Financial Updates and Best Practices for Chapters
Overview
The Society is almost halfway through our new fiscal year. To this point, our expenses are under control and the income statement is in the black. Sponsorship and Amplify A|E|C registrations are ahead of schedule.
Chapters are approaching the end of their program year. Officially you have three more months, but many chapters scale back programming in the summer and prepare for the next year.
Chapter Health
Chapters are given a Chapter Health Score that is updated throughout the year. Chapters in the “needs improvement” category decreased significantly, from 26 to 10. Chapters in the “satisfactory” category increased from 15 to 26.
Items that contribute to the scorecard are:
- Submitting finance and education reports
- Profitability
- Chapter growth (membership)
- Financial reserves
- Covering the six Domains of Practice in the chapter’s educational program
To find out your chapter’s health, contact Antonio Payne at SMPS HQ at antonio@smps.org.
Value of the Membership Pipeline
Some of you may not know that SMPS offers membership extensions to those who become unemployed. SMPS can be a lifeline for people changing jobs. This is our network, and the Society wants to help those in need. It’s much easier to retain a member than to attract a new one. And a member who receives assistance will likely become a promoter of the Society.
Please let unemployed members know they can reach out to HQ at membership@smps.org. If their membership is near the renewal date, the renewal will be extended for three months. The member should reach out again if they continue to be unemployed.
Chapter Visits
The Society board of directors and HQ staff make visits to chapters that are struggling, working with them to find solutions for problems the chapter is experiencing. It’s necessary, and HQ appreciates those opportunities. The staff at HQ would also like to visit chapters that are excelling. Recently, SMPS CEO Marci Thompson visited SMPS Northeast Ohio for their marquee fundraising event that supports ACE Mentoring. The night before the event, Marci had dinner with the chapter leaders and had the opportunity to interact with more than 100 participants at the Rock N Bowl fundraiser.
These opportunities provide ideas that can be taken back and shared with leaders in other chapters. If your chapter has a special event, or even a program that’s expected to draw a crowd, let HQ know with as much notice as possible. Send event information to volunteers@smps.org.
During Marci’s visit to Northeast Ohio, the chapter was able to set up meetings with principals at five of the firms in the chapter. Those meetings provided valuable insights that SMPS can use in developing new programs and the organization as a whole. Even meeting with one or two firms is beneficial. Consider incorporating firm visits and a chapter leadership dinner or networking event when you bring HQ or board members to visit your chapter.
The cost of travel and accommodations for HQ staff and board are covered by the Society. Trips like this are built into the budget.
Chapter Budgets
A budget is an estimate of income and expenditure for a set period of time. Does your chapter have a budget? Is it formal or informal?
For chapter treasurers, one of the critical items of responsibility is creating and managing the budget. You cannot create the budget in a vacuum; you need input from the chapter leaders, including committees.
There are two ways to create your budget. If you have an existing budget, you can update the various line items with updated information. Alternatively, you can start from scratch planning out the year and anticipated expenses.
If your chapter has solid financial health, using an existing budget to start from is a practical way to go. Use historical information as a guide but do your due diligence to update with realistic income and expenses.
Chapters in poor financial health may want to consider starting a new budget from scratch, staying conservative in your estimates for income and expenses. The chapter leadership should work to determine the cause of the financial struggles and make a realistic plan to fix the issues. If your chapter would like assistance developing your budget, reach out to antonio@smps.org at HQ.
re:Members (formerly Billhighway)
Recently Billhighway rebranded and changed its name to re:Members. If you were not aware and see the new name, now you know!
re:Members has been working to improve its security and uptime. After the outage in February, SMPS worked with the vendors to create a crisis plan. The plan was put to use in March, and although not perfect, it worked. In addition, re:Members has created a new API that can be switched over within minutes if there’s an issue in the future. Any future outages should be greatly minimized. Collectively SMPS, re:Members, and StarChapter are working to improve communication with chapter leaders and the membership.
Financial Best Practices
There are several key best practices that promote fiscal responsibility and transparency that chapters should follow:
- Create a budget prior to the start of the program year.
- If board members are making approved purchases, copies of receipts are required.
- Big ticket items should be budgeted and approved by the board.
- re:Members allows credit cards to be distributed to board/committee members who need them, and limits can be set. Please utilize the limits. Some committee members may need higher limits due to larger expenses of their committee.
- A committee of at least three people, including the treasurer, should review the finance reports on a regular basis. Depending on the size of your chapter and reserves, this could be monthly, quarterly, or twice a year.
- Chapter reserves should cover six months to one year of expenses. Chapters do not have to spend the extra all at once. Find ways to give back to your chapter members and communities. Below are a few ideas:
- Make a donation to the SMPS Foundation
- Cover the travel costs to send your president-elect to CLS
- Cover the registration and travel costs for the president to attend Amplify A|E|C
- Raffle off a registration to a regional conference or Amplify A|E|C
- Provide CPSM study guides to the study group
- Create member-only events at little or no cost to register
- Purchase a gift for all chapter members (a book or chapter swag)
Have a great spring and see you next time for Money Matters!
Adam Kilbourne, FSMPS, CPSM
SMPS Secretary-Treasurer
akilbourne@tecinceng.com
