Hail To The Chiefs

Rent-to-own state association presidents are valiant volunteers, on the frontlines of safeguarding our transaction and fortifying our industry

Now let us sing the praises of some of rent-to-own’s typically unsung heroes: the presidents of RTO state associations around the country. These leaders are the conduits between rental dealers and their close-proximity colleagues, state and federal lawmakers, and invaluable industry information. And they do it all for free.

“State associations play a key role in developing positive state laws that protect and promote a legal, safe business environment for rent-to-own,” notes APRO Chief Executive Officer Jill Mc- Clure. “And they do the converse, helping ensure threatening state bills don’t damage the RTO transaction. Strong state associations are absolutely necessary to the continued existence and success of our industry – and dedicated leaders are indispensable in building and maintaining those strong associations. We have the deepest appreciation for the leaders who volunteer to head these essential entities.”

This spring, APRO hosted a State Association Presidents Meetup, bringing rent-to-own leadership across the country together via Zoom to learn and talk about legislative and regulatory activity, the responsibilities of association administration, and other state-level topics of interest.

Of 23 active state associations nationwide, 21 are APRO association members, and 9 of those presidents attended the meetup: Candice Hill of the Arkansas Rental Dealers Association; Paul Davis of the California Association of Progressive Rental Organizations; Paul Metivier of the Florida Rental Dealers Association; Dennis Adams of the Rental-Purchase Dealers Association of Indiana; Kelly Martin of the Illinois Rental Dealers Association; Bill Howard of the Kentucky Rental Dealers Association; John Manzari of the Northeast Rental Dealers Association; Chris Bolin of the Tennessee Rental Dealers Association; and Jonathan Rose of the Virginia Rental Dealers Association.

Participating in presidential gatherings is just a drop in the bucket of RTO state leaders’ commitments and concerns. So APRO works hard to help and support its state associations, upping its efforts over the past few years.

“APRO is devoting more time and energy to helping states stay organized and sustain themselves,” attests Mc- Clure. “We want to make it easier for our volunteer presidents to lead their organizations. We understand they have full-time jobs, maybe more than one, so we want to offer tools, services, and resources that make this job as easy as possible for them.”

APRO provides state associations with three levels of services, depending upon their group’s needs: Level 1 is for everyone, and includes daily monitoring of state and federal legislation, meetings promotion, and a digital archive for key association documents; Level 2 offers financial administrative assistance, including bookkeeping and invoicing; and Level 3 includes fee-based offerings, such as meeting planning and marketing services.

“We created a State Association Handbook to help rent-to-own state leaders write and maintain effective bylaws and other organizational documents, plan and lead productive statewide meetings, conduct elections, and perform succession planning,” adds Jen Troke, APRO’s Director of Education and Membership.

Additionally, APRO is piloting a State Chapter program with the Illinois Rental Dealers Association and its President, Kelly Martin.

“We’re hoping to further streamline state association management and further lighten the load for volunteer leaders,” McClure affirms. “As an APRO Chapter, an association will have access to more templates designed to help with events and processes, and the chapter model will focus specifically on advocacy and education. We’ll be working through it over the next year, figuring out how we make this program easy and effective for our state presidents.”

Taxes are taxing and also a certainty, for RTO state presidents just as for anyone else. At the State Association Presidents Meetup, Chris Terrigino, Audit Shareholder, and Kim Cardenas, Tax Manager – both of APRO member Rivero, Gordimer & Company P.A. – presented on Tax Requirements for State Associations.

While tax-exempt organizations of all sizes are required to file an annual return with the IRS, most rent-to-own state associations are 501(c)(6) organizations with annual gross revenues under $50K, which means they can use the 990-N form, also known as the e-postcard, to file.

People get pumped up about volunteering, and if your heart’s into it, that’s phenomenal. Just make sure you understand what you’re getting into, what the risks are, and then take the appropriate actions to protect yourself.

“The 990-N needs just eight basic pieces of information about your group, and must be filed electronically through the IRS website,” Terrigino says. “You can be late with the filing, or even miss a year, but if you miss three years, then you can lose your tax-exempt status.”

“When I first became an association president, there was no one and no info around, and it was really difficult,” recalls Chris Bolin of Tennessee. “It was like running a gauntlet, just trying to determine which 501 we were. It was terrible. But now, I do the 990 e-postcard, it’s about five minutes to complete and file, and it’s done.”

Julio Jimenez, Vice President and Property & Casualty Practice Leader, and Macenzi Holmes-Norton, Vice President of RTO Risk Management – both of APRO member USI Insurance Services LLC – also presented at the meeting, on the equally scintillating subject of State Association Risks and Responsibilities, particularly as they pertain to liability coverage for organization directors and officers.

“Directors and officers liability insurance – or D&O coverage – is designed to protect people from personal loss if they’re sued as a result of serving as a director or officer of an organization,” Jimenez says. “There are two parts to this kind of coverage: the A part provides coverage directly to the individual, and I recommend it for personal use to anyone who’s considering participating with any sort of nonprofit board; and the B part covers the organization overall. If an organization you’re serving with doesn’t have D&O coverage, then check with your insurance agent about whether they can extend your regular coverage to include protecting you as a board member or organizational leader.

“People get pumped up about volunteering, and if your heart’s into it, that’s phenomenal,” he concludes. “Just make sure you understand what you’re getting into, what the risks are, and then take the appropriate actions to protect yourself.”

“I initially thought about not getting D&O insurance for FRDA,” remembers Paul Metivier of Florida. “But I felt I had a responsibility to my fellow board members. What if I said or did something that was perceived negatively out there, and the next thing you know, they’re coming at our board members for something I did? It was a pretty simple process, not a lot of money, and now we’re protected.”

Taxes, insurance . . . what other fun stuff do RTO state association presidents get to deal with? As mentioned, legislative and regulatory issues are where state leaders make the biggest impact for the rent-to-own industry as a whole. Whether positive laws need to be passed or negative bills need to be killed, state leaders are our industry’s best boots-on-the-ground ambassadors.

At the State Association Presidents Meetup, Matt Grynwald – Vice President of Legal, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs for Rent-A-Center – provided a Government Relations Update. Grynwald noted that ten APRO Alerts concerning legislative or regulatory activity in 13 different states have already been issued this year – including alerts about unfriendly bills in Arizona and Kentucky.

“My first notification that something was happening in Kentucky was an APRO Alert,” explains Bill Howard, President of KRDA. “We’ve definitely not been a consumer-protection or legislative target historically, then all of a sudden, we were a target, and it happened so fast and so out of left field, it made me realize how quickly something can turn on you. Because our state organization has remained active, we weren’t scrambling, we knew how to react. Being connected with APRO and coordinated as a state association was critical – we were ready.”

“Though that bill died a quick and quiet death, KRDA and APRO’s readiness meant the RTO constituents of Kentucky – who can have the greatest impact – were set to jump into action,” notes Grynwald. “Our team was able to quickly discover the origins of the bill and its prospects of moving through the legislative process, so if we needed to act, we had already determined the right people and the right places to engage.”

Knowing those right people is vital. While face-to-face meetings with lawmakers have been difficult during the pandemic, Grynwald urges state leaders to get them going again once restrictions have lightened.

“One of our lobbyists says, ‘If you’re not at the table, then you’re on the table,’” Grynwald notes. “Which is exactly why we want to show up to our state capitols and to Capitol Hill as soon as we can. We want to be there and tell our story first, rather than waiting for an issue to arise, for a consumer advocate to come tell them some horror story – especially when we have newer members of Congress, and it’s been two years since we’ve seen them. They don’t know anything at all about RTO, so our goal is to be their first impression – to get out there and educate folks about what our industry does, how we operate, and how we help people.”

Grynwald highlighted the fresh story rent-to-own has to tell as an essential business during the pandemic, keeping doors open and providing customers with products – like laptops and refrigerators – they needed to get through the COVID crisis. Laying this kind of solid groundwork pays off bigtime when a negative measure pops up in the statehouse – as it did in Kentucky.

“That example is a powerful reminder that this can happen to anyone at any time,” underlines Troke. “The threat to our industry is ever-present, but we’re growing stronger all the time – and we’re definitely stronger working together.”

Now don’t go thinking a state association presidential gig is all high drama and power plays (remember the insurance and taxes?). These subtle superstars also oversee the continual tasks of operating a member-based organization: communicating with members regularly but not annoyingly often; hosting and promoting annual business meetings, legislative days, educational seminars, and community outreach activities; recruiting new membership; soliciting vendor involvement; periodically reviewing and updating the association bylaws; and ensuring all organizational documents – the bylaws, incorporation articles, tax records, meeting minutes, etc. – are delivered to APRO for the digital archive.

It’s a lot to take on, especially in addition to busy careers and full personal lives. And RTO state association presidents clearly aren’t doing this work for the pay or the glory. But thank goodness they’re doing it.

“I’ve heard the reason volunteers don’t get paid is not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless,” McClure concludes. “It’s true – our state association presidents are at the core of our industry, keeping it community-centric, moving forward, and above all, safe.”

Kristen Card has been a contributing writer for RTOHQ: The Magazine for more than 15 years.