Al Walker Community Grants

In 2014, The NSA Foundation Board of Trustees decided that since our Foundation had been so richly blessed over the years, we needed to “practice what we preached” to our members about being more philanthropic and continuously giving to the Foundation. A decision was made to provide a grant of $10,000 to a charity located in the city where the annual Convention of NSA was being held. That first year, our Convention was in San Diego, CA. Several charitable non-profit organizations in that area were selected and reviewed. The decision was made to provide our first grant to The Warrior Foundation, a local organization, staffed and managed completely by volunteers who used 100% of the money they were given to provide aid to military veterans in the San Diego area.

In 2025, Al Walker, CSP, CPAE, Cavett Award recipient, has been a distinguished member of the National Speakers Association since 1982, fulfilling nearly every leadership role including positions on the board, convention chair, and president. As chair of the NSA Foundation, Al was instrumental in conceiving and establishing the Community Grant, a program that provides vital support to a charitable organizations in the host city for the annual NSA convention-Influence. In lasting recognition of Al’s exceptional dedication and longstanding service to the National Speakers Association, the NSA Foundation Board of Trustees and the NSA Board are privileged to rename the Community Grant as the Al Walker Community Grant.