Dear ACP Members:
It gives me great pleasure to share with you this report detailing the activities, accomplishments, and challenges during 2022 as well as the strategic direction of your Association as we enter our 40th year in 2023. This also gives me an opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to your national board of directors, our committee members, and most importantly our chapter leaders all of whom played a major role towards ensuring our organization will continue to serve as the preeminent voice of the continuity profession for many years to come.
Like most non-profit associations, ACP faced a variety of unprecedented challenges during 2020 and 2021 both on a national as well as a chapter level. The pandemic initially resulted in a nearly complete halt to the value-added benefits our members depend on and which form the basis of our Vision and Mission, namely, networking and professional development. As we entered 2022 your national leadership recognized that strategic changes were needed to assist in our recovery and long term sustainability.
The Road to Recovery, Viability, and Relevance
The first step in this recognition process was the creation of a short-term action plan late in the first quarter of 2022. This call to action included:
• Re-establishing ACP’s operational structure.
• Developing a one-year strategic plan.
• Restoration of the Association’s financial viability.
• Creation of a membership growth and retention program.
• A renewed focus on establishing non-dues revenue sources.
• Expansion of value-added services with priorities on professional development and networking.
• Providing increased support and enhanced communications to our network of 30 chapters.
Internal Operations
Following several months of needs assessment, ACP contracted with Raleigh, NC-based First Point Management Resources on May 1, 2022. FPMR is one of the most admired association management companies in North America and is accredited by the AMC Institute. Fewer than 90 association management companies in the world have achieved this accreditation. A revised scope of work was completed which resulted in a significant reduction in the cost associated with this service. A transition committee comprised of national and chapter leadership and FPMR representatives completed this changeover in what can only be described as unprecedented from the standpoint of the length of time it took to successfully accomplish.
Your Voice Was Heard
In April the association forwarded a series of surveys to our current members, past members, chapter leaders, and the national board of directors. The findings from these surveys created a foundation for a two-day strategic planning session in June which included ACP’s board of directors, an external association management consultant, and three of our chapter leaders. These meetings resulted in the creation of the following Key Results Areas (KRA’s):
• Ensure that ACP has the appropriate technology to increase efficiency and usability to enable us to meet our mission.
• From a finance and operational perspective, the national leadership shall ensure transparent, accurate, and professional governance of its internal and external operations.
• Create meaningful, sustainable, and measurable connections through engagement across the membership of ACP.
• Reinvent the professional relationship between chapters and the national organization to ensure membership value and the long-term success across all of ACP.
• Design and implement a diverse professional development program as a way for our members to expand their knowledge base.
The strategic plan also included a revised Mission Statement:
ACP connects and supports a diverse community of continuity and resilience professionals.
Your leadership is pleased to report that significant progress on the achievement of these KRA’s was made as 2022 came to an end and that the 2023 Key Results Areas are being finalized and will be shared with the membership shortly.
Communications
Recognizing the importance of transparency as these new objectives were launched I took the opportunity, along with several national board members, to deliver monthly reports to the Chapter Presidents Council. In addition ACP updates were given during the DRJ Spring and DRJ Fall Conferences as well as individual meetings with nine chapter leadership teams. These sessions were overwhelming positive and, in the case of the chapter presentations, resulted in a significant increase in the relationship between the national organization and our chapters which, as we all know, are the lifeblood of our organization.
Committees
This report also provides an opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and that of the membership for the incredible progress made by our committees during the year. Without their dedication and focus on the future we certainly could not have accomplished what we did in 2022 and what we will accomplish in 2023.
Those committees include:
• Professional Development
• Technology
• Chapter Relations
• Chapter Development
• Marketing
• Strategic Partnerships
• Finance
Financial
While the financial results for the year ending December 31, 2022 resulted in a small net loss for the Association this loss was primarily related to non-recurring expenditures associated with the transition in association management companies which was fully anticipated and planned for. As we entered 2023 overall cash flow was strong and the Finance Committee submitted a fiscal year budget to the board of directors which reflected a positive bottom line. The Committee will be meeting on at least a quarterly basis this year to ensure that attention is given to any and all variances to our financial projections.
On the one year anniversary of our contract with FPMR we anticipate that our positive financial projections will allow us to expand upon the scope of work which will result in both increased and enhanced services from our association management company. As always, our focus will be on utilizing our financial resources to best serve you, our members, and to provide the value added benefits you have come to expect from ACP.
2023 Focus
As previously referenced, your national leadership team is finalizing our objectives for 2023 and we look forward to sharing those with you shortly. I’ve detailed below a short overview of what you might expect to see this year:
• Continued improvements in the utilization of technology to best serve our members and the business continuity community.
• Structured efforts to attract new members and retain those we currently have.
• Enhanced communications both internally and externally with an increased focus on social media.
• Ongoing support of our chapter network including regular training opportunities for their leadership teams.
• Identification of geographic areas which would support the development of new chapters and recruiting volunteers to lead these efforts.
• A return to live events on a regional basis.
• Diversification of revenue sources with increased emphasis on non-dues revenue generation.
• Creation of programs such as internships and mentoring to support the future of our profession.
In closing, it has been an incredible honor to serve as ACP’s chairman over the past year and somewhat humbling that your national board of directors chose me to serve a second term in 2023. You have my commitment that my focus, and that of the board members, is on continuing our progress towards enhanced relevancy and future success. As always, please feel more than free to reach out to me and your leadership both nationally and locally with your thoughts, concerns, and valued input. And finally, thank you for being champions of individual and community resiliency.
Sincerely,
Michael “Giff” Gifford
Chairman of the Board
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