The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) was founded in 1974 in order to help state officials involved in emergency management and homeland security to improve their abilities to prevent and to cope with those events. These efforts are important because state governments are involved in all aspects of emergency management, including those incidents declared to be national emergencies and also incidents that are not significant enough to be designated national emergencies but which may still create major difficulties for large numbers of people. Over time, the Association has become involved in additional activities designed to improve more aspects of emergency management; those efforts range from granting administration to training programs to improving relationships among state governments and private organizations that may assist in coping with major emergencies.