APPI Council Candour

First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone who was able to attend the 2019 APPI conference in Fort McMurray! Successful conferences don’t happen without two things: 1) people who attend them and engage in everything they have to offer, and 2) volunteers to help organize and run them. The success of the Celebrate Strength conference this year demonstrates once again that APPI is immensely lucky to have both.

Prior to participating in the conference APPI Council met for both a Council meeting and a follow-up to our strategic planning session in May. Below is a summary of what Council covered while in Fort McMurray:

• A regular review of APPI financials showed that the institute continues to be in good financial shape. While the income from the 2019 conference was lower than past years, this was anticipated and the value of holding a conference outside of the Calgary-Edmonton area and the opportunity to inject some economic support into the community post wild fire and economic downturn was seen to out-weigh the lower profits.
• Council had a productive strategic planning session. The focus of this session was to determine action items to implement the priorities that were set at our first strategic session in May. Council still has more work to do over the next month and a half to identify key performance indicators linked to the Plan’s priorities and actions. There is a strong commitment to finalize the Strategic Plan by the end of November and share it with APPI members before the holiday season.

As part of the strategic planning session Council adopted a new vision statement for APPI, which we are excited to share!

APPI Vision Statement: “Excellence in the planning profession.”

If you have any feedback on APPI’s vision or mission statement please let us know by emailing [email protected].

Following the strategic planning session, Council reviewed and adopted the 2020 APPI Budget. Some highlights of the 2020 budget include:

• an increase to the Discipline Reserve will ensure the institute is in a strong position should an issue arise in the future;
• ways to lower anticipated expenses were found by consolidating some existing budget items from 2019 (related to strategic initiatives) into the dollars assigned for implementing the new strategic plan;
• all membership rates aside from the re-activation and student fees will increase slightly in accordance with the annual consumer price index; and,
• the 2020 budget will see the introduction of two new student awards intended for rural and northern students, and indigenous students. The Terms of References for the awards have not yet been finalized, but once details are available they will be shared with APPI members and planning students. Stay tuned!

Related to budget news, members should note that the annual CIP membership rate is anticipated to increase by approximately 12% in 2020. While APPI believes in a strong national planning organization, APPI members can choose to opt-out of CIP at the time annual membership invoices are sent out.

As always, if you have any questions or comments on what was shared in this Council Candour do not hesitate to contact APPI Council through [email protected]. 

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