GFOA supports public finance professionals working in a field that is constantly evolving. Not only can it be challenging to stay current with the latest accounting standards, debt management regulations, budgeting trends, or technology innovations, GFOA members serve their communities in supporting critical services, ensuring sustainability, promoting transparency and accountability, and ultimately building trust. As a group, GFOA members are known for their collaboration, mentoring, sharing of best practices, and dedication to public service. As an organization, we are proud of the trust placed in us and our ability to support and advocate for GFOA members, governments, and the overall public finance profession.
Over the years, GFOA has experienced tremendous success reflected in our growing membership, robust training programs, updated certification program, innovative research and consulting, and high levels of member engagement across all program areas. While membership fees have remained unchanged for over a decade, we’ve continuously enhanced the value of GFOA membership to better serve our current members and attract new ones.
And with this success, we also find ourselves in the unique and advantageous position of continuing to ask how we can better serve our mission in advancing excellence in public finance, support finance professionals at all levels of their career in government and evolve our organization to better meet the needs of our members and the communities they serve. Like our research efforts for government budgeting, we sought to “rethink” our approach to membership. After years of research, careful analysis, planning, and discussions among GFOA’s executive board, staff, members, consultants, and peer advisors, we are now able to announce a transformational change to GFOA’s membership model. This change is mission-driven and designed to greatly expand access to GFOA, strengthen our membership network, expand our reach, and allow GFOA to keep evolving to meet challenges today and in the future.
- Publication date: April 2025