OPENING PLENARY SCRIPT - American Fraternal Alliance

T. RASMUSSEN: Thank you so much, Mark. And now, I’m going to have to say something. I love
reading. What you don’t know is that my husband collect bookends So we have two sets of Abraham
Lincoln bookends in our house because he forgot that he bought one set in a flea market someplace.
And I am so very honored because I do love reading and this will fit in our house like you would not
believe. So thank you.
CHAIR MARK. THEISEN: I just want to thank you, Terry, and I certainly feel the same way about her
and the many contributions she has made.to the NFCA during her time serving both as Vice Chair and
as Chair of the Board. And thank you very much for the gavel, Terry. I will try to use it in the way you
intend and not bang anyone over the head with it.
I want to thank all of you delegates for supporting the slate of nominees that were presented this
morning. And I thank you for your faith and confidence in me.
I want you to know how I am honored to serve as chair of the board of American Fraternal Alliance.
And thanks to all of you who voted in favor of the name change. The fact that the vote was unanimous
added a fitting punctuation mark, an exclamation point, to the work of the Branding Task Force, of
many of our board members, and also certainly the hard work of Joe and our great staff. So thank you
very much. (Applause)
Serving as chair would not be possible without the support of Woodmen of the World’s President and
CEO Danny Cummins, my Board of Directors and my colleagues at Woodmen. I would like all of them
please stand as I thank them for their support. (Applause)
Just as I acknowledged and recognized all that has been achieved this past year under Terry’s
leadership—I thank you again, Terry—we all owe a a big thank you to Joe Annotti and our great
Fraternal Alliance staff for a successful year as well. Thank you. (Applause) And what a year it was.
2010 has been challenging for fraternals. We have been challenged by unsteady financial markets,
increased regulatory scrutiny, and states seeking additional sources of revenue. Under Terry and Joe’s
leadership, the fraternal system did not fall victim to these challenges; we anticipated them, addressed
them proactively, and accomplished significant public policy victories.
We faced serious threats to our tax exemption this past year—not at the federal level, but from the
states. The Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives introduced legislation for the second year
in a row to repeal the fraternal tax exemption. In the State of Washington, legislation to repeal the
fraternal tax exemption was introduced after a committee questioned whether our fraternal exemption
continued to fulfill public policy objectives. Our fraternal members reacted swiftly to these threats and
after successful campaigns coordinated by Joe and Elizabeth Snyder, both pieces of legislation were
defeated.
But that does not mean the threats are over. Our experience tells us that we must be vigilant and
always prepared for future challenges, especially given the tight budgets legislators face and will face
for the foreseeable future. In fact, we are tracking developments in 18 states – including several, like
Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, that have created special committees to determine
whether exempt organizations still fulfill the original public policy objectives that justified their exemption
in the first place. This “early warning system” that monitors legislative developments is one of the most
valuable services our Fraternal Alliance provides.
But it will take more than monitoring and reacting to be successful. We must be prepared to go on the
offense. And, realize that with these challenges comes opportunity—an opportunity to educate
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