Together: For 5 Terrific Years and Beyond

As many know, I’m partial to bad jokes—it’s almost a “super” power. I would sprinkle them throughout various zoom staff meetings when we were all working from home… but I now realize that they were not remotely funny… (see what I did there?).

Moving on, what I don’t joke about is how fast time flies—in two weeks I mark the beginning of my sixth year at AFP! Wow! In these past five years, so much has happened in our sector, in our world and undoubtedly for each of us as individuals.

I can also tell you that the AFP Global staff team has achieved so much on your behalf during this time. These are people who care deeply about you and your causes and who wake up every day striving to make our world more inclusive, safer and more equitable, all while also trying to live their best possible lives. There have been many ups, downs and surprises, but through it all, your staff team has persevered and overcome every obstacle put in front of us. I can unabashedly tell you that, in the AFP staff team, our members have THE best group of people working for them that anyone could possibly have. If you want to acquaint yourself with the team, here’s a link to our staff list.

This week, AFP heads to Houston for AFP LEAD 2022 (October 20-22). This is AFP’s premier annual leadership conference that only continues to raise the bar each year. This year we will have a record 500 attendees—more than 100 attendees over our previous high—looking to AFP for high level leadership training to further lift their careers and goals and for the opportunity to network with their peers. There is no doubt that being back together IRL is inspiring.

Speaking of being back together, we have just opened registration for AFP ICON 2023—April 16-18 in New Orleans. If you are looking to snap up the lowest-priced registration, now is the time to act. This pricing won’t last, and you won’t want to miss this ICON.

If you haven’t been to an AFP ICON before, this is the one you won’t want to miss. I think members will be so excited to be able to see each other again and take part in the kind of sharing, learning, and networking that can only happen at ICON. And if you’ve attended before, you know how incredibly beneficial it can be to your fundraising and your career.

As I have had the chance to visit various chapters and attend various AFP events in person, the energy is amazing. While some are still not comfortable coming together in-person (those are decisions and comfort levels that are very individual and are supported by AFP), many are coming together.

Being together gives us the opportunity to learn and network. Being together give us the opportunity to lean on and also mentor others who understand our challenges, our opportunities, and our triumphs. Being together allows us to lift up our incredible AFP Community and feel a part of something that is bigger than each of us individually.

And together is how your AFP staff works on your behalf each day. I am incredibly grateful to my colleagues—for their commitment, their hard work and their friendship. It’s been a terrific five years—and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead over the next five years and to the progress AFP will have made.

Have a great week—and if you’re at AFP LEAD in Houston later this week, please say hi. And if you have any thoughts about our staff, about leadership or anything else, don’t hesitate to email me at Mike.Geiger@afpglobal.org or on Twitter at @AFPMikeGeiger.

Mike Geiger, MBA, CPA