FMCA Insights
By Bill Gowen, F93847
Chairman, Long-Range & Development Committee
January 2003
The FMCA Strategic Plan is alive and well. Many of you will recall that the Strategic Plan was approved by the Governing Board at the 2001 summer international convention in Redmond, Oregon.
The plan was developed over a three-year period by an 11-member select committee. Hours and hours of volunteer time were invested in its creation. The plan is designed to guide the association into the future.
The Strategic Plan is not static, and it must not be put on the shelf and forgotten. The consultant who assisted FMCA in forming the plan noted, “FMCA now looks at how best to create an awareness and understanding of the Strategic Plan among those who will be the implementers, and to use the Strategic Plan to truly drive the organization, not letting personalities, politics, or other agendas supersede.”
The plan centers on six primary goals:
- Advocacy
- Motorhome Lifestyle/Industry
- Membership
- Resources/Facilities
- Information, Education, and Knowledge
- Organizational Structure and Governance
These goals were on display for the first time at the Governing Board meeting in Hutchinson, Kansas, and also are displayed in our committee meeting room at FMCA’s national headquarters in Cincinnati.
The Long-Range & Development Committee met this past November at the Cincinnati office. We were joined in the meetings by members of the Finance Committee and the Membership/Member Services Committee. These three committees met separately and together. Using the Strategic Plan as a guide, they began work on a five-year goal that focuses on recruitment of new members and developing FMCA financially and structurally so that it continues to provide quality service to its members. Much thought transpired, and I feel that we accomplished a great deal during these meetings.
To continue working on the five-year goal, the Long-Range & Development Committee will look at the future role of the area associations in our management structure. In addition, as part of their meeting agenda, each of FMCA’s national committees will be asked to provide a summary of long-range initiatives as they relate to the strategic plan.
I am very fortunate to have Tom Ainsley, F182814; Jim Moir, F102582; and Gerine Reagen, F101008, on the Long-Range & Development Committee with me.