April EO Update

The WBA is Coming to You!

Time frames have been set for the town hall meetings in your respective areas that President Harvey Kessel discussed during our last EO meeting. Date ranges were picked based on reviewing local associations’ events calendars and trying to avoid busy days/time frames. The intention is to bring affinity partners, members of the executive committee, and WBA to discuss member benefits and other topics important to your members. Please click the link for your respective region below and share information with us the best date and time as well as other planning details.

Green Bay (BCHBA, DCHBA, WRBA, HBA, MCHBA)
August 6, 7, or 8

Eau Claire (CVHBA, LABA, SCVHBA, HNBA, NABA, WABA)
August 13, 14, or 15

Oshkosh (ERHBA, SCHBA, MSHBA, WHBA, GSHBA)
September 16, 17, or 18

Waukesha (MABA, MBA, SCWBA, LBA, RKBA)
September 24, 25, or 26

Three Upcoming Events!

Wednesday, June 26: Member Meeting
Planning is underway for the June member meeting, taking place at SentryWorld in Stevens Point. Please stay tuned to emails sent by WBA with agenda details! As always, attendance is free!

Wednesday, June 26: Build PAC Fundraiser
A fundraiser supporting Build PAC will take place from 4:30pm - 6:00pm at Central Waters Brewing Co. following the member meeting. When registering for the Build PAC Fundraiser, the ticket option is “free”, however a $100 personal check will be required upon entrance. If you or a member want to register to attend both the meeting and fundraiser, you must choose both ticket options at checkout! Brewery tour, tasting, hors d’oeuvres and transportation to and from the fundraiser/block hotel will be provided.

Thursday, June 27: WB Foundation Golf Outing
Take a break from work for a day and support the future of the home building industry in Wisconsin by attending the WB Foundation Golf Outing on one of Wisconsin’s premier golf courses! Not the best golfer? Don’t worry - the outing is a best ball scramble format, with new games being added this year! Sponsorship and registration information are included in the link above.

We continue to send several promotional emails to members, along with social media posts, but would appreciate you working the events above into your own association’s distributions and posts - even if it’s a simple “don’t forget” message at the bottom of your emails!

Join Now Page Updates

As a follow-up to the last EO meeting, we are excited to get all local associations’ join now pages updated through the NAHB portal to have a seamless onboarding process for new members. As a reminder, this would allow a prospective member to input their payment information directly online and get rid of the back and forth emails and clunky fillable forms/applications that are currently being used. Member information is also automatically input to WMS when an individual signs up through this platform. NAHB is also taking on the credit card fees of these transactions so it would not be a cost to the locals. Additionally, when a member joins through the portal, their information is then sent to EOs for approval and any additional information needed for associations that operate that way.

If possible, we would like for all local associations to have their pages updated with correct information and in operation by July 1. You should have received the link to update your association’s page through an email from NAHB, however they are also included below. One recommendation we have, is to put the cost of membership (including how it’s broken down - local, state, national) in the “description” section of your page, as there is currently no spot for that, and something that most people would like to know before inputting their credit card information. Updating information is relatively intuitive, but please feel free to reach out to Alicia if you have questions or problems, or reach out to Damaris Duarte at NAHB.

Click Here to Update Your Association’s Landing Page

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Receive Free Money!

In an effort to attract the next generation of skilled worker, the National Housing Endowment and Skilled Labor Fund recently launched two new grant programs to help Home Builder Associations address the skilled worker shortage. The grant that is available directly for HBAs is the Career Connections Grant which will provide local associations up to $2,500 per event that supports activities that introduce students to careers in residential skilled trades.

Click here for more information!

What Do You Want to Hear About?

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback to our survey following the EO Zoom meeting. If you are interested in seeing the results of the survey, please click here.

There continues to be a lot of great conversation and desire to further discuss home shows, such as: Do you charge for admission? If so, how much do you charge? When do hold your home show? We would like to put an additional survey together to gather feedback and share with the group and provide a basis for further conversations, so please email Alicia by next Wednesday, May 1 with home show/other questions you would like answers to from your fellow EOs! Thanks for the idea, Mari!

Raffle Opportunity - Time is Running Out!

Don’t forget! The WB Foundation has raffle tickets for sale!

1st place: Furniture worth $10,000

2nd place: High end Electrolux laundry set

Only 250 tickets were printed and drawing will occur at the golf outing in June. Please promote this in your newsletters and at member meetings/events. Contact Joan for more information or if you have members willing to help sell tickets.

Scholarship Deadline Looming

The application deadline for scholarships is May 15th. Please encourage students you know who are interested in pursuing an education in trades to use this link to apply. The scholarship awards ceremony will take place during the Board of Directors meeting on June 26th.

Advocacy Digest

In case you missed it, the April advocacy digest has been posted on the Executive Officer Resources page!