ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2006 Was a Year of Re-investment!

While it may not have been openly promoted or advertised, the past year has been a year when a significant investment was made in the Academy’s membership which is anticipated to pay rich dividends in the months and years ahead.

During 2006, the AACPM Board of Directors has been able to invest more resources in the Academy and its membership than perhaps at any time in the past.

Key to the investment efforts have been solid financial years since 2004, which yielded undesignated fund balances for fiscal years 2004 and 2005. When leveraged with budgeted funds in the FY 2006 AACPM budget, the Board had an opportunity to invest more than $27,000 into the Academy and its members. With a portion of the funds available to the Academy coming from two successful conference efforts in Kansas in 2004 and New Hampshire in 2005, Board members felt some of these funds should be re-invested in a conference program.

The first effort made by the Board was to provide a scholarship program to the 18th Annual AACPM Professional Development Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. Funds were allocated to provide one scholarship per Society to cover the conference registration fee, with the selection of who would receive the scholarship left to the local society. A total of 15 scholarships were issued, which totaled an investment of $4,530.
In looking to enhance the annual professional development conference efforts, the Board also invested $1,000 to assist in the securing of a keynote speaker for the Louisville conference.

Seeking to reach out to all of our members, a decision was made to kill two birds with one stone if you will by developing a license plate frame that promotes the “Certified Public Manager®” and the AACPM. The decision was made to produce enough license plate frames so one could be provided to each Academy member following the annual conference. This marketing effort, an idea fostered by Member at Large for Conference & Communication Greg Hyland of Arizona, required an investment of $2,762.

Knowing that not every year would be a financial success and heeding general direction given by the 2001 House of Delegates, the Board put $5,000 away in the Academy’s reserve fund to hedge against potential losses from future conference programs. The 2001 House of Delegates determined a total of $27,000 should be held in reserve to provide protection for the Academy’s financial well being. The deposit made by the Board this year brings this reserve fund to more than $30,000.

With a firm resolve to make the Academy more visible and more available to our Societies, the Board collectively set out to enhance past efforts to promote the CPM credential. During the course of the past year, Academy Board members have participated in a dozen graduations, conferences or society meetings across the country in the States of Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia and Utah. This built on last year’s effort that saw Academy Board members participate in 10 events in nine states. Hopefully, this activity can continue in the future. In 2006, the Board invested nearly $5,000 in this outreach activity.

The Board was also able to provide the first “Grant to Society” the Academy has awarded since 2000. The Arizona Society of Certified Public Managers® applied for a $1,500 grant to assist with the development and marketing of an enhanced statewide professional development conference. The grant was approved and enabled the Arizona Society to host a first-rate program on September 21st which saw attendance more than double from its last conference.

Following the direction provided by the 2006 House of Delegates to replace the existing set of flag poles and the Georgia state flag in its possession, the Board tasked former AACPM President Ron Buchholz (WI) with going through its collection of state flags and making a recommendation for a course of action. Due to various conditions and sizes of the exhibiting flags, it was recommended to replace 19 of the flags with a uniform size and uniform material. The Board agreed to have all flags and poles meet the same standards of the three new flag sets (Idaho, Virginia and Washington) provided to the AACPM by the New Hampshire Association of Certified Public Managers® (NHACPM) in 2005. The full set of replacement flags, poles and stands came to $3,100. The new flag poles will be collapsible for easier transport and storage between Academy events, and resolve an ongoing question of whether the flags are “Academy” expenses or “conference” expenses. These flags will be in place for the 19th Annual AACPM Professional Development Conference to be held in Madison, Wisconsin.

And in an effort to develop a meaningful Membership Benefits package for all AACPM members, the Board approved at the end of the year a Member Affairs Committee recommendation to include a subscription to “The Public Manager” magazine for every new and renewing AACPM membership beginning in 2007. This subscription effort came to a total of $4,500 for the first year pilot effort.

Many of these efforts are clearly one-time expenditures, which are an investment into the Academy’s future and those of its members. Many of these efforts were the result of hard work and efforts of many individuals at both the Academy and Society level over a number of years which were able to come to fruition in 2006.