA Board recently made a renewed commitment to ensure the TAF is sufficiently funded.

Maintaining sustainable funding levels will continue to be a priority for the Association going forward. The TAF is a critical tool without which the Association's capabilities would be significantly diminished. I am proud to say that the TAF was created under my watch as Executive Director and know that it will continue to serve NACWA's members long into the future. I think the idea of building a warchest to bolster our advocacy is an excellent one and will help further NACWA's short and long-term advocacy objectives.

Your thoughts on these issues are welcome and feel free to contact me at any time.