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2007-2008 Operating Year Began October 1
Things to Do Right Now
There are things each chapter can do immediately to ensure they
receive full payment AND the bonus. Some should be done at your first
Chapter Executive Council meeting if not earlier.
Send in a current 2007-2008 copy of your Chapter Officer Roster
Rosters are due by October 31 and must be on file with AFA HQ
before any support or rebate payments will be made. Be sure you have at least
the four elected officers listed and that each person you list is a current
AFA member; do this even if there has been no change to the chapter's leaders.
Complete your chapter plans — Activity and Financial
Review the National Strategic Plan for 2008-2011 and the
guidance governing payments to chapters from the "Field Operations
Guidebook", Chapter Eleven. If possible, at
that same meeting complete an annual Chapter Activity (Operating) Plan and
a Chapter Financial Plan which will include how you intend to meet
the requirements of the FOG.
Your treasurer should be able to do the Financial Plan in advance from
last year's records and at the very least the chapter president should be able to
use last year's plan and calendar to rough out the Activity Plan for the
coming year, including some approximate dates.
Your completed plans must be approved by your
State and Region Presidents. Send your plans so
that they arrive at AFA headquarters with endorsements prior to
December 31, 2007.
Please note: Both activity
and financial plans are required to be on file with AFA National, endorsed by
state and region presidents as appropriate, before any support or rebate
payments will be made to chapters.
For the purposes of filing a plan with National, both the words
"activity" and "operating" mean a chapter
plan written to support the themes, objectives and goals of the AFA
Strategic plan. Don't be confused by the terminology.
There is only one "Strategic Plan" for AFA. It is developed and
updated annually with the help of the Strategic Planning Committee. The
Strategic Plan for AFA is reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors and
presented to the delegates each year at the Convention. It is "strategic" in that
it covers the entire association, and looks out
several years into the future.
Other plans, like the activity/operating plans developed at the
region, state, and chapter levels, and the annual plan developed by AFA National,
are more "tactical" in nature. By this
we mean that they address only those activities that apply to a specific
region/state/chapter, or AFA National — not all of AFA — and usually cover a
single calendar year. These plans directly support and are aligned to the
overall Strategic Plan of AFA.
The AFA Strategic Plan 2008-2011 is available on the AFA web site in
the Library/Planning section of the Field Resources Area. Along with it are
also two kinds of planning templates for your convenience (in Word format).
One is for Chapters only. The other is for Region/State and Chapters.
Pick the format that works best for you. Remember, make these
plans useful to yourselves as chapter leaders. Templates are provided for
your convenience only. The only requirement is that your plan be written to
the themes, objectives and goals of
the National Plan.
The AFA Operating year remains October 1 through September 30.
Your Chapter Plans should cover the calendar year _ January 2008
through December 20087 and specifically relate your Chapter activities to the
themes, objectives and goals of the AFA Strategic Plan. Using the calendar
year for planning purposes enables new chapter officers to have a plan to
follow for the first quarter and concentrate on preparing plans for the coming year.
It is important to call National if you have ANY questions on what to do.
Call as soon as the question arises. Please do not wait!
You can direct your calls to Mary Nauheimer (ext 4821) or Jim
Simpson (ext 5856) in Membership Operations.
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