"Pay it Forward" is a goodwill gesture in which chapters/organizations make a financial donation to the host Code Council Chapter(s) to underwrite expenses incurred in providing hospitality functions at ICC's Annual Conference.

According to former ICC Board Director Terrence Cobb, this tradition began with the Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI) legacy organization. The state Chapter and code official in the city where their conference was being held would (among other things) open and operate a hospitality suite each evening during the conference. This practice came with significant expense, which increased substantially after we consolidated into ICC. Later, the Chapter developed a conference "resource guide" that included ads sold to sponsors, other chapters and individual donors.

After the consolidation, the hospitality hosts began to focus on scholarships and ads for the resource guide to raise the necessary hospitality expense funds. For years, the Tennessee Building Officials Association (TBOA) made it a practice to always send a check to the host Chapter in other states. When TBOA was host Chapter and sent out their letters of solicitation, Chapters across the state and the southeast quickly came forward to make donations and to purchase ads. TBOA had enough money to meet it's budgetary goal and used the remaining funds to establish a new tradition, "Pay It Forward." At the 2003 Annual Banquet (the first of the consolidation), TBOA donated a check to the Utah Chapter and the tradition took off under a new banner—ICC.

The tradition has continued over subsequent years and is an excellent tool for Chapters to show their support for other Chapters and to "sow a seed" for the future. As the ICC Annual Conference rotates geographically around the U.S., most Chapters will have the opportunity to serve as hospitality hosts. That's when the value of the "Pay It Forward" practice will hit home.

Each year, Chapters who wish to "Pay It Forward" may make their financial presentation (to the following year's host Chapter) during the Annual Conference Banquet. To schedule a presentation at the next Annual Banquet, or for more information, please contact Jo Ann Jemison, ICC's Hospitality Liaison, at 888-422-7233, ext. 4328.


Thanks to Terry Cobb for his significant contribution to this article.