Committee Appointment Policies

If you are accepting a Committee Chair or Vice Chair position, you agree to meet the following Qualifications and Performance Expectations during your term:

• Complete all committee leadership training, including Committee Leadership Camp, or the REALTOR® L.E.A.D. course (or any future course that replaces it). 
• All Chairs and Vice Chairs have completed the At Home with Diversity, Bias Override: Overcoming Barriers to Fair Housing class, and Fairhaven as a performance expectation prior to applying for the position.
• Execute the NAR Volunteer Service Agreement that includes duties, responsibilities, and performance expectations on this page. 
• Complete an annual orientation and NAR fiduciary refresher module. 
• Demonstrate leadership and communication skills as well as proficient use of technology and social media. 
• Review all materials prior to each meeting and fully participate in each meeting from beginning to end. 
• Forfeit the position when you miss two consecutive committee meetings unless NAR, upon receipt of a written explanation for such absence satisfactory to it, waives this provision.
• Resign or be removed from the committee in the event of a violation of fiduciary obligation to NAR or a violation of the NAR conflict of interest or harassment policies. 
• Work with the Committee Liaison and Staff Executive to establish measurable and quantifiable goals, advance the committee’s work, create synergies where appropriate, and ensure a smooth transition to the following term. 
• Know how the committee purpose supports the NAR Strategic Plan.
• Be well prepared to lead engaging committee meetings and create an environment that encourages meaningful discussion of the issues.
• Follow NAR policies and procedures and know the NAR annual budget process and funds available to the committee.
• Support NAR leadership in identifying future committee leaders. 

As a volunteer leader of NAR, it is imperative that you receive and engage in discourse regarding NAR business. You are expected to communicate with your committee regularly via phone, text, email, and The Hub. Therefore, we ask that you provide and maintain with NAR your current email address and cell phone number.

You can maintain your current email address and cell phone number in your member record by visiting www.nar.realtor and clicking the "My Account" link. Log in using your username and password. For assistance, contact Member Support at 800-874-6500.

You are expected to participate in NAR surveys seeking feedback from NAR leadership.

You are encouraged to subscribe to the NAR electronic newsletters and publications, as these sources provide up-to-date information on topics of interest.

As an NAR leader, you are charged with establishing and supporting NAR public and governing policies in furtherance of NAR’s mission. Therefore, you agree to communicate consistent with that charge and to avoid making any public statements – on social media or otherwise – that are contrary to achieving NAR objectives or that may reflect badly upon NAR’s reputation.

This NAR Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy (Policy) applies to all NAR-related meetings or events, whether held in public or private facilities, including meetings or events sponsored by organizations other than NAR and held in conjunction with NAR meetings or events, and any NAR member communications related to NAR business or with NAR staff.

In the following video, NAR General Counsel and Chief Member Experience Officer Katie Johnson reviews the NAR Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy, which applies to all NAR-related meetings, events, and communications.

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NAR Commitment:

NAR is committed to providing a productive and welcoming environment that is free from discrimination and harassment. Members are expected to act with courtesy and mutual respect toward each other, NAR staff, service providers, speakers and event participants.

Harassment:

Harassment in any form is strictly prohibited. Harassment includes inappropriate conduct, comment, display, action, or gesture based on another person’s sex, color, race, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and any other protected characteristic.

Examples of harassment include, but are not limited to: epithets, slurs or negative stereotyping; threatening, intimidating or hostile acts; denigrating jokes; and the display or circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility toward an individual or group based on a protected characteristic.

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment is one form of harassment. Sexual harassment may involve individuals of the same or different gender. Like all harassment, sexual harassment is strictly prohibited.

Sexual harassment can be:

• Verbal: Sexual innuendoes, suggestive comments, jokes of a sexual nature, sexual propositions, or threats.
• Non-Verbal: Sexually suggestive objects or pictures, graphic commentaries, suggestive or insulting sounds, leering, whistling, or obscene gestures.
• Physical: Unwanted physical contact, including touching, pinching, coerced sexual intercourse, or assault.

How to Report Incidents of Harassment or Inappropriate Behavior:

Any member who believes they experienced or witnessed harassment or other inappropriate behavior in violation of this Policy should promptly report the incident to one of the following individuals: the NAR General Counsel, the NAR Senior Vice President of Talent Development Resources, or the NAR President.

Investigation and Discipline

Upon receipt of a member’s report of possible harassment or inappropriate behavior in violation of this Policy, NAR will promptly conduct an investigation at the direction of NAR’s General Counsel. During the investigation, NAR will involve only those deemed necessary to the investigation, and disclosures will only be made on an as-needed basis. If it is determined that the investigation substantiates that a violation of this Policy has occurred, NAR’s President, President-Elect, and First Vice President, in consultation with NAR’s General Counsel, will determine any disciplinary action. If one or more of the foregoing officers are named in the complaint of harassment or inappropriate behavior, NAR’s General Counsel will identify a substitute to be selected from the Executive Committee.

NAR reserves the right to take any necessary and appropriate action against a member who engages in any form of harassment or inappropriate behavior in violation of this Policy. Such actions may include, but are not limited to, prohibition from attendance at future NAR meetings or events, removal from a committee appointment, expulsion from membership or any other action deemed appropriate by NAR.

Committee chairs, vice chairs, and members accept the responsibility for carrying out the goals of their committee when appointed, and meeting attendance is part of that responsibility. If a committee chair, vice chair or member will be absent from a meeting, a written notice should be submitted to the staff executive before the meeting date (email suffices as a written notice). If a committee chair, vice chair or member is absent from two consecutive regularly scheduled committee meetings, he or she automatically forfeits the committee appointment subject to review by the Leadership Team.*

Most committees meet at the regular business meetings of the National Association. All members of committees, including chairs and vice chairs, are responsible for paying their own meeting expenses to the regular business meetings.

*This applies to committee members who have a term of more than one year.

Members of any NAR decision-making body must disclose the existence of any of the following:

(1) an ownership interest* in, (2) a financial interest** in, or (3) service in a decision-making capacity for any entity prior to speaking to an NAR decision-making body on any matter involving that entity.

After making the required disclosure, such member may participate in the discussion and vote on the matter unless that member has a conflict of interest as defined below.

*Ownership interest is defined as the cumulative holdings of the individual; the individual’s related spouse, children, and siblings; and of any trust, corporation, or partnership in which any of the foregoing individuals is an officer, director, or owns in the aggregate at least 50% of the (a) beneficial interest (if a trust), (b) stock (if a corporation), or (c) partnership interests (if a partnership).

**Financial interest means any interest involving money, investments, extension of credit or contractual rights.

A member of any NAR decision-making body has a conflict of interest whenever that member:

1. is a principal, partner, or corporate officer of a business providing, or being considered as a provider of, products or services to NAR (“Business”); or
2. serves on the board of directors of the Business unless the individual’s only relationship to the Business is service as NAR’s representative on such board; or
3. holds an ownership interest* of more than one percent of the Business.

Members with a conflict of interest must immediately disclose such conflict of interest prior to participating in any discussions or vote of an NAR decision-making body that pertains to the Business. Such members may not participate in any discussions related to that Business other than to respond to questions asked of them by other members of the body. A member may not vote on any matter in which the member has a conflict of interest.