Committees
Advocacy/IFAPAC Chair & Committee
The Advocacy Chair has the overall responsibility for the Chapter's legislative programs, as well as oversight of the Grassroots Involvement Team and the PAC Fundraising Team.
The Chapter’s Advocacy Team has the overall responsibility for the Chapter’s legislative program, including State Government Relations, Grassroots Involvement, and PAC Fundraising. The Advocacy Team consists of a Government Relations Team, Grassroots Involvement Team, and PAC Fundraising Team who work separately and together to form a successful advocacy program.
Grassroots Involvement Team
Contact System: Maintenance of the contact system is an ongoing task that needs constant attention. The Grassroots Involvement Team should concentrate on the following two areas:
Recruit contacts to interact with elected officials. Ideally, each member of Congress should have at least six legislative contacts. Forward the names of contacts to the Grassroots Involvement Office at NAIFA (advocacy@naifa.org).
Provide ratings for all legislative contacts based on the degree of the relationship with the legislator. Be sure to consult with other Chapter leaders, such as the Chapter Executive Director, Government Relations Chair, IFAPAC Chair, Local Grassroots Chair, etc. when assigning ratings.
Local Involvement: Encourage Chapter members to develop a rapport with the top staff people in the district offices of your member(s) of Congress.
Hold at least one legislative meeting annually where your member of Congress (or top staff person) speaks. Ensure that the Grassroots Involvement Office at NAIFA is apprised of such visits.
Federal Coordinator Appointments: Identify one Federal Coordinator for each Senator and Representative in your state. Monitor the activities of the Federal Coordinators in your state to ensure that:
All Federal Coordinators have formed a Constituent Group and reported their names to NAIFA.
Federal Coordinators are holding regular meetings in the district with their legislators (ideally 3-4 times per year).
Federal Coordinators are reporting the results of their meetings to NAIFA.
Communication
Communicate effectively and frequently with your National Grassroots Involvement Regional Vice Chair and with the Grassroots Involvement Chairs in your state.
Make routine reports at your Chapter meetings and ensure that Chapter members understand NAIFA’s goals and objectives.
Disseminate all NAIFA GovAlerts throughout your state to ensure prompt and extensive action during a legislative “call to action.”
Make use of and inform your membership about NAIFA’s Advocacy in Action website where extensive legislative information is available, including legislative bulletins, issue briefs, and other timely materials. By using this website, NAIFA members can search for the names of their Senators/Representative online and send emails to members of Congress.
Work closely with other Chapter leaders, particularly the IFAPAC Chair and Government Relations Chair to ensure a well-coordinated legislative program in your Chapter.
Campaign Involvement: Encourage the involvement of Local Chapter members in political activities including local, state, and federal election campaigns and attendance at town hall meetings.
Fundraising Activities: The Grassroots Involvement Chair, in coordination with the IFAPAC and Government Relations Chairs, should encourage personal dollar fundraising activities on behalf of congressional candidates.
PAC Fundraising Team
The IFAPAC Team is critically important to the success of the fundraising activities of your Chapter. You will want to start fundraising as soon as your appointment is effective.
Your most critical task will be to get your fellow members involved. Tell them that elected officials are shaping their future every day. Health insurance reform, retirement and pension restructuring, insurance regulatory reform, government-mandated fiduciary standards, tax reform, estate planning, and many other issues are being legislated daily. Everyone in the insurance and financial services business who wants to stay in business and protect their clients should be contributing to IFAPAC.
Your top priority is to work with Local Chapters and Affiliate leaders to form your PAC Fundraising Committee. No one-time fundraising event, even a well-planned one, can take the place of an effective committee with a workable plan and goals. Committee members push one another to achieve goals. Soloists, however well-intentioned, can’t reach everyone in the Chapter. It’s too big a job. Recruit people for your fundraising committee who believe in the PAC, have an interest in politics, and are already contributing generously to the PAC.
Other roles and responsibilities include:
Renew last year’s contributors who are still current NAIFA members.
Encourage members to increase their contribution amounts over the prior year.
Acquire new contributors—A top priority for the first quarter of the year.
Get all State and Local Chapter board members to contribute.
Ensure that your Chapter makes a budget line item for an administrative contribution to IFAPAC.
Attend your National IFAPAC region’s conference calls.
Work with State and Local leaders to increase the number of IFAPAC Directives.
Comply with all federal and state election laws.
Host an IFAPAC booth at the state convention to increase IFAPAC visibility and raise funds.
Utilize IFAPAC’s monthly reports to track your progress and plan.
Train, educate, and motivate your IFAPAC team.
Report state activities to your IFAPAC Regional Vice Chair, as well as your State Board and Local Presidents.
Diversity Chair & Committee
The Programs Chair is responsible for planning and executing member meetings, promoting professional career development and other NAIFA benefits, and providing members with quality educational programs. These educational opportunities will enhance members' knowledge and ability to market and sell insurance, other financial products and financial services. Additionally, the Programs Chair should ensure that members receive the resources they need to meet their state CE requirements and should organize member networking meetings.
The primary objective of the Programs Team is to know what’s going on in the industry and what’s coming around the corner and sharing this information by providing robust training programs for our members. Chapter programs are part of the larger educational programming offered by NAIFA. Relevant programming provides educational and networking experiences that empower members with more take-away strategies and tactics they can apply back at the office. Key responsibilities of the Programs Chair as applicable to each Chapter include:The Programs Team should be comprised of seven to eight volunteers who represent a variety of practice specialties, are knowledgeable about programs and are subject matter experts in the state who can provide programming.
Plan and promote educational offerings, utilizing subject matter experts, as well as NAIFA’s program offerings.
Develop programs designed to assist members in improving their trade. The program should reflect:
Topics related to insurance and financial advising more so than sessions devoted to general business matters, economic conditions, etc.
Member interest as determined by an effective means, such as a survey.
Include at least one Limited and Extended Care Planning Center, one Business Performance Center and one Diversity & Inclusion session in conjunction with your membership meetings each year.
Work with Local Chapters and Affiliates to plan NAIFA Live watch parties around the state each month.
Work with Chapter Staff to manage continuing education credit approval and submission for applicable programs.
Membership Chair & Committee
The Membership Chair is key to a Chapter's success. The main function of the Membership Chair is to keep the Chapter strong by promoting membership through the retention and renewal of existing members, as well as the recruitment and prospecting of new members. You should not have to cover all of these tasks alone.
NAIFA’s membership efforts rely on leadership from state membership teams. Volunteer leaders help guide NAIFA by weaving membership and membership value throughout all NAIFA activities. It’s important to work closely with your members, committees, and board to enlist their support and ensure that membership recruitment and retention are integrated into your Chapter activities and efforts. The Chapter Membership Team serves as the point of contact at the Chapter level for NAIFA membership initiatives, campaigns, and communications. Key responsibilities of the Membership Chair as applicable to each Chapter include:
Build a team of at least 10 volunteers from around the state who are passionate about NAIFA and spreading the word about NAIFA membership. Those members with agency contacts, who can help set up agency presentations and drive NAIFA support within general agencies, would be extremely valuable members of the membership team.
Oversee the welcoming of all new members to the Chapter.
Work with your Chapter's Communication Chair to identify and recognize members achieving certifications, milestones, or anniversaries.
Membership Promise Presentation:
Maintain relationships with general agents in the state.
Schedule and hold agency presentations, and reporting presentations as they are scheduled and after they occur.
Build a team of presenters around the state who can be called upon to give a presentation whenever the opportunity arises near them.
Leverage NAIFA’s corporate partner program, working to build relationships with managers from those companies within your state. These companies are promoting NAIFA to their agents and advisors and therefore, a relationship on a state or local level will be more natural and effective.
Maintain a prospect list to aid in recruiting. Referrals for the 100% Agency Program, Financial Security Champion Program, and individual referrals should be submitted to NAIFA.
Execute NAIFA recruitment, onboarding, engagement/retention, and recognition programs for Chapters.
Establish a plan for the year. This plan should include how to communicate with and engage new, existing, and lapsed members to maintain or increase retention within the Chapter. The plan should be shared with State, Local, and Affiliate Membership Chairs.
Support NAIFA membership programs and campaigns and communicate often with NAIFA regarding your progress in implementing programs and campaigns.
Tune in to NAIFA leadership blogs and webinars to keep up with the latest program and member benefit offerings.
Regularly check the promotional kits page for the latest campaigns and materials.
Develop and implement a Membership Chair succession plan. Ensure a smooth and effective succession from one year to the next through training, leadership development, accurate record-keeping, and administration.
Keep State, Local, and Affiliate Membership Chairs motivated through ongoing communication, recognition, and progress acknowledgment.
Programs Chair & Committee
The Programs Chair is responsible for planning and executing member meetings, promoting professional career development and other NAIFA benefits, and providing members with quality educational programs. These educational opportunities will enhance members' knowledge and ability to market and sell insurance, other financial products and financial services. Additionally, the Programs Chair should ensure that members receive the resources they need to meet their state CE requirements and should organize member networking meetings.
The primary objective of the Programs Team is to know what’s going on in the industry and what’s coming around the corner and sharing this information by providing robust training programs for our members. Chapter programs are part of the larger educational programming offered by NAIFA. Relevant programming provides educational and networking experiences that empower members with more take-away strategies and tactics they can apply back at the office. Key responsibilities of the Programs Chair as applicable to each Chapter include:The Programs Team should be comprised of seven to eight volunteers who represent a variety of practice specialties, are knowledgeable about programs and are subject matter experts in the state who can provide programming.
Plan and promote educational offerings, utilizing subject matter experts, as well as NAIFA’s program offerings.
Develop programs designed to assist members in improving their trade. The program should reflect:
Topics related to insurance and financial advising more so than sessions devoted to general business matters, economic conditions, etc.
Member interest as determined by an effective means, such as a survey.
Include at least one Limited and Extended Care Planning Center, one Business Performance Center and one Diversity & Inclusion session in conjunction with your membership meetings each year.
Work with Local Chapters and Affiliates to plan NAIFA Live watch parties around the state each month.
Work with Chapter Staff to manage continuing education credit approval and submission for applicable programs.
Young Advisor Team (YAT) Chair & Committee
A Young Advisor Team member is defined as someone 40 years of age or younger, or in their first five years of the business. Career-changers who are older than 40 qualify and some NAIFA members will want to be included in YAT events and consider themselves what we call “YAT at Heart.” While any member can attend and enjoy YAT events, only a true YAT is eligible to qualify for the YAT Leader of the Year Award.
The primary responsibility of the YAT Chair is to serve as a brand ambassador for NAIFA in your community and to your legislators. As a YAT Chair, you will want to work closely with your other Board members—in particular the VP of Membership—to attract new members to NAIFA and get new members involved in advocacy and IFAPAC as soon as possible.
Within NAIFA, there are three levels of YAT teams:
National YAT Committee
State YAT Chair
Local YAT Chair
The Local YAT Chair serves in many of the same capacities but at the local level. The Local YAT Chair reports to the State Chair and the State Chair to the National YAT Committee. The Local YAT Chair is encouraged to attend all YAT calls and grow into the State YAT Chair and National YAT Committee positions. The main difference with the Local YAT Chair is that this position is primarily focused on networking and bringing new YATs into NAIFA. The Local YAT Chair should advocate for some budget or fundraise to create a budget to allow for local activities focused on YATs to occur.
Local YAT Chairs should understand the structure of NAIFA, and the programs NAIFA offers and promote participation within all. Local YAT Chairs often serve as the first touchpoint to NAIFA and should serve as a critical voice in the creation of programs and networking events at the local level.