Membership Survey

and the survey says…

GFOABC is an association whose mandate is to provide education and training to local government finance professionals around BC. As such, our services are meaningless if we are not able to clearly communicate their value and availability. To put a GFOABC twist on the old philosophical question: if one does not hear of the resources available to them, do they even exist?

Over the last few years, GFOABC staff, board and committee members have worked to strengthen the educational offerings that are delivered to members while ensuring that something is provided for every type of local government finance professional, at any stage of their career. The last four of our membership surveys focused on our workshops and the development of our educational framework. This year we focused on our communication methods to help us to identify ways in which we can improve how we share the resources we provide to the membership.

The membership was surveyed from December until mid-January and we received excellent feedback. The results showed that although the people who read our communications felt we were providing a good service, many of the individuals who did not utilize our communication tools were unaware of their existence. Here lies the major takeaway from the survey which provides us with an opportunity to implement valuable change for our members. We need to ensure that all local government finance professionals are made aware of our resources and know where to find them.

One would expect the members who were not aware of the existence of our communication resources would be new to a finance role in local government, but this was not the case. When the data was sorted to isolate respondents who answered: “I did not know it existed”, the duration of service in their role or in local government did not affect the results. It appears that both new and seasoned members learned of some or all our offerings by taking this survey. Over the next year, GFOABC staff will be tasked with developing a communication strategy that communicates our resources and tools. Perhaps we need to deliver a GFOABC poster to the break room of every local government around the province or maybe just an email to be circulated around the office that summarizes our resources. Our goal is to ensure that all members, both new and existing, are aware of what their member benefits are and feel encouraged to utilize them. Does your finance department share GFOABC resources internally? Are we part of your new employee onboarding process? If so, we would love to hear from you.

If you were not fully utilizing your GFOABC member benefits, here are a few easy ways to start engaging today: • Subscribe to the Newsletter and E-Updates • Create your MyAccount profile • Check out the free resources in MemberLINK

• Visit the Online Forum and engage with your peers

around the province

• Participate in the current Quarterly Question • Consider nominating a colleague for Excellence in

Local Government Finance Awards

• Share all the above with someone in your finance department!

Erica Christie Manager, Operations and Member Services

Membership Survey Winner:

Warren Everton – City of West Kelowna You have won a free 2021 conference registration for your entire finance team!