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ARCSA and TRCA Restructuring07-29-16 | Association News

ARCSA and TRCA Restructuring
TRCA Becoming ARCSA; ARCSA Becoming ARCSA Foundation

ARCSA, the association that promotes sustainable rainwater harvesting practices, and the Texas Rainwater Catchment Association, a resource for information on rainwater collection in Texas, will be restructuring the two organizations in an effort to better serve the rainwater catchment industry.

The American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association and the Texas Rainwater Catchment Association have proposed a strategic alignment to achieve greater potential as a public charity organization and as a trade association.

Currently, ARCSA is a 501(c)(3) public charity. This classification prevents the organization from engaging in political and lobbying activities, and restricts their ability to seek grants and funding for educational and research programs.

As a 501(c)(6) trade association, TRCA is not as limited in political lobbying and other association activities.

Under the alignment and restructuring, the current ARCSA will become the ARCSA Foundation, and the current TRCA will become ARCSA. The ARCSA Foundation will maintain its educational and research activities, while the new ARCSA will take on political and lobbying activities along with other trade association activities. As the charitable arm of ARCSA, the ARCSA Foundation will be able to seek out grants and donations for educational and philanthropic purposes.

"By moving the membership and activities to TRCA, ARCSA itself will be able to lobby and conduct political activities nationwide, to seek better regulation of rainwater harvesting as an industry and to advocate in a political environment," said Mark Pape, treasurer on the ARCSA Board of Directors. "On the other hand, the ARCSA Foundation becomes a pure nonprofit dedicated towards improving rainwater harvesting through education and research."

Former ARCSA membership will transfer to the new ARCSA; the ARCSA Foundation will have no members. "The net effect to members is simple: ARCSA members stay ARCSA members," Pape explained. "Members will see relatively little change, with no impact to memberships or renewals."

The restructure of these two organizations has been presented to and approved by their respective Boards of Directors. The memberships of both organizations overwhelmingly approved the changes – over 90 percent approval in each organization. Following an implementation meeting, the process will be moving forward.

"This will open up doors for each organization that had never been open to either," said Pape. "We're specializing each organization in what they are qualified to do best and we're really excited about it."

To learn more about the current ARCSA and the restructuring, visit www.arcsa.org. To learn about the Texas Rainwater Catchment Association, visit www.texrca.org.

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