Tawny Smith, PharmD, BCPP
CPNP Treasurer
CPNP’s annual business meeting during CPNP 2021 will focus on CPNP’s recent professional affairs efforts and the new strategic plan. All members, even those not registered for CPNP 2021, are encouraged to attend the CPNP Forum on Our Future on Wednesday and Thursday for more information about how our financial reserves will be invested over the next 3-5 years to advance the profession. This article provides some preliminary context for the specific Forum discussions.
As you likely experienced in your own professional and personal life, financial issues were complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world was turned upside down, CPNP benefited from years of careful planning and investment.
Because of the pandemic, CPNP 2020 was quickly transitioned to virtual, and the number of non-trainee attendees at CPNP 2020 dropped below 2014 levels. Although the transition was disruptive, we were able to largely offset reduced registration revenue by cutting costs and utilizing our related event cancellation insurance policy. While the insurance claim was outstanding, we were able to continue operating with a focus on the future thanks to our healthy financial reserves. Excluding industry support and investment returns, we ultimately experienced a $11,700 loss in fiscal year 2020 (about 1%). Including industry support and unusually high investment returns, we were able to increase our reserves by more than 10%.
Knowing that members and employers were impacted financially by COVID, CPNP prioritized keeping recertification pricing steady, avoiding dues increases, and reducing registration fees for the virtual meeting in 2021. Since many expenses continue to increase year-over-year, we are monitoring the net impact of the changing financial picture closely. As CPNP continues to evolve, it is worthwhile noting that fiscal year 2020 advocacy investments on behalf of the profession approached $250,000 alone.
The market rebound over the last 12 months has benefited our financial reserves and overridden many of the complexities described above. We are grateful for the safety of our reserves, but the pandemic has actually shown that we have been more conservative than necessary. Moving forward, we will only mandate 12 months of budgeted expenses in reserves, and the Board will invest excess reserves to advance the organizational mission and support growth. Based on the aggressive strategic plan that is being presented at CPNP 2021, we anticipate adding staff and consultant positions to make it happen.
Know that the CPNP Board and staff takes its role as good financial stewards of CPNP assets very seriously. A reminder to join us at the CPNP Forums to hear more about the exciting plans for how CPNP intends to invest in advancing the future of the profession.