ISA receives national award for advocacy work

The International Sign Association will be recognized with a Power of Associations Award from the American Society of Association Executives this September.

The award recognizes ISA’s multi-year efforts to change the tenor of the sign company/planner relationship and work collaboratively. Over time, ISA has educated more than 12,000 local planners, helping them understand how to regulate signs in a way that balances community aesthetics with business interests.

“The Power of Association Awards singles out initiatives that can only be done through an association. ISA’s persistence, commitment and creativity in solving a significant issue for our members is why our advocacy work was recognized,” said Lori Anderson, ISA president and CEO. “An individual sign company simply can’t devote the time to do this, especially not at this scale. Together, through an association, we can make a dent—and ISA certainly has in developing more reasonable sign codes.”

ISA’s advocacy team works at the local, state and federal level to benefit its members and the broader sign and graphics industry.

“With more than 80,000 municipalities throughout the country, it can be daunting to influence sign codes as they’re developed,” said David Hickey, ISA’s VP of advocacy. “By educating planners on the front end and working collaboratively as they develop sign codes, we are able to multiply our impact.”

One recent case, in Rockville, Maryland, amplified the power of the association. The proposed code would have banned all internally illuminated signs, a change that nearly flew under the radar in the planning process. ISA recognized the chaos this could cause — and the potential costs for businesses when nonconforming signs would need to be replaced — and brought solutions. Read the full case study at www.signs.org/Rockville.