What is a PAC?
You have probably read or heard updates about FASA’s Political Action Committee, or PAC. But do you really know what the purpose of our PAC is, or what it does? Let’s take some time today to dig a little deeper into the what, why, and how of the PAC.
The basics
A PAC for an association, like FASA, is a legal, separate fund established by a trade, professional, or membership organization to pool voluntary donations from its members and support political candidates who align with the association’s goals.
Under federal rules, an association acts as the "connected organization" that administers and covers the operational or administrative costs of the PAC. However, the money used for political contributions cannot come from the association's general corporate or treasury funds.
The funds must come entirely from voluntary personal contributions given by individuals associated with the group, such as members, staff, or administrative personnel.
In Florida, no person may make contributions in excess of $1,000 to a candidate for statewide office. In the rules, a “person” is an individual, corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate or other combination of individuals having collective capacity. The term includes a political party, affiliated party committee, or political committee.
However, like everything else these days, there are exceptions and some special situations that certain parties can use. But we won’t worry about that today. And, once again, this is just general information on the basics of a PAC.
Let’s dig a little deeper and explore why FASA’s PAC is important. Simply put, we contribute to candidates seeking state office (usually State House or Senate) who have an education background or have shown interest in supporting education. Some examples are legislators who have been on or chaired education committees, have been teachers, school administrators, or school board members, or have shown interest in supporting FASA’s Legislative Platform.
We typically contribute to 6-8 candidates each year. We like to have FASA members deliver contribution checks to candidates across the state. This is a great opportunity for the FASA member and the candidate to meet and learn more about how they can help FASA’s mission. Sometimes, candidates who we have contributed to in the past will also come to FASA’s Advocate Conference to discuss the upcoming Legislative Session and discuss policies that will affect educators, as well as answer questions from our members.
How can you get involved?
There are a few ways for you to get involved. First, we would like every FASA member to make a voluntary donation to the PAC. This would give us the flexibility to contribute to more candidates and make the FASA more well-known in the Capitol. You could also join FASA’s PAC Committee to learn more about the issues and the people involved in them, or even volunteer to deliver a campaign check to one of your local candidates. And don’t forget to attend FASA’s Advocate ’27 Conference in February; we find that members who attend this conference learn more about “the process” than they ever thought they would!
Once again, everything about FASA’s PAC is voluntary, but we would love for you to get involved. If you would like to learn more about the PAC and how to get involved, please click on the links below. Also, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to email me at gwilloughby@fasa.net.