Association headquarters confirmed eligible for security grants

NANA has resolved its nonprofit security grant advocacy: association headquarters buildings are now confirmed eligible for federal nonprofit security grant funding.

Association headquarters had an unclear path to the program, which funds cameras, access control, and other physical security upgrades. For associations organized as 501(c)(6) trade groups rather than 501(c)(3) charities, guidance had never explicitly said whether a headquarters building qualified, and several members reported being turned away by regional program administrators who assumed the funding was charity-only. Eligibility for association headquarters buildings was confirmed this month, closing a question NANA's policy team had pressed on for members whose buildings serve as both office and meeting space.

Farah Qureshi-Lindgren, NANA's senior policy manager, has tracked the file since joining NANA's staff in 2022 from a Hill committee staff job, and said the confirmation removes a barrier that had kept some association staff from applying at all.

"We had members who never even tried to apply because someone at their local field office told them associations weren't eligible," Qureshi-Lindgren said. "That was wrong, but nobody had ever said so in writing until now."

Any 501(c)(6) or 501(c)(3) association headquarters can now apply for the same grant program available to other nonprofit facilities. Grants under the program typically cover a share of costs for cameras, entry systems, and lighting — expenses many small association offices had been paying for entirely out of operating budgets.

The clarification matters most for smaller member organizations that own or lease their own office space rather than sharing space with a larger institution, since those are the buildings most likely to lack existing security infrastructure.

Members whose headquarters buildings include public-facing lobbies, meeting rooms, or event space should:

• Confirm the building qualifies as the association's own headquarters, not leased-out space shared with unrelated tenants

• Review the program's application window, which typically opens in the fall

• Contact NANA's policy team with questions before applying, since program guidance can vary by administering region

NANA's policy team considers this issue resolved and will monitor the program for any future eligibility changes. Simone Radcliffe, NANA's director of public policy and Qureshi-Lindgren's supervisor, said the file will stay open for monitoring purposes even though the immediate advocacy goal has been reached, in case administrators revisit the guidance in a future funding cycle.

NANA's policy team plans to track how many member organizations actually apply for the grant over the coming year, hoping to build a rough sense of uptake it can report back to members and, if the numbers are strong, cite to program administrators as evidence the eligibility clarification is working as intended. Members who apply and want to share their experience, good or bad, are encouraged to tell NANA's policy team directly.