STATE OF THE ASSOCIATION MESSAGE

Joseph D. Tullbane, III., Ph.D. President, FAOA

As the FAO Association gets close to its third year of existence, I think it is important to let you know where we are and look ahead to a vision of where the FAO Association should be going as it enters the 21st Century. Too many of the military professional associations have, over time, degenerated into little more than organizations that produce monthly or quarterly professional magazines. I believe that the FAO Association can be much more. We have had an active and continuing dialogue between a number of members on just how to accomplish this. I have tried to synthesize these random conversations into specific concepts/ideas to share with you.

Generally, the challenge facing the Association is to serve all its membership -- regardless of their Service affiliation or work status (active, reserve, or retired). To meet this challenge the Association must make advances in a series of broad categories. These are Social Interaction and Networking, Organizational, Membership, Community Service, Fiscal Resources, and Permanent Staffing. I will deal with each of these briefly.

Social Interaction and Networking. We have Internet connectivity and we produce a quarterly journal. Past that ideas have been suggested, including placing e-mail addresses of members on the FAOA Web Page, having regionally oriented dinners periodically to the membership, and have an annual convention/conference.

-- Of these ideas, the first is doable almost immediately, with permission of the individual members concerned.

-- The second is possible, particularly in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, if volunteers come forward to coordinate each of the separate functions. The idea would be to have ethnic/regional dinners at local restaurants with the meal being restricted to a maximum of 40-60 attendees. In a sense the Association co-sponsorship of the last FAOC reception constituted a fledgling attempt in this direction.

-- Accomplishing the third idea is a bit more complicated. Any conference must span all the regions and appeal to all Services. The potential attendance, if the event were held in Washington, DC for example, could top 2000. This is way beyond our capacity at this time. However, a cocktail party/business meeting open to members only might be possible -- if we can get the volunteers to coordinate and manage the function.

Organizational. Some areas (Leavenworth, Germany, Washington, and Monterey for example) have a large number of FAOs locally and lend themselves to the creation of Chapter organizations. As of right now our Charter does not allow for their existence, but we are studying other military professional associations to see how they do this and could revise the pertinent section of the Association Charter easily, if there is interest. Local Chapters could solve some of the social interaction issues as well.

Membership. We have about 840 members and are still increasing in size, but more slowly now than before. Our target population is between 5000-6000, but because we are a private association, running membership drives is always a problem. The solution is YOUR CHRISTMAS LIST. Dig out that list of old buddies and passing acquaintances and let us send them applications to join our stalwart band. Word-of-mouth is our best sales pitch.

Community Service. Our Charter states that we will do things to GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY OF FAOS. So far, we have busily kept our organization's collective head above water -- so much for community service. However there are ideas, including college scholarship program for the children of our members and promoting memorials and displays at Army installations that foster a better understanding of what FAOs do and of the history of the program.

Fiscal Resources. We have a "war Chest." It is pretty small at present, but grows with each new member and advertiser. According to our sister military associations, there are two paths to financial viability. One is through corporate sponsorship/membership and the other is through advertising. We need to explore this avenue. Corporations utilize our "graduates" and should, therefore, be willing to promote the professional association of these grads. Sound simple -- but it is not! We have to find the key to getting these firms to understand that backing the Association makes fiscal sense. Ads can completely fund the Journal (including quality upgrades, etc.) and corporate memberships could fund our future staffing requirements.

Permanent Staffing. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!! And right now that is a very small dedicated staff of VOLUNTEERS. Eventually, we must hire a few part-timers to maintain membership rolls and run membership drives, to organize and coordinate future social functions, to edit and publish the Journal, and to do that myriad of tasks that keep an organization operating.

So, Where are we now? Getting there. Where do we need to be? A lot farther along! Can we get there? Yes, with your help!

1997, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org