The Power of A

How is your association forming partnerships to improve society?

Part of the power of associations and the good they do for society is found in their partnerships with other organizations to create programs to help a needy segment of the population.  ASAE & The Center on January 21 will be providing an opportunity for associations to form these partnerships when it hosts it first Volunteer Fair from 11 AM - 1 PM in the ASAE & The Center Conference Center.

The fair is open to association executives and will provide them with the opportunity to meet with various organizations in order to see if the association can partner in an existing program beneficial to the community.  The benefit is not only to the association, which shows it dedication to a better society, but also to staff and volunteers as it creates an opportunity for team building and leadership training.

Some of the organizations that will be participating include Disney, the American Heart Association, Volunteers of America, Volunteer Alexandria, Meals on Wheels, the Urban Alliance, and more.  The event is free for ASAE & The Center members, and is a collaboration between the GW Network, Nonprofit Programs and the ASAE staff’s Community Outreach Team (COT).

For more information and to register, click here.

Quick Hits

The House and Senate will begin reconciling their health care legislation not through a formal conference, but by amending the two bills they passed last year.  To see a comparison of the two bills, see the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation chart.  The House Democrats have also listed the major differences between the two bills… ASAE & The Center CEO John Graham recently penned an entry for the National Journal’s Under the Influence blog on his submission for the best advocacy campaign of 2009.  Read the entry here.

As many people travel over the July 4^th recess, the travel and hospitality community are working with Congress to help revitalize the nation’s economy.

USTA, the U.S. Travel Association (formerly the Travel Industry Association) is working on numerous fronts to help keep the U.S. tourism industry vibrant in the face of a down economy.  Legislatively, USTA is supporting the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, legislation that establishes a private-government partnership to promote the U.S. as a tourist destination for overseas visitors.  The first step has already been taken with the “Discover America” website to highlight destinations for foreign visitors.  The legislation is currently out of committee in the Senate but consideration has been held up on the floor due to procedural concerns.

USTA is also using new media to promote travel in the U.S.  The “Power of Travel” website was created to centralize statistics and facts about the benefits of tourism to the U.S. economy.  In tandem with this, USTA conducted its “Faces of Travel” contest, where individuals shared their stories of the importance of travel via YouTube.  In its most recent contest, USTA selected Paco Saldaña as their winner; his video is below:

Saldana Video

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is also encouraging tourism by making travel planning easier and cheaper.  Their “Travel Sense” website is a central location for connecting people with their members, as well as providing travel tips and resources.

Is your association involved with travel issues?  If so, share your story with us.

Quick Hits

Members of Congress are also travelling this week - back home to their districts and states.  ASAE encourages its members to take advantage of seeing their members of Congress back home to share with them information on health care, the importance of travel, and other association issues.

Wal-Mart comes out in favor of an employer mandate (see its letter here)… President Obama continues to push health care reform through a White House town hall meeting.  You can find out how to participate and ask a question here… New York Times story on how three-quarters of those who fall into medical bankrupcy had insurance when they filed… Questions by critics on how much the promised pharmaceutical health care reform savings will save.