Does VASFAA Plan?
At the beginning of each VASFAA year, Board members and committee chairs work feverishly to develop goals and objectives to guide activities for the Association throughout the year. All Association activities are driven by our mission to promote the professional growth of our membership and serve fairly the needs of individuals seeking a post-secondary education. At this point in our fiscal year, most committees should be well under way toward completing their goals and objectives. Some will of course be further along than others, depending on the specific activities required.

By intent, all of the goals and objectives developed each year closely tie into our Strategic Plan. If you have taken the initiative to read the 2004-2009 Strategic Plan (easily accessible on the VASFAA web site), give yourself a pat on the back. If not, it is never too late.

Although the members of your Board are very familiar with the Strategic Plan, we wonder how familiar the general membership is with this document. Do you really understand its purpose? Do you know how it is being used? If you answered no to either of these questions, then you might be in luck, because one of the goals for the Strategic Planning Committee is to help educate membership about what the Plan does for VASFAA and what it means to us as individuals.

Associations exist on the premise that its members have common needs and interests. Any Association that wants to have a positive impact will attempt to identify its purpose, and define the values that drive its activities. It is not at all unusual for a company to write mission and values statements. To take a mission and develop easily understandable goals and objectives ultimately raises the bar on standards for excellence and service and, if used properly, will drive the Association’s activities.

The VASFAA Strategic Plan is our attempt to focus on our needs as financial aid professionals and provide a framework from which we can work to meet the needs and interests of the full membership. The Strategic Planning Committee provides oversight responsibilities to ensure that our standards for performance and service continue to remain high. These responsibilities include:

Presently your Board is in the process of developing ‘standard’ goals that will become a formal part of the Policies and Procedures Manual. This will help future members of the Board and Committee chairs to structure their own goals and objectives to carry out the work of the association consistent with our current Strategic Plan. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee will review all goals to ensure they tie into the existing Strategic Plan and support the overall mission of VASFAA. The committee is currently in the process of reviewing the goals for all committees for this year. Once the review is completed, a formal report will be presented to the Board that might be used as a measure of how effective committees and Board members have been in supporting our five-year plan.

Slated for spring 2005, the committee will produce an informational brochure as a guide to explain how membership participation and Association activities are critical to our mission. Every member of the Association has a vested interest in our long range planning. The future of VASFAA does not rest solely in the hands of our Board or committee members. Although not every goal and objective of our Strategic Plan will have special meaning to every member, each of us should be able to relate to some of them. To this end, every member shares an inherent responsibility for contributing to our mission and should be supporting our mission if it is only through participation in Association activities. If you cannot find anything in the existing Plan to which you can relate, please speak out and let one of our committee members or a Board member know your concerns. Only then can we realistically re-evaluate the Plan and potentially amend it to keep it consistent with the needs of our membership.

We encourage everyone to be actively involved in Association activities. We also encourage everyone to continually critique what we do and how we go about accomplishing our goals. Share your ideas and make constructive suggestions. Only voiced concerns can be addressed. Silence is simply acceptance.

The 2004-2005 Strategic Planning committee reports to Brad Barnett, President-Elect and consists of the following members:

Randy Craig, Chair	ECMC
Brad Barnett	James Madison University
Vern Fairchilds	Bridgewater College
Erik Melis	George Mason University
Lefter Daku	Virginia Tech

Take an active role in the future of VASFAA by understanding our Mission and helping us to achieve our goals.