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NAHB Supports Struggling HBAs With 66 Grants Worth $499,925
NAHB recently approved 66 home builders association assistance grants totaling $499,925 as part of a federation-wide program created to strengthen struggling state and local HBAs during the downturn.
The grants were available to HBAs that have fallen below specific membership and retention thresholds.
Under the support fund program, struggling HBAs will use individual grants ranging from $750 to $22,500 to fund membership recruitment, retention and other core revenue-generating member programs and discounted consulting services available through NAHB.
The $500,000 fund was established at the March meeting of the NAHB Executive Board, and a task force was created to analyze and address HBA challenges caused by significant membership losses as a result of the downturn and to develop a course of action to support the struggling HBAs.
The task force — made up of members who serve on the NAHB Budget, Associates, Association Planning and Membership committess as well as the Executive Officers Council — originally planned to conduct application reviews and disperse the funds throughout the year.
After receiving state and local HBA requests of nearly $1.3 million prior to NAHB's spring board of directors meeting, the task force recommended that all the funds be released immediately to meet the urgent need. As a result, no other applications for grants for struggling HBAs will be reviewed this year.
Many applications represented collaborative efforts where state and local associations worked together to develop shared initiatives and to pool resources. Overall, the grants that were approved represent projects that will touch nearly 75,000 NAHB members.
No other applications for grants for struggling HBAs will be reviewed this year.
Copies of the funded applications, minus the applicant’s financial data, will be posted on the NAHB Web site. To view the list, click here.
As part of each grant, the program includes a 10% holdback provision. To receive the final 10% of the grant, HBAs must submit a final report detailing the results of their efforts. These final reports also will be posted to the Web to serve as a resource for other HBAs.
For more information, e-mail William "Rusty" Deiss at NAHB, call him at 800-368-5242 x8231 or visit www.nahb.org/NAHBSupportFund.
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