Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next several years, how it is going to get there, and finally determining a system to evaluate and measure the progress. At the recent Strategic Planning Session held in Salt Lake City, the Executive staff, Board of Directors, and numerous other members began the task of creating a road map for the CFA to guide us through the next several years.

After many hours of discussion, debate, and break out meetings, there was one undeniable theme that remained at the center of nearly every topic of discussion. That theme was “Member Benefits”. The core mission of the association is and has always been to provide valuable information and resources to its membership. A list of all current member benefits was generated, it was agreed by all that it was a very impressive list, it was also agreed that those items on the list can be improved, updated, and added to. We also need to do a better job of communicating with our members and to the public everything we have to offer and what it takes to sustain these programs. It didn’t take us long to uncover the truths of the revolving door that exists in an association—members join for benefits; benefits cost money; money comes from dues; dues come when members join …

So what is our plan? Our plan is to grow our membership and provide more meaningful benefits to all members.

So how are we going to get there? For starters, we are going to restructure the committees in order to create a greater focus on achieving our plan. There will also be a new format for populating the committees which will give more members and more persons in each company opportunities to participate and offer their expertise. Through this effort, we will encourage companies to tap into their considerable human resources in order to share the load – one CFA member doesn’t necessarily mean one person, it means, one company. Many member organizations may have an individual, or several individuals, who would be infinitely qualified to serve on a committee.

It is currently too soon to know exactly how we will evaluate our progress and determine our success. Between now and our winter meeting, we will be digesting and processing all that came out of the fall meeting with the intent of outlining the first course of action steps that will need to be taken.

In summary, the Strategic Plan of the CFA is all about you, the members. The goal and vision for the future is intently focused on providing tangible information, solutions, resources, and training in order to increase the success of every member.