Be a Legislative Champion

by Rob Warmowski, Contributing Writer

Brokers: If it would protect your business environment, would you invest as little as $0.50 per closed transaction?  CIE/CIX executives: if it would help to represent your perspectives in Washington DC or in your state house, would you invest $1 per CIE subscriber? With NAR’s Corporate Ally Program (CAP), now you can.

Promoting property ownership is NAR’s key role on Capitol Hill and the state houses, and it’s a 24/7/365 exercise. The mission of advocating for the real estate industry’s perspectives and priorities is one that needs dedicated work, ideas, and funding to maintain effectiveness. Responding to changes in the national real estate advocacy scene, a new partnership initiative has arrived that brings all three together: The REALTOR® Party Corporate Ally Program (CAP).

The innovation of CAP is to closely tie the ethos of investment to the eternal fight to get the political results that favor your business. Think of CAP as a kind of investment vehicle, but for industry advocacy. In one sense, it’s an investment where stakeholders – including MLS and technology vendors, brokers and other corporate players – pony up capital. But instead of featuring traditional returns, CAP investments pay off in the form of targeted advocacy of real estate industry priorities in Washington, in state capitals, and in town halls across the US. 

“The Corporate Ally Program exists to help commercial real estate practitioners not only stay in business but to make them money as well as their owners/clients,” said Cynthia Shelton, CCIM Faculty Member and veteran commercial broker with Florida-based Landqwest. “Electing candidates from the Federal to the state and local level who support the business of commercial and residential real estate is vital to the bottom line of every real estate practitioner.

When issues in the Florida market arose that threatened to place onerous burdens on property owners, Shelton recalls utilizing CAP investment to get the advocacy right: “Last year, CAP helped the REALTOR® Association of Palm Beaches defeat an onerous fire protection assessment on all real property in the city of Greenacres. If this assessment had passed, commercial real estate in this city would become more expensive to own and harder to sell. Making commercial real estate in Greenacres less attractive to potential buyers when compared to the surrounding communities harms the economic health of every business owner in Greenacres, from commercial real estate brokers to the small, locally owned bakery,” she said.

Choices In Advocacy Investment

The Corporate Ally Program offers choices for investors in how their investments are used. There are three ways to go: investing in candidates, investing in issues advocacy, or investing in both.

Toward candidates and races, Candidate Independent Expenditure Campaigns (IEs) are CAP’s way of providing funding for federal-level campaigns. Under this program, investments in IEs also carry the benefit of allowing NAR to allocate additional funds (up to 50% of the federal-level investment) to support REALTOR® Party candidates running at the state and local levels in your state. Issues can also be targeted. CAP offers Issues Advocacy Campaigns, where investors help to provide funding for federal issues advocacy, for fighting on state and local REALTOR® Party issues in your state.

The third choice is to “mash up” the IE and issues advocacy. This calls for two investments, for double the effect.

Get All The Details About CAP

CAP can make an impact with your help. To explore how you can get more involved, or for a deeper look at the program including reporting requirements, tax implications, and other aspects of this innovative program, contact NAR’s Director of Corporate Fundraising Paula Martino at (202) 383-1156 or pmartino@realtors.org