APRA will commemorate our silver anniversary throughout the year with features on the APRA website, special events at the 25th Annual International Conference, Aug. 1–4 in Minneapolis, and anniversary pricing for online education packages featuring the best of the 2012 conference.

• Check out the APRA History Highlights: Get to know APRA through the years. Each week, the APRA homepage will feature a different factoid from APRA's history.
• Make a video: If APRA has made a difference in your career, tell us about it. Send videos to APRA staff member Beth Shomin.
• Take the APRA Challenge: If you know all about APRA, you're ready to take the APRA Challenge. It's an online quiz that occurs in July, and the people who get the highest scores will win prizes.
• Contribute to Connections: APRA's quarterly journal, Connections, will include anniversary features in 2012 issues, so if you have suggestions for topics to cover or would like to submit an article to the editor, send a note to Theresa Wojtalewicz, APRA's staff managing editor.
• Join the celebration at this year's conference: The APRA 25th Annual International Conference is in Minneapolis, the birthplace of APRA. The Aug. 1–4 conference will offer essential learning opportunities along with a healthy dose of fun.
• Help spread the word: Tell your colleagues about all the activities commemorating APRA's 25th anniversary, and the value of being part of the APRA community.  

APRA has partnered with WealthEngine to offer a complimentary webcast focused on fundraising intelligence available exclusively to APRA members.

Jan. 24: Fundraising Intelligence: Using Analytics for Better Decision Making
Presenter: Sally Boucher
Experience Level: All
Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST, 12:00pm – 1:00pm CST, 11:00am – 12:00pm MST, 10:00am – 11:00am PST
 

This webinar will teach you how you can use simple analytics to support the decision making process in a prospect research shop.  Looking at examples from prospect identification and relationship management, this presentation will demonstrate:

• How to frame your problem or challenge using problem restatement
• How to state the challenge in the form of hypotheses
• How to test those hypotheses using analysis

Learn first-hand how using this structured approach to problem solving leads to decisions and courses of action that are better and more appropriate to meet these common challenges, and you will be able to transfer these skills to use in any problem solving or decision making situation.

Learn more and register today.

Watch your inbox at the end of the month for the APRA call for nominations, the official start of the annual nomination process for the APRA board of directors.

The term will begin Sept. 1, 2012. Minimum eligibility requirements state that you must:

1. Be a voting APRA member in good standing
2. Have been an APRA member in good standing for the 12-month period preceding the nomination
3. Have worked at least three years in fundraising research, analytics and/or relationship management 

For a description of responsibilities, contact APRA Executive Director Julie Sutter for more information.  

To ensure APRA is bringing value to its members, your partner in fundraising in conducting a member needs assessment and a salary survey in the coming weeks. Watch your inbox for an invitation to share your perspective about the fundraising research profession as well as your learning and career development objectives. Your input will help shape APRA's future direction, and will provide a clear picture of salary ranges for professionals of various levels and geographic locations.