STP Financial Philosophy and Steps Forward

Stephanie Afful,
STP President

March 10, 2025 

Have you ever wondered what your Executive Committee does? A core of our mission is to provide “resources and services, access to a global collaborative community, and opportunities for professional development.” Much of our discussion in our monthly executive meetings focus on increasing grants and awards, supporting diverse programming, and increasing the reach to our members. This year, our focus has been more specific to our overall financial health. To that end, the Executive Committee approved the following statement:

In our desire to ensure long-term support for our membership, STP is reevaluating our budget and financial philosophy. Just as many of our universities and institutions are financially strapped, so too are professional organizations.  Over the years, our expenses have continued to increase as we have expanded grants, awards, and programming to support our members, but our income has not kept pace. Historically, we have set the registration fees for our Annual Conference on Teaching low; however, that well-intended decision has led to significant financial losses every year. Unfortunately, we cannot sustain this pattern for the good of our members and the longevity of the organization. The STP Executive Committee is realigning the budget to better balance expenses with income, focusing on our mission-based priorities and efforts that best serve our members. 

In addition to our monthly meetings, your Executive Committee also meets in-person twice a year for more intensive business meetings. This year, the EC made the difficult decision to cancel our in-person Spring meeting and meet via zoom March 6 and 7. In that time, we were able to discuss more specific changes needed to remedy our budget, but also some opportunities for growth. You will see some of these changes coming soon (e.g., new ACT registration rates).

Read past letters from the STP President