Member Affairs

By Debbie Smith, CPM
debbie.smith@ou.edu

During 2009 economic challenges facing our chapters, states, and nation resulted in the Academy struggling to keep static membership numbers. The new year also presents a significant hurdle to keep our existing membership active and growing. The AACPM leadership remains strong as does the AACPM mission and the value of our vast network of CPMs but as your new Member-at-Large for Member Affairs, Linda Jefferson could use your assistance--every member should renew current membership with their state society and should encourage a new CPM to join and/or an existing or previous member to renew their membership.

New members will receive new member certificates and information to log into the password-protected directories housed on the AACPM Members Only web page. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via e-mail, debbie.smith@ou.edu or mail, 7700 Sandy Lane, Edmond, OK  73034 until the final transition to Linda occurs.

And societies, it is now time to submit your 2010 membership information to current treasurer, Reva Tisdale reva.tisdale@tax.idaho.gov along with membership and chapter assessment dues. Please continue to use our pre-formatted roster and instructions. Using this structure outlined by former Member Affairs Chairperson, Robinil Jamison, we are able to reduce the number of duplicate certificates mailed and provide special requests faster because:   

• Members may be renewals, but current officers don’t recognize members with name changes
• With 23 societies and only one database, the uniform information allows ease in creating:

  - Run Labels
  - Update web directories
  - Preparation of new member packets
  - Run queries

I also want to remind everyone, especially new members, to familiarize themselves with our website, www.cpmacademy.org. Note the Amazon.com link. Why? Because the AACPM benefits from all Amazon.com purchases you make using this link. For those of you who use Amazon.com to purchase your books, videos, music, and any of the other items they offer, why not help the American Academy of Certified Public Managers® when you shop? The Academy earns a 5% bonus through Amazon’s Associates Program. And most importantly, this costs you no additional charges. To a large extent, we depend on dues to finance Academy services; but your committed use of this link can generate additional revenue to support our organization’s goals and mission.

I use this link frequently, but I really used it during the recent holidays. I purchased five gifts and added almost $20 in rebate value to the AACPM coffers. The access to the products I was seeking was easy; through the search engines, I found exactly what I was looking for; received free shipping because of the vendor I selected; used no fuel; and avoided standing in long lines. So I encourage each of you to experience this shopping method and help the AACPM. The link is on the left hand sidebar of the AACPM web home page.The 2009 committee members worked hard to discuss the five goals below and make suggestions for the desired improvements. The 2009 charge for the Member Affairs committee was: 

1. Take inventory of current member benefits and determine relevance to current membership.
2. Discuss methods for increasing member’s knowledge of the (current) benefits of Academy membership.
3. Investigate new potential benefits for Academy members with minimal fiscal impact.
4. Work with Management Practices Committee to determine if a catalog of Askew Award projects can be developed with the project title and primary author contact information and if possible a one paragraph abstract and then determine the feasibility for such catalog availability on the Academy and/or Consortium website.
5. Identify current chartered societies that need mentoring, engage those necessary to provide the needed resources, and determine the methods to achieve the guidance.

Let me thank the 2009 Member Affairs Committee members:    

Before this newsletter prints, you will receive an invitation to join the LinkedIn AACPM Group. Please join and network with your CPM colleagues. LinkedIn (pronounced /’linkt ‘in/) is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of October 2009, LinkedIn had more than 50 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. Connecting with one another via our LinkedIn group is one more way your membership affairs team is working to provide meaningful benefits to you.

I have enjoyed serving as your 2008/2009 Board Member for Member Affairs and look forward to serving AACPM again the future. During 2010, I will be working on the Oklahoma host society conference team. “Trying times are for doing” and this is exactly what CPMs practice each day. We do for those we serve, we do for those we love, and we do for those we support.

© Copyright 2009, American Academy of Certified Public Managers®