1.) Q: How do I become a member?
A: You can sign up for an individual or a group membership here: https://wita.org/memberships/. Select which membership you want to sign up for, click “select” at the bottom of the page, and fill out the information on the following page. You can also email events@wita.org for a membership invoice.
2.) Q: How can I register for a group membership?
A: To register for a group membership go here: https://wita.org/memberships/or go to the “Get Involved” page and select the membership level you would like. Follow the prompts to register for your group membership. Group Memberships are a great way to get you and your co-workers a membership at WITA. For $350, you can get a membership for up to 5 members, and for $500 you can get a membership for up to 10 co-workers. For $1,000, our Executive Level Membership is available, which includes 10 free passes and unlimited members. As part of all membership options, you will get a discount to all WITA events, meaning that an event you would normally pay $50 for would only be $30 as part of the membership. Your group also gets a limited amount of free passes to WITA events for the year that the membership is active.
3.) Q: How do I become a sponsor?
A: You can become a sponsor here: https://wita.org/memberships/. Select which sponsor level you want to sign up for, click “select” at the bottom of the page, and fill out the information on the following page. Note: becoming a sponsor also entitles you to a group membership that corresponds to your sponsorship level.
4.) Q: I am a WITA member (or non-member). How do I register for events?
A: You can register for events by going to the event page at wita.org. Once there, click the Eventbrite widget. This will take you to the Eventbrite page where you can purchase tickets. Alternatively, you can email events@wita.org and ask for a ticket invoice to the event. You can pay this invoice by check or over the phone (members only).
5.) Q: I am part of a group membership. How do I use free passes?
A: Email events@wita.org with your name, organization, and the event you wish to use the free pass for. You can also call our office at 202-312-1600.
6.) Q: How do I sign up for WITA/YTP/ATP Newsletters?
A: Go to the organizational homepage, www.wita.org. Scroll down and input your email under “Subscribe To Our Newsletter”. Check the boxes of the newsletters you want to subscribe to and then press the “Subscribe” button.
7.) Q: How do I add my event to the WITA trade calendar?
A: Email events@wita.org with a link and a description of the event. The event must go through an approval process, and you will be notified within 48 hours.
8.) Q: How do I apply for an internship?
A: See this page for details on how to apply: https://wita.org/about/internships/
9.) Q: How do I post a job?
A: You can post a job by going here: https://wita.org/my-account/submit-job/ or going to the homepage and scrolling to the bottom of the page. Here, you will see the option to “Post Jobs on WITA”. Follow the prompts here to post your job.
10.) Q: There is a 48 hour cancellation policy for WITA events. This means that cancellations received within 48 hours of an event are billed to cover costs. Why?
A: Caterers and venues charge WITA per attendee, and the number of attendees must be confirmed 48 hours before an event. For this reason, any cancellation made less than 48 hours will not be refunded in order to cover the cost of the attendee.
11.) Q: How can I post a blog?
A: Any member of WITA may submit a blog post.
- Your blog post, a maximum of 1500 words, will be reviewed by the WITA Board before it is published.
- Blog posts should be factually correct and link to referenced articles and sources of data relied upon or referenced in the proposed blog.
closely follow these guidelines for submission. - The byline must belong to an individual, not a company. A short bio should accompany the blog post submission.
- The blog should be exclusive to America’s Trade Policy and WITA and should not have been posted anywhere else beforehand.
- The WITA board will have final say in the shape the piece takes. In the instance of extremely heavy edits by our committee, contributors will get one read-back after first edit.
- All other editing/copyediting decisions (including headlines, length, captions, etc.) will be made by WITA Board.
- All submissions must be sent to danez@wita.org, addressed to the WITA Board. If all requirements are met, the proposed blog will be promptly posted on the site. For any other inquiries, please contact danez@wita.org.
12.) Q: What can you tell me about the WITA Board of Directors? How can I join the WITA Board? What about the Foundation Board?
A: The WITA Board of Directors currently has 20 members, each elected to a three year term, with 5 or 6 Directors’ terms expiring on June 30 of each year.
A vacancy occurs when a Director opts to not run for reelection, or when he/she resigns during his/her term.
Once there is an opening, a Nominating Committee is formed. Selection criteria that are considered by the Nominating Committee include, but are not limited to: length of time working in trade policy; profile in the trade policy community; ability to work with others across the political spectrum and regardless of their views on trade; professional networks to reach potential speakers; prior involvement with/support of WITA.
Once a candidate has been selected by the Nominating Committee, their choice is presented to the full Board for consideration and possible approval. If approved by the full Board, the Nominating Committee chair contacts the candidate to invite that person to join the WITA Board.
According to the WITA bylaws, the WITA Board may appoint a candidate to complete the remainder of the term, at which time the new Director may opt to seek reelection.
For vacancies in the normal cycle of elections, the Executive Director presents the slate of Directors nominated for a coming three year term to the Annual Meeting of the Members in June. Each WITA member present gets one vote, up or down, for the slate. Proxy votes may be submitted via email in the two weeks prior to the Annual Meeting of the Members.
The Executive Director maintains a list of persons who have expressed interest in serving on the WITA Board of Directors. If you would like to be added to this list for a 12 month period, please send an email to klevinson@wita.org and in the subject line write Board of Directors.
Board duties include but are not limited to: attending 5 out of 6 WITA Board meetings a year; taking a leading role in creating 3-4 trade policy programs a year; attendance & support of the WITA Annual Dinner; assistance in identifying and contacting speakers for WITA events; identifying key topics and trends in trade policy for events; assistance in publicizing events; and fiduciary duties in stewarding organizational resources, guiding the Executive Director as needed, and growing the organization.
Officers of the WITA Board serve one year terms. Officers are elected in January. Currently WITA has 4 officers, President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Traditionally, one or two members of the WITA Board also serve on the WITF (Foundation) Board of Directors as liaison members.
By the Washington International Trade Foundation‘s bylaws, the 9 members of the Foundation Board are appointed by the WITA Board. The Foundation has one officer — President, and 1 or 2 liaison members from the WITA Board among its members. Foundation Board members serve one year terms. Appointments or re-appointments are made at the January WITA Board meeting.
13.) What are the Washington International Trade Association and Washington International Trade Foundation Sponsorship Requirements?
For more information about sponsorships, please contact Diego Añez at danez@wita.org.
WITA, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to refuse or terminate the sponsorships of any person or company:
1) who are listed on U.S. government sanctions or watch lists, including but not limited to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list, the Foreign Sanctions Evaders List, the Non-SDN Iran Sanctions Act List, the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List, the List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions, the Non-SDN Palestinian Legislative Council List or the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List;
2) whose policies, acts or alleged acts would tend to bring WITA into disrepute; or
3) for any other reason, in WITA’s sole and absolute discretion.
14.) What is WITA’s Privacy policy?
A: For each visitor to our website, our web server automatically recognizes only the visitor’s domain name but not the e-mail address (where possible). We collect only the domain name, but not the e-mail address of visitors to our Web page, the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via email, aggregate information on what pages visitors access or visit, information volunteered by the visitor, such as survey information and/or site registrations. We store the data generated when the services on our site are used by visitors for internal purposes only.
WITA do not set any cookies, however, most web browsers automatically accept cookies. You do not have to accept cookies, and you should read the information that came with your browser software to see how you can set up your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, this will give you the opportunity to decide whether to accept it.
The information we collect is used for internal review, used to improve the content of our website, and is not shared with other organizations for commercial purposes, except for the specific cases mentioned below.
- The WITA does not release member information to third parties except in conjunction with WITA sponsored programs.
- We will release information in response to a court order.
If you do not wish to have your information released as per the situations noted above, or if you do not want to receive emails, telephone calls, or postal mail from us in the future, please let us know by calling us at the number provided above, emailing us at the above address, or writing to us at the above address. Please provide us with complete contact information so that we can accurately remove you from appropriate databases. Please allow us a reasonable amount of time to complete these requests.
If you wish to receive fewer emails from WITA, please let us know by calling us at the number provided above, emailing us at the above address, or writing to us at the above address in order to be put on a Friday Focus only mailing list or to be completely removed from WITA mailing list. Please provide us with complete contact information so that we can accurately add and remove you from appropriate databases. Please allow us a reasonable amount of time to complete these requests.
The WITA sites and emails contain links to other sites. The WITA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites. These links are provided for your convenience only and you access them at your own risk.
From time to time, we may use customer information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at some time in the future we will contact registered users of our service before we use their data for these new purposes to notify them of the policy change and to provide them with the ability to opt out of these new uses. We will post the policy changes to our website to notify all others of these changes and provide them with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically.
If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us at the above addresses or phone numbers. We will attempt to correct the problem immediately.
By using this website and/or posting Materials, you agree to indemnify the Organization, its officers, directors, employees, successors, agents, distributors, and affiliates for any and all claims, damages, losses, and causes of action (including attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your breach or alleged breach of this agreement or for any content that is provided by you, to you, or through your user I.D. and/or password. You agree to cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim. The organization reserves the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you.
To read WITA’s bylaws, please click here. To read WITF’s bylaw, please click here.