Looking at Member Engagement: A Recap of 2022 and Preview of 2023.

• Author: Morrill, Christopher P.
• Position: FROM THE CEO

GFOA has more than 22,500 individual members. The strength of our network is not in quantity, however, but in quality. Quality of members, certainly, but also quality of ideas, quality of interactions, and quality of relationships--all of which allow us to support each other as we support our diverse communities. And membership engagement is what drives everything.

Our strategic framework identifies member engagement as one of two primary themes. [Attracting and retaining talent in government finance is the other.] It permeates everything we do as an organization. Looking back at 2022, I'm proud of what we've all accomplished together.

Looking back on an exceptional year

Our online member communities have been up and running for their first full year, and so far, more than 2,000 of our members have signed up for our general forum. The forum provides access to a diverse group of finance officers, giving all our members the opportunity to exchange ideas, get feedback, and take part in substantive discussions. You can get an email summary of key conversations by subscribing to the daily digest for any of our online communities.

Our in-person annual conference was back in 2022 after two years of the pandemic. Representatives from nine countries, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and seven Canadian provinces came to the City of Austin, Texas, in June to learn, network, and reconnect. In all, more than 5,400 people representing more than 2,500 organizations attended.

We also started offering in-person training again this year, while continuing to expand our catalog of virtual offerings. In fact, nearly half of all GFOA members attended at least one educational or networking event in 2022. GFOA now offers:

* An extensive list of immersion courses.

* Recurring training courses that touch on best practices across all areas of public finance.

* Webinars on current events or trends.

* Regular networking events with our affinity groups.

We also offered more free events than ever before.

More than 50 percent of our member organizations participated in our Certificate of Achievement award program in 2022, and more than 20 percent of our member organizations participated in the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

This issue of GFS also highlights the achievements of our 2022 Awards for Excellence winners. Each organization featured developed a creative solution to a common problem, implemented a GFOA best practice in...