An interesting new story: “A Lesson in Revenue and Retention.” Associations Now: June 2012

The “New Money” column in June’s Associations Now is a follow-up to a May 2010 column on the Marble Institute of America. The program, which originally drew my focus to the Institute, was a series of CPE courses that MIA had created for their members to offer to prospective customers. The recession had hit members of the MIA very hard and they needed sales. By offering CPE to members of the American Institute of Architects and the National Kitchen and Bath Association, MIA members were put in the position of being seen as knowledgeable local experts, and a great marketing opportunity resulted.

The update in this month’s column tracked the increasing value of the program. First of all, it speaks to the expansion of the program; secondly, it addresses how MIA members involved in the program are also becoming more involved in sponsorships, etc.; and finally, it mentions the 97% retention rate of members involved in the program. This kind of well-rounded success resulted from figuring out what members needed most and delivering it to them. The fact that MIA has been making a profit while doing so is simply icing on the cake.

Read More >>> Go under Articles and Text, most recent articles and click on: A Lesson in Revenue and Retention

Elissa Myers writing for the American Associations Examiner says, “Andrew Lang may call himself a CPA, but he’s really a teacher.”

It is not typically my practice to blow my own horn, but based on my love of teaching, I am including an article on a recent half-day course I taught on Finance for Association Executives. The article was written by Elissa Meyers, who attended the session. Elissa is very well thought of in the association community, having previously been vice president and publisher of the American Society of Association Executives. She is currently the president of Advice and Consensus. Among the comments included in the article was the following:

“Andrew Lang is a fine Certified Public Accountant who specializes in the often complex and sometimes not intuitive finances of not-for-profit associations. Andrew operates a company called LangCPA Consulting, LLC, in Potomac, Maryland. His client list reads like a who’s who in association management.

But while he may have started out as a CPA, and while he may still technically deserve that title, along the way he has found his true calling – teacher.

Leading a course this past week on “Financial Management for Association Executives,” Andrew held a widely divergent group of association executives in rapt attention as he discussed the not necessarily compelling subject of “how to read a financial statement.””
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To read the rest of the article paste this link in your browser >>>
www.examiner.com/article/andrew-lang-made-call-himself-a-cpa-but-he-s-really-a-teacher?CID=examiner_alerts_article

If you know of an organization that is interested in top-quality financially related education, I would be very interested in hearing from them.

An Important New Course; Focus on Finance: Optimizing the Financial Leadership Team.

I am very pleased to announce that I will be teaching and moderating a two-day course that will take place on November 1 and 2, 2012 and June 27 and 29, 2013 at the ASAE headquarters in Washington, DC. This course is intended to improve the financial knowledge of association treasurers or other financial leaders, and to enhance their working relationship with their CFOs and / or CEOs.

The course will cover everything from basic financial language and concepts to reading and analyzing not only typical association financial statements, but also the organization’s own financial statements. It will also include an overview of such things as the role and typical responsibilities of the treasurer and other leaders, how to understand the key elements of the form 990, and how to most effectively communicate financial information.

I will be providing further updates on the course in my newsletter, but wanted to give you the opportunity now to reserve space for your organization, because class size will be limited.

In order to make the course as valuable as possible, each association must have at least one leader and one staff person in attendance. Reservations may be made by e-mailing Mark Milroy at mmilroy@asaecenter.org.

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