about : president's letter

by Randy Fox
December 06, 2006

Another year seems to have raced by and it’s once again time to report on the board’s annual retreat and the progress of the association in general. Faced with the challenge of a looming blizzard that caused us to cut short a day and a half agenda so that everyone could get home safely, we still managed to accomplish everything we had set out to do. Compressing our time together kept everyone focused on the most important issues and on task to finish what absolutely needed to be finished.

Last year’s board retreat was about structure and mission and operation. Everything was new. New mission. New vision. New committees. New responsibilities. This year was chance to look back and reflect on what worked and what didn’t. To assess where we’ve been and where we’re going. We refined our mission and vision. We’ve made tremendous strides with the American College and the CAP (Certified Advisor in Philanthropy) program including finding a financial backer for the program. We’ve been talking with the FPA and NCPG at the highest levels of those organizations. We have committees up and running and acting effectively and with a sense of purpose and direction. We have a great conference planned.

Yes we still have a long way to go to make AiP what we all want it to be but it seems to me that we’re well on the way.

Thanks to Max Gordon our last minute moderator who kept us heading the right direction and allowed us to wander where we needed. And thanks to the board members who continue to demonstrate their commitment to the association by spending their time and their talent on building and developing AiP.