The Ultimate Community Banker Guidebook for All Things Advocacy

A new year, a new Congress and a new administration means it’s an opportune time for you and your team to advocate for your community bank and the broader industry.

ICBA is framing its 2025 policy agenda to Congress and regulators with a powerful and compelling initiative: Repair, Reform and Thrive (icba.org/advocacy). Advocacy is zeroing in on what it takes from policymakers to help community banks meet the needs of consumers, small businesses and the local communities they serve.

By telling the story of community banks’ economic impact across the U.S., ICBA staff and members—you!—can show policymakers why it’s critical to:

• Fix regulations that harm communities by repealing, reissuing or revising onerous rules, regulations and rhetoric.

• Unleash the potential of locally based banking by eliminating obstacles to de novo bank formation, supporting tax policy that levels the playing field, and revisiting current deposit insurance and resolution requirements to better protect community bank customers.

• Fuel the future of community banking by adding official community bank representation on federal agency boards and addressing other structural deficiencies within the agencies that favor megabanks, credit unions and nonbanks over community banks.

What is ICBA focusing on in 2025?

Repair, Reform and Thrive is an opportunity to recalibrate the overall supervisory environment. According to Anne Balcer, ICBA’s senior executive vice president and chief of government relations and public policy, “thousands and thousands” of pages of regulations directed at banks over the past four years have hurt many of the constituencies that policymakers believed they were trying to help. 

“The resulting impact is predictable,” Balcer says. “We know when you push down too hard on one lever, something else is going to give. When community banks can no longer offer certain products as a result of regulatory overreach, consumers will look to nonbanks that are not as regulated—or to products that may be more risky or may not have consumer protections.”

The intent of Repair, Reform and Thrive is to reframe the conversation so that it’s not simply a discussion of “there are too many rules,” she says.

Balcer notes that bankers, conservative about risk, will follow the rules. However, she says, the industry will likely be harmed by spending more time, energy and resources maintaining compliance with certain rules that are unfit for community banks or their business model.

“And that, undoubtedly, also finds its way to the consumers and small businesses that community banks have always historically supported,” she says. “We just want to make sure that we demonstrate the true impact of policymaking on these local communities.”

Leveling the playing field

Among the key issues within ICBA’s 2025 advocacy agenda (icba.org/advocacy/articles/letter-to-119th-congress), staff is focusing on reversing several rules issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, particularly rules affecting small business lending, such as those implementing Section 1071 and Section 1033 of the Dodd-Frank Act. 

ICBA will also urge Congress and regulators to readdress the cost and complexity of complying with the Bank Secrecy Act, as well as the beneficial ownership collection rules under the Corporate Transparency Act.

Another critical item is to raise the audit and reporting requirement asset thresholds set 15 years ago when Dodd-Frank created carve-outs for community banks.

“This is reflective of the tremendous growth in bank assets over these years, and many of the banks that are serving local communities are stuck with regulations that they never anticipated having when they were a smaller size,” says Paul Merski, ICBA’s group executive vice president of congressional relations and strategy. “So, we want to increase the exemption thresholds to provide more relief across the board for our community banks.”

Overall, association staff is very excited to work with lawmakers and regulators this year to implement real change for community bankers, Merski says.

“ICBA has been successful in the past achieving regulatory relief, and we really look forward to working with the new administration and the new Congress to build on those successes and provide needed regulatory relief for community banks.”

“The key is that the senators and representatives work for us, and they need to hear from us, otherwise there is going to be no change. The more they hear from us, the more likely they are to listen.”

—Jack E. Hopkins, CorTrust Bank

Who should get involved in advocacy? Everyone.

While it’s paramount for those in your community bank’s C-suite to lobby for the industry, up-and-coming talent should also get involved.

“Our younger or newer bankers that are looking to get into leadership in their bank or in the association—many of these items that we’re asking them to advocate for us on behalf of the industry will affect their day-to-day jobs,” says Jack E. Hopkins, ICBA chairman and president and CEO of $1.5 billion‑asset CorTrust Bank in Sioux Falls, S.D. “Lawmakers need to hear from everybody that’s affected by these regulations.”

He recalls a conversation he once had with a U.S. senator, who told him, “If I don’t hear from you, I’m assuming you don’t have any problems.”

“The key is that the senators and representatives work for us, and they need to hear from us, otherwise there is going to be no change,” Hopkins says. “The more they hear from us, the more likely they are to listen.”

Succession planning and retaining talent are huge issues for community banks, and when bank leaders take someone who’s not in the C-suite to Washington or the state capital to lobby for their community bank, it tells them that leaders are interested in them developing their career, says Lucas White, ICBA immediate past chairman and president of $666 million-asset The Fountain Trust Company in Covington, Ind.

“It also shows that person that there’s a lot more to community banking than what they do in their day-to-day job,” White says. “They also can see the benefits that community banks provide to our customers and our communities on a broader level.”

Tools to help advocates of all levels

ICBA strives to make it as easy as possible for community bankers to engage in advocacy by providing a comprehensive resources site (icba.org/beheard). For example, the Be Heard Grassroots Action Center allows you to input your name and address to obtain each member of the congressional delegation that represents you. Then, with the click of a button, you can send a letter to your members of Congress about whatever issue the Grassroots Action Center is currently addressing.

“If you’re new to lobbying, that page is a great place to start, because it lets you send a letter to your member of Congress to let them know that the issue is important to your bank and to your customers,” White says.

Community banking is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, he says, and lobbying for community banks is really the only opportunity ICBA members have to influence the rules they live by.

“I’ve always viewed it as part of my job, not something extra I do,” White says. “That’s how important I think it is.”

“Any community banker who’s interested in regulatory relief should take the opportunity to meet in person with their members of Congress.”

—Paul Merski, ICBA

6 ways to engage lawmakers at home

Want lawmakers to understand how your bank truly supports your community? Host them on your own turf.

“Take this opportunity early on in the Trump administration and the new 119th Congress to get to know your representatives by inviting them to your bank,” ICBA’s Paul Merski says. “Share with them stories about how Washington impacts not only your bank but also your customers.”

ICBA has updated its Meetings on Main Street guide—available at icba.org/advocacy—to help you more effectively meet with your member of Congress either virtually or, preferably, in person. 

Here are the six general steps to properly host lawmakers:

1. Secure a meeting

Get in contact with your member of Congress using the Request a Meeting Template included in ICBA’s guide and noting the issues you plan on discussing. If you need help identifying these issues, ICBA is here to help. 

Once the meeting is scheduled, fill out the guide’s pre-meeting form and email Jack Coleman, ICBA’s AVP of advocacy (john.coleman@icba.org), to tell him about your outreach.

2. Plan for your meeting

• Research the member of Congress you’re meeting with, starting with their profile and top community bank bills in ICBA’s action center and bill tracker, and follow them on social media so you can stay up to date.

• Create an agenda for your group, assign roles and rehearse.

• When conveying your viewpoint and requests to your visitor, stick to three or four issues and be clear and concise.

3. Conduct the meeting

Show your member of Congress how important your institution is to the community, then tell them why it’s important they act. Make sure you detail the impact of each issue in real terms.

“For instance, there’s a lot of focus on fees,” ICBA’s Anne Balcer says. “That’s an opportunity to share examples of customers who may need to overdraw their account to pay a bill. They would rather be assessed a fee than default on their mortgage. These are the stories that only our bankers can tell in a way that is truly meaningful and impactful.”

4. Keep the conversation in check

Do not mention political contributions or ICBA’s political action committee (PAC) outside of a PAC event, as this is illegal. Additionally, since this is a nonpartisan event, do not badmouth members of Congress or political parties. 

5. Follow up

Right after the meeting, give lawmakers some public recognition by sharing any photos you took using ICBA’s Twitter Template. Be sure to email Jack Coleman about the meeting so ICBA can feature it in NewsWatch Today. The next day, send the Thank-You Letter Template to your legislator’s office, followed a week later by the Follow-Up Template, including any additional information they asked for.

6. Make yourself indispensable

Your goal is to position yourself as a resource to your lawmaker’s office for all things community banking and how it affects your shared community. So, contact your Hill staffer regularly at relevant times. This means forwarding them the letters ICBA sends to Capitol Hill; opining on news, issues or bills that you have insight into; and thanking them when they support your issues.

Remember: Not following up is following up. Your staffer won’t think it’s important if you, their expert, don’t let them know it is.

“Any community banker who’s interested in regulatory relief should take the opportunity to meet in person with their members of Congress,” Merski says. “They should also take the opportunity to come to Washington and work with ICBA to lobby the regulatory agencies and Congress to fight for their regulatory relief that they deserve and participate in the ICBA’s political action committee that works to support community bank-friendly members of Congress.”

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