National Action and Response Program Administrative Council and National Advoacy Fund Steering Committee

The National Advocacy Fund’s mission is to fund extraordinary advocacy initiatives and campaigns on behalf of CUNA, Leagues and credit unions in support of the CUNA/League system’s advocacy agenda.  These initiatives or campaigns must be beneficial to, protective of or otherwise impactful for the credit union industry as a whole even if focused in only one state or jurisdiction; may be either proactive or defensive in nature; and may take the form of (but not limited to) any of the following:

1. Responses to bank attacks on the credit union tax status or charter in any jurisdiction, federal, state or local, including pro-active or preemptive campaigns, funded by the National Advocacy Fund but executed via direct support of the National Action Response Program (NARP);
2. Political action aimed at electing pro-credit union federal and state candidates to office – and defeating anti-credit union candidates—including the funding of polling and survey research, partisan communications, and/or other electioneering communications through any permissible legal entity;
3. Issue advocacy campaigns in support of credit unions’ federal legislative or regulatory agenda, including advertising, consulting, research or other necessary support;
4. Issue advocacy campaigns in support of state- or local-level credit union legislative or regulatory issues, including advertising, consulting, research or other necessary support, where success or failure of said initiative or campaign has a potential for outsized impact on credit unions nationally or in other states or jurisdictions;
5. Funding of third-party coalitions or allied groups as necessary to further the CUNA/League system’s advocacy agenda, including national coalitions or organizations as well as state or local organizations in a position to advance the causes outlined above;
6. Funding of extraordinary initiatives designed to enhance and strengthen the CUNA/League system’s advocacy capacity, such as investments in public opinion research, new advocacy technologies, and similar initiatives; and
7.  Other extraordinary opportunities, initiatives and expenditures as may arise, provided they are in keeping with the mission outlined above in the determination of the National Advocacy Fund Steering Committee.

The NARP Administrative Council will oversee the principal purposes of the Program:

• To promote the common business interests of the credit union industry and to advocate for the common interests of credit unions in federal and state legislative and regulatory arenas;
• To engage in lobbying, litigation and regulatory advocacy activities, conduct research on legislative and regulatory issues relevant to the credit union industry, communicate with the public and with its members about legislative and regulatory matters and assist credit union organizations with their legislative and regulatory undertakings.