Megan Riordon
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It’s hard to believe four years have passed since members of the Board gathered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, alongside the beautiful Halifax Harbour, for the Annual General Meeting, where we had to grapple with the news that our CSHP ship was struggling to stay afloat. During those 2019 Board meetings, we discussed the financial impacts of a trend of deepening operating deficits coupled with diminishing industry sponsorship and a slow decline in membership since our peak in 2013. Following extensive consultation, collaboration, and negotiation, our strategic planning session that year was ambitious but essential, to not only fill those holes and bring CSHP up from underwater, but also to ensure a sustainable future for the Society, so as to deliver the value that members expect and deserve. The organization’s 2020–2023 Strategic Plan detailed our foundational responsibilities, core business, and strategic priorities, with the goal of securing the future for a sustainable and engaging CSHP.
As our plan draws to a close at the end of this year, we have so much to be proud of, in terms of what we have accomplished, and during a global pandemic too! Although we had to trim our sails to take account of COVID, we have met or exceeded our goals for membership growth and engagement, and we are moving toward a balanced budget.
In terms of membership, we have added more than 500 new people since 2020 and now have just under 3800 members. In addition, for the very first time, we have reached the $1 million mark of membership support, an achievement reached not by raising fees, but by attracting new members and holding on to them once they joined. We’ve even done a makeover of our hospital and institutional membership categories, bringing down costs and upping the benefits. We have directed these membership revenues directly back into developing even more of the quality tools, services, and opportunities for which CSHP has always been known.
Our members have responded by becoming engaged in major ways. More than 900 attended the Together conference virtually last year, and just a few months ago, we hosted our first national hybrid conference in Banff, Alberta, with a combined in-person and online attendance of over 800! With more than two-thirds of members registered on one or more of our Pharmacy Specialty Networks (PSNs), CSHP is also expanding its online presence on social media, with a collective following across all platforms of over 10 000 and well over 6000 likes on our posts.
Financial sustainability has been the overarching goal of our current Strategic Plan. We needed to reinvest in the Society itself to ensure its continuance for the next generation of hospital pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. We have increased non–dues-related revenues and found ways to cut costs—including the sale of our national office building. As a result, we have reinforced the hull of our CSHP ship and are building back toward a balanced and sustainable budget for 2024 while continuously pushing ourselves to create more member value.
With sustainability on our minds, CSHP is now also taking steps toward the creation of a more environmentally sustainable future for hospital pharmacy as we do our part to combat climate change. Our new Sustainability in Pharmacy Task Force, along with our Task Force on the Vision for the Hospital Pharmacy Profession, will be instrumental in guiding us during the next segment of our voyage.
I’m proud to be part of such a resilient and progressive society. Together, we’ve achieved remarkable growth in membership and engagement to reach and sustain a balanced budget. As such, I look forward to our upcoming strategic planning session where we will set our sights on what else CSHP can achieve through advocacy, education, information sharing, promotion of best practices, facilitation of research, and recognition of excellence.
Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, VOLUME 76, NUMBER 3, Summer 2023