Introduction. Goals and Objectives Strategic Plan Our chapter goals were:

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1 IABC Chapter Management Award 2018 Category: Financial Management Chapter: IABC British Columbia Introduction IABC British Columbia (IABC BC) is a large chapter the fourth largest chapter in the world and it has served communication professionals in the province of British Columbia (BC) in Canada since the 1970 s. The BC Chapter has 406 members as of November 2017, which is a slight decrease from our year-end number of 415. We are the largest association serving the communications community in the province; competing associations in our province are the Canadian Public Relations Society (approx. 200 members) and the American Marketing Association BC (approx. 350 members). Historically, the BC Chapter has been a vibrant, active chapter offering members a range of career and professional development opportunities locally. In 2009/10, chapter membership was growing close to 650 members, and we were billed as the second largest chapter in the world. However, in 2013, membership numbers began steadily declining. In the spring of 2015, prior to IABC International s technology transition, IABC/BC s membership numbers had dipped to 450 members. When the MMA came back online in the fall of 2015, our membership numbers had dropped to 380 members. Our experience was not unique within IABC, nor among member associations, including the local chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society, the biggest competitor in IABC/BC s local market. In 2014/15, the decline in membership began having a noticeable effect on IABC/BC s traditional revenue generating streams: membership (reduced dues collected) and professional development (fewer members translated into lower attendance at events). The chapter s leadership recognized we were operating in an increasingly competitive market in which our time starved members, with access to rich content, free training webinars and free meet up style events, were questioning the value of membership, including senior members, who make up more than half of the chapters membership. As a result, in 2014/15, the focus was on the member experience as well as maintaining revenue streams while minimizing expenses. In 2015/16, the aim was to keep what s working and change what wasn t to acknowledge that we are operating in an evolving climate, where the ways in which people network and wish to grow their skills has changed. In 2016/17 we leveraged our three year chapter strategic plan ( ), and annual work plan (2016/17), continuing to make people members, volunteers and the communications community at large our top priority. Of course, no chapter can successfully operate without sound financial management, so our second area of focus was operational effectiveness. We were well aware that we could no longer rely on the membership and professional development revenue streams to provide the bulk of our revenue, so we focused on keeping expenses contained while finding different ways to generate revenue so that we could continue to operate sustainably. We also began looking more closely at our business infrastructure, systems, and technology and consider what is most effective and efficient, both now and into the future. Goals and Objectives Strategic Plan Our chapter goals were: 1 Provide high-value, fulfilling experiences for volunteers Offer members valuable experiences Be a leader and innovator within the local communications and business community

2 Sustain and evolve our operational effectiveness For 2016/17, we also decided to build on our identified three chapter annual objectives from the previous year: Engage 20% of our membership in volunteering Sustain our membership at 430 members (based on a steady 430 members as of 2015/16 yearend) Sustain operational effectiveness by increasing revenue marginally while maintaining expense levels The reason we took this approach to our goal setting was we needed to be realistic given the membership trends and, in turn, our revenue levels in recent years. At the same time, we needed to increase our volunteer numbers so that we could deliver our programs and services effectively and ensure that our volunteer roles were doable and fulfilling over the course of the chapter year. Underpinning these objectives, we decided to focus on several initiatives in 2016/17: Dare to Lead 2017 (held in Vancouver and hosted by the BC chapter) Cvent review & look at digital solutions to improve operations and reduce costs (implement new and better tools) Past Presidents, ABC/CMP (improve recognition and retention) Resources and training for Board members (improve succession planning, leverage resources from CWR and IABC International) How these initiatives impacted our financial management: Dare to Lead 2017: May (held in Vancouver and hosted by the BC chapter) With support of a grant from the Canada West Region (CWR) IABC/BC was responsible for the planning and delivery of the Dare to Lead three day leadership conference. Upwards of 80 western Canada chapter leaders descended on Vancouver for a weekend of best practice sharing, education, leadership training and networking with their peers. Revenue (registrations and sponsorships) and expenses (meeting space, meals and entertainment, activities, etc.) were handled by a volunteer conference planning team they worked with the Canada West Region (CWR), Chapter Board and Finance Director. This event not only re-engaged volunteers, it was also a successful event from a financial perspective. The goal was to produce a break-even budget with no expenses for the chapter. The final profit was $5,156.73, of which almost half was paid back to CWR for their grant support. The remaining balance ($3,000) was added to IABC/BC s finances. IABC/BC paid all expenses and oversaw the Dare to Lead budget to ensure the event was produced within budget. CVENT departure & digital solutions (implement new and better tools) In 2016 we implemented several new tools to increase efficiency, reduce costs and add more value for members. We set up MailChimp for campaigns and Cvent was discontinued for member newsletters and event s. This added a fee of $18 per month, as this tool was included in the marketing communications portfolio budget. Stripe (payment gateway) was setup for the Jobline posting system on the Chapter website. This was implemented with a new WordPress plug-in for job postings that automated the job submission and posting process saving a great deal of time for volunteers. Previously Jobline postings were paid through Cvent, whereas there is no ongoing license fees for Stripe, only a transaction fee, which helped reduce our quarterly Cvent transactions. Past Presidents and ABC/CMP (improve recognition and retention) The recognition and retention efforts did not impact the chapter financial management. The recognition program was done as part of Chapter events already planned and budgeted for. 2

3 Resources and training for Board members (improve succession planning, leverage resources from CWR and IABC International) In order to operate the chapter effectively and within budget we emphasized the need to take advantage of resources and tools provided by CWR and International. The effective transition and training of portfolio directors from year to year was improved to make sure procedures and resources did not get lost in the transition of new directors. One of the planned expenses was a two-day strategic planning session where new directors received an orientation, transition support and a full handover package from their predecessor. A key decision the chapter Board proposed, which was approved at the June 2017 AGM, was changing the Board of Director term from one year to two years. This change was made to allow for portfolios to be managed with more consistency, retention and for improved succession planning ideally the chapter Board would maintain at least half of its directors for a second year. Implementation We employed the following strategies and tactics to realize our chapter objectives for the year. Chapter Objective #1: Engage 20% of our membership in volunteering Strategies &Tactics Introduce a New Communicators Speed Networking Event This was a new event for us. In partnership with CPRS, we paired new communicators and students with senior communicators in a speed networking format. We chose a free venue and split the cost of food ($500) with CPRS. Students were charged a nominal fee to attend, and mentors were identified as senior-level communicators in BC, including ABCs and CMPs. Not only was this a break-even event for us, we garnered new volunteers and re-engaged our senior members, who reported an appetite for future opportunities to mentor new communicators. Expand three month trial period to six-months for non members who wish to volunteer In 2014/15, we shifted to an approach where all volunteers had to be IABC members. The reason we did this was that we positioned volunteering as a benefit of membership and so it would only be available to members. Given that our volunteer numbers dropped, in 2015/16, we decided to re introduce a trial period for non members who wanted to try us out as an organization before joining IABC. In 2016/17, we made the decision to extend this volunteer trial period to six months, understanding that membership cost was a barrier to volunteering. This allowed volunteers to fully engage in their role before making the choice whether to join the association. Expand the Get Connected format Get Connected is an event that provides a quarterly IABC 101 overview to members who have renewed or joined during the previous quarter. In 2015/2016, we secured a space sponsor for these informal events, which was either an early morning presentation hosted by the membership director and members of the executive team. In 2016/17, we piloted a new format at a local pub, which was a free event to all who were interested in learning more about IABC/BC. We had upwards of 40 attendees, most who were non-members, and we used it as an opportunity to not only profile IABC, but as a volunteer recruitment effort. This involved a table staffed by our Volunteer Services Director and her team. We had printed copies of all of the current volunteer opportunities available as well as sign up sheets so that attendees could sign up on the spot. Attendees could also sign up for the volunteer pool, which was introduced in 2015/16 to provide an option for those who wanted to be involved in short, one off opportunities (such as writing an article or volunteering at an event) rather than taking on an ongoing volunteer role with the chapter. Because the venue was free, our only expense was appetizers, which was budgeted for in the membership portfolio. 3

4 Chapter Objective #2: Sustain membership at 430 members Strategies & Tactics Build on the successful Special Interest Group (SIG) program Our Special Interest Groups (SIGS) continue to see success. We offered SIGs in the past; however, this year we got more intentional about SIGs and evolved them. We now offer the following SIGs: Independent Communicators; Internal Communicators; Digital Strategy; Health Communicators; New Communicators (to appeal to both students and those new to the profession) and Senior Communicators. The SIGs proved highly popular again this year and many of them were sold out with waiting lists. Additionally, by allowing non-members to participate for a $20 fee, not only did we increase engagement with non-members, we generated over $1,100 in revenue. Implement refreshed Connect Newsletter, using new technology Beginning in September, we re-launched Connect using the MailChimp platform, which allowed for more attractive, on-brand templates and easier metric recording. We saw an increase in 50 per cent of newsletter subscribers through this new format. Continue offering our Get Connected welcome events for new and prospective members As discussed in objective #1, in addition to piloting a new format for one Get Connected event, we also continued to offer smaller Get Connected sessions for those new to the chapter or those considering joining to learn more about IABC, get to know members of the Board, and other new/prospective members. We held two events from September to December, but with the exception of the expanded format in February 2017, we ceased hosting them in the latter part of the Board year due to losing our space sponsor. Chapter Objective #3: Sustain operational effectiveness by increasing revenue marginally while maintaining expense levels. Strategies & Tactics Get more focused and intentional with our Professional Development events We had a PD Director vacancy on our Board throughout 2016/17, so to mitigate the financial risk as well as better support sustainable workloads for our Special Events Director and her team, who offered to help support the execution of PD events, we chose to reduce the number of PD events in 2016/17. Additionally, by beefing up our Special Interest Group program, the net effect was more PD opportunities for members and communications professionals in our community. We also went back to basics: we re-introduced our highly popular media crawl, which we had not held since The chapter received a $750 grant from CISION (c/o CWR), for this event, and the only expenditures was a coffee and muffin for each of the 25 attendees, resulting in a profit. By focusing on doing better, better the result was lower costs and more sustainable volunteer efforts required. Introduce new tools to reduce efficiency and lower expenditures In 2016 we implemented several new tools to increase efficiency, reduce costs and add more value for members. We set up MailChimp for campaigns and Cvent was discontinued for member newsletters and event s. This saved a great deal of time for volunteers, as well as helped the chapter reduce costs. By transitioning our Jobline payment process from Cvent to Stripe, we reduced our quarterly Cvent transactions, as Stripe does not include ongoing licensing fees. Capitalize on our strong sponsorship & advertising The Sponsorship and Advertising portfolio has been a real strength of our chapter for several years and this year was no exception. In kind sponsorship totaled $49,650, and we increased our Jobline revenue by 17% to $27,273, coming in just short of our goal of 30K. 4

5 Measurement IABC/BC ended the 2016/17 Board year in surplus seeing a net income of $2, Key highlights included: Our year-end membership revenue was 19% over budget Jobline exceeded budget by 30+% The Dare to Lead conference in Vancouver had a profit of $5, IABC/BC s share was $3,000 Expenses were lower or close to budget in all portfolios We received $46,950 in sponsored services and $750 cash Results Chapter Objective #1: Engage 20% of our membership in volunteering Results: Our membership dipped from 430 to 415 by year-end. We ended the year with 60 volunteers in 2016/17, which represents 14.5% of membership. So, we missed our objective by 5.5%. That said, while we did see a decrease in volunteers from 73 in 2015/16 to 60 in 2016/17, we observed less volunteer turnover and some of our volunteers even transitioned into Board member or portfolio manager roles a new role we created in 2017/18. The new onboarding, performance management and exit procedures we introduced this year gave us insight into the overall volunteer experience, as well as areas we could be focusing more attention on. This new initiative also allowed for productive conversations and goal setting between chapter leaders and their volunteers, which facilitated relationship-building and ultimately contributed to a more fulfilling experience for volunteers and members. Chapter Objective #2: Sustain membership at 430 members Results: As previously stated, we didn t quite make the 430 mark. That said, we maintained about 415 members for most of the year, finally seeing stability after years of ebbs and flows. Chapter Objective #3: Sustain operational effectiveness by increasing revenue marginally while maintaining expense levels Results: In order to achieve our projected budget, we needed to generate slightly more revenue while keeping most of our expenses contained. We needed to invest in new digital platforms and tools to re-engage members, keeping up with communications best practices and increase efficiency. Additionally, some of our costs invariably went up, such as our Leadership Institute expenses because of the unfavourable US exchange rate. However, overall we generated more revenue than anticipated due to the success of Jobline, higher than anticipated membership revenue and over $1,100 in revenue from our SIG program. This resulted in a $2, surplus for the chapter. Financial Management As a chapter policy, a minimum of 30% of operating expenses are to be maintained as reserves. IABC/BC has invested a portion of its reserves in cashable term deposits to earn additional income on funds that aren t used for operations. Budgeting and Accounting Procedures During the chapter s annual strategic planning process, the Finance Director provides an orientation presentation to the Board about finances and budgeting. The Board is also given the IABC/BC Board Handbook which includes information on financial basics, budgeting, tracking revenue and expenses, cheque requisitions, receipts, and the chapter s travel policy. The message conveyed to the chapter Board is that they are both responsible for their own budget as well as the chapter s overall budget and financial health. In other words, we need to work together as a team to ensure the chapter maintains positive financial health. Following the strategic planning sessions in July and August, each director is asked to look at the previous year s portfolio budget and create a new budget for the upcoming year. Our chapter budget is created and managed using an excel spreadsheet the shows the breakdown of revenue and expenses for the Chapter Administration (EXEC) and for each portfolio. Please see Work Sample #1 for a snapshot of our overall chapter budget, which shows the yearly vs. actual numbers. 5

6 Portfolio-specific budgets The Finance Director provides each Portfolio Director with an excel file specifically for their portfolio expenditures and revenue generation streams. This spreadsheet also includes the budget and actual numbers from the prior year with a blank column to enter the budget for the upcoming year. This excel template for budget planning gives the Portfolio Director a simple format for creating their Portfolio s budget required for the revenue and expenses they expect for the next year. The Finance Director presents these financial spreadsheets and templates at the Board retreat and explains the process and timeline for the budget development. Please see Work Sample #2 for an expanded view of the Sponsorship (SPON) portfolio with the actual and budgeted amounts. This expanded view is setup for all portfolios. The individual portfolio views show the actual, budgeted and variance. Please see Work Sample #3 for a screenshot of the Sponsorship portfolio s actuals and budget for the previous year and the right-hand budget column for the upcoming year, which is completed by the Portfolio Director. Approval and implementation of the budget The budgets for each portfolio are reviewed by each portfolio director s Board Buddy (a member of the Executive who serves as their mentor throughout the Board year) and then once approved they are forwarded to the Finance Director to be consolidated into an overall chapter budget. The Finance Director is available to answer any questions prior to the first Board meeting. The consolidated budget is ready by the end of August so there is time for review and approval by the Chapter Executive before the first official Board meeting in September. The financial templates and spreadsheets provide a fast and accurate process for development of the Chapter budget at the start of the Board year. The overall Chapter budget is planned to be breakeven by having a financial spreadsheet that incorporates each portfolio and rolls up to show the overall Chapter finances we are able to effectively manage to a breakeven budget and make decisions that keep us on track. At each Board meeting the Finance Director presents the chapter s monthly results and year-to-date results using the excel spreadsheet. Cheque requisitions Once the budget is approved and the portfolios become operational, request for expenses payments are completed using a cheque requisition form that is first approved by the Portfolio Director and then sent to the Finance Director for payment. The Finance Director verifies all cheque requisition forms are filled out correctly, including the expensed amounts, account codes and portfolio codes, and then sends the reviewed forms to Acton Accounting. Acton Accounting then creates the cheques. All cheques require two signatories from the Chapter Executive, and cheques are typically signed at monthly Board meetings. Board members who are owed cheques receive them at the Board meetings, and the remaining cheques are sent to Office Suites, who mail them out to volunteers and suppliers. Office Suites, our Chapter s office administration provider, also files and stores the documentation supporting the cheques. Financial Management Support Bookkeeping is not one of the chapter s areas of expertise, so we contract these services to a local accounting and bookkeeping firm, Acton Accounting. Examples of how Acton supports the Finance Director include preparing financial statements, creating cheques, tax support and assisting in preparing materials for the financial auditors who conduct the Chapter s yearly financial review. For the year ending June 2017 the IABC/BC had a net income of $2, See Work Sample #4 for the income statement that was provided to our auditors (Smythe CPA) for review. Each year our financial statements and operational reporting is reviewed by Smythe. The reviewed statements and engagement report are presented at the IABC/BC AGM for approval by membership. The year in review finance update is presented at the AGM by the Finance Director with the support of the Chapter President. 6

7 Here is the summary page from Smythe that is included in the AGM handout: IABC/BC s revenue comes from four sources: membership dues (transferred directly from International to our bank account; Jobline (job postings on our Chapter website paid by hiring managers, recruiters and companies); Events (registrations via Cvent); and Sponsorship (cash sponsorships are invoiced manually). At the close of each month the Finance Director sends a summary of all revenue to IABC/BC s accountant (Acton Accounting). This includes a revenue report from Cvent (events) and Stripe (Jobline) showing the payments received; invoices are for Sponsorship fees and a copy of the Vancity bank statement showing all bank transactions, including the membership transfer from International. Please see Work Sample #5 for a snapshot of the monthly event and Jobline revenue summary sent to our accountant to prepare our monthly financial statements. 7 Financial Management Procedures and Tools A number of financial checks and balances are in place for the chapter: the Finance Director manages the relationship with Vancity Credit Union (the chapter s financial institution), Acton Accounting and Office Suites regarding finances; two Executive Board members signatures are required on all cheques, and the Finance Director and President review all cheque requisitions; the Executive reviews financial statements each month in advance of the Board meeting; and the Board reviews the same financial statements each month as a standing agenda item in the Board meeting. An online registration system for all events requires credit card payment through Cvent, which has enabled the Chapter to reduce bad debt. Event no shows are billed within 48 hours cancellation notice. All submissions to Jobline are paid online by credit card.

8 Banking Procedures Vancity Credit Union is the chapter s financial institution. The Finance Director works with our Vancity account representative to coordinate changes in signing authority and any fund transfers. For example, each year IABC/BC provides a scholarship award to a student and these funds are kept in a separate bank account. So, they need to be transferred into the chequing account before the scholarship award is given to the recipient. The Finance Director also reviews the Chapter s chequing account ongoing, to ensure there are sufficient funds in the account to cover all cheques the chapter issues. It is not possible for the Finance Director, Chapter Executive or members of the Board to withdraw funds from the chapter s accounts. The Finance Director is the only person on the Chapter Board who has the authority to transfer funds among the Chapter s accounts; however, they cannot withdraw funds. Office Suites, our Chapter s office administration provider, receives cheques and other payments, and deposits these funds in the Chapter s bank account. Office Suites only has the authority to make deposits. They are not permitted to withdraw funds from the chapter s accounts. 8