GFOA Is Prepared to Meet Member Needs.

• Author: Morrill, Christopher P.

The coronavirus pandemic and its evolving ramifications make it more important than ever for us to join efforts to overcome challenges, solve problems, learn from each other, and support the critical work that finance officers do each and every day to serve their communities.

This challenge will no doubt test all of us and our organizations. GFOA is mobilizing in the short term to provide resources and education about topics related to the financial climate, emergency response, and dealing with uncertainty. We also understand that many of our members will need to meet continuing education requirements, which will be difficult as live events are canceled and travel is restricted. GFOA plans to do our part by delivering more remote training for our members to access as you work from home or outside of the typical office environment over the next few months.

We are also continuing to plan for the long term. As we approach our new fiscal year, we are working to align our budget with our organizational values of learning, collaboration, and trust. To help us be more responsive to member needs, GFOA has also worked to articulate a strategic framework to guide our staff, board members, and other stakeholders at a high level.

The strategic framework identifies a two-pronged approach to meeting our mission. First, through better integration, we will align our existing programs and new initiatives to capitalize on GFOA's core competencies, resources, talented staff, and committed members. Second, with a renewed focus on engagement, we will expand our membership, increase our influence through strong partnerships, and encourage a new generation to enter the government finance profession.

We then allocated resources in the budget to support our mission of advancing excellence in government finance to build thriving communities. I want to highlight a few of the major initiatives we are funding with this budget, which you'll see in the form of member benefits:

* Education: GFOA's first learning management system is fully supported in the new budget, along with a new director of education who can lead efforts to...