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From my perspective looking back at 2023, as IIUSA’s Executive Director, the state of our industry and our association is strong. Operationally, the association continued to make good decisions, increase its efficiencies, and for the first time discern a comprehensive strategic plan.
Programmatically, IIUSA broadened its reach to include new markets across the globe, established and grew its political action committee to achieve multi-candidate status, prompted the White House to spur the USCIS Ombudsman to action, and even developed our own legislation to bolster meaningful communications between industry representatives and USCIS decision makers.
Meanwhile, the association’s critical day-to-day services continued to churn, pushing out weekly information and communications and developing critical tools, like the TEA Map, which attracted more than 29,700 users and was used over 79,000 times in 2023!
Here is a look back at the year, where we began in 2023, how far we came, and what lies ahead in 2024.
OPERATIONS
I said last year, and I believe it is worth repeating, an association’s operational success is measured by its staff continuity and how well it meets its budget goals. Even small advances mean progress. When a staff works exceedingly well together and an association’s budget exceeds expectations, members reap the rewards.
IIUSA’s team engineered another successful year, registering 66 (14 net) new members. The association will end 2023 in a strong financial position, having again controlled costs, and exceeded revenue projections; it is expected to carry over $200,000 to its 2024 reserve fund.
As mentioned, the association also developed its first strategic plan. Having secured the program’s reauthorization, the association realized a rare opportunity to take a deep breath and evaluate many new opportunities, including the chance to reflect on its own operations and build a game plan that reflects not only continued strong government affairs but also augmented education offerings, plans to expand its international and domestic membership, and focus on its staff’s professional development.
The 2024 IIUSA Strategic Plan includes goals, strategies to reach those goals, and tactics to underpin those strategies in seven categories: government affairs, domestic events, international events, staff & contractor development, membership, education, industry data, and finance. The new Strategic Plan is a dynamic guide to the association’s continued success and can be reviewed by clicking this link.
From an operational perspective, it is also worth noting that the association, with the help and guidance of its Secretary/Treasurer Adam Greene, transitioned its accounting from a cash basis to an accrual basis. The step may not seem like much, but the move provides the association with a much clearer picture of its financial position which in turn facilitates better planning, decision-making, and an even better operational picture this time next year when we look back at 2024
SERVICES
An association’s services’ success is measured anecdotally by its members’ satisfaction and how well the association fulfills its mission. IIUSA’s mission has several components, and in 2023 its most prominent continued to be:
- Educating the general public and government about the many benefits of Regional Center collaboration through the EB-5 investment program;
- Representing Regional Centers and facilitating their efforts to address administrative, regulatory, and legislative issues at all levels of government; and
- Serving as a strong, unified voice for permanent authorization and improvement of the EB-5 Regional Center Program to enhance Regional Center activities.
IIUSA’s Political Action Committee – In January 2023 the association filed the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to establish the only EB-5 focused political action committee. The IIUSA-PAC is an “affiliated PAC,” meaning its affiliation with IIUSA allows the association to absorb the PAC’s operating costs. This intentional decision assures that 100% of the contributions the PAC receives can be allotted to candidates that reflect and espouse the same values as IIUSA, namely that the Regional Center Program is deserving of permanent authorization and the program needs more visas.
The real value of a PAC, of course, is its ability to attach these values to any contribution it makes to a candidate. When an individual makes a political contribution, it simply comes from Joe Smith. However, when a PAC contributes, it comes from an organization with published priorities anyone can assume are now also held by the recipient candidate.
Creating the IIUSA-PAC in 2023 will pay tremendous dividends in 2024 and beyond as the association and the industry it leads assemble Congressional champions we know believe as we do.
White House Engagement – IIUSA’s lobbying team, Commonwealth Strategic Partners, leveraged its relationships with White House staff to secure a long-sought after meeting. During the visit, IIUSA officers and other leaders shared a candid view of how the industry is faring under USCIS’ interpretations of the Reform and Integrity Act. To the point, IIUSA made clear that there is a policy disconnect between Congressional intent and agency administration. The meeting opened the door to further conversations with the USCIS Ombudsman that but for IIUSA’s White House meeting would never have begun.
New Legislation – The triumvirate of IIUSA’s public policy goals is permanent authorization, more allotted visas, and meaningful, respectful communications with USCIS. As the IIUSA-PAC helps lay the groundwork for the first two, new legislation – spearheaded by IIUSA – may well help the industry reach the third. In 2023 IIUSA worked closely with Congress to develop a bill that will require the USCIS to convene an advisory panel comprised of a majority of industry stakeholders to discuss and help guide the agency’s program operations. The bill, when enacted into law, will create a paradigm shift in how the EB-5 community engages USCIS and vice versa.
Advocacy Fly-Ins – IIUSA organized three federal advocacy fly-ins in 2023, during which members of IIUSA’s Leadership Circle met with over 40 Congressional Offices on the Hill. These meetings focused on education, ensuring that Congressional staff understand how EB-5 and the Regional Center Program are impactful and important for job creation and economic development.
Data Tools – IIUSA continues to enhance its services and tools to inform our stakeholders about the latest industry trends. Our TEA mapping tool has been a critical resource for project due diligence, with more than 54,000 EB-5 stakeholders using the tool since IIUSA launched it in late 2021 (nearly 30,000 users in 2023 alone). Additionally, IIUSA’s other data tools, such as the I-526 Data Dashboard and the new EB-5 Visa Data Dashboard, were accessed more than 12,200 times in 2023.
Meanwhile, Across the Globe – The association’s Passport Series hosted educational and business development events in 14 international cities. The events were in established markets including India, Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan and, importantly, in burgeoning markets like Nigeria, Hong Kong, Colombia and Brazil. IIUSA continued to leverage its partnerships across the world to facilitate gatherings that focused on updating veteran stakeholders and educating nascent professionals and prospective investors. The events were impactful for the IIUSA sponsors who made the events happen, our international partners, and guests who walked away from the events better informed and, in some cases, ready to invest.
What Comes Next – We look forward to building on our 2023 accomplishments in 2024. In fact, the association began planning for 2024 months ago. The full-year calendar will help members (and staff!) keep pace with everything planned.
- Expanded EB-5 Passport Series – The first twelve dates for next year’s series have already been announced and our first eight stops are already sold out! The association will continue to grow the industry in new and emerging markets such as Peru (Q1), Hong Kong (Q1), and Nigeria (Q4) while further expanding EB-5 knowledge in new cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Pune, India (Q3). We also look forward to returning to industry standbys such as Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, São Paulo, Mumbai, , Seoul, and Taipei. LEARN MORE
- 14th Annual EB-5 Industry Forum and 19th Annual Membership Meeting in Atlanta, GA – The membership meeting will take place next year amidst southern charm and hospitality. If the programming, networking, and business development opportunities are anything like this year’s event in San Diego (They will be!), you won’t want to miss it! LEARN MORE]
- An Impactful IIUSA PAC – The end of 2023 marked an important milestone for the IIUSA-PAC: its designation as a “multi-candidate” political action committee. It is the only PAC focused on furthering the EB-5 industry’s priorities, and with multi-candidate status it will be able to extend its reach to support more candidates that reflect IIUSA’s values and priorities.
- Washington, DC, “Fly-Ins” – The Regional Center Program is a creature of statute, so our time in Washington, DC, on Capitol Hill, with the White House, engaging USCIS, and working with other like-minded advocates will again be a major part of IIUSA’s 2024.
- Quarterly Educational Webinars – In 2024 we will not wait for an issue to warrant a webinar; we will take matters on directly and provide a platform for educating the entire EB-5 ecosystem worldwide with the EB-5 Experts Webinar Series. LEARN MORE
- An updated EB-5 economic impact study – IIUSA is developing a request for proposal (RFP) to commission an updated study that assesses the economic impact of the EB-5 Program. Once completed, this study will be a critical tool for IIUSA’s advocacy efforts toward the program’s permanent authorization and additional visa capacity.
On behalf of a spectacular and professional staff, thank you for an incredible year. If it is true that “cream rises to the top,” then among professional associations, our 2023 cup runneth over! I am excited about the challenges and opportunities in the year to come and looking forward to embracing all of it with you.
Sincerely,
Aaron Grau
Executive Director
IIUSA
