We work only with NPOs – it is our area of expertise. More than that, however, we are
very familiar with the agricultural sector, having worked with clients such the Nursury,
Hog Marketing, Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC, and the Council of Marketing
Boards … In addition, we have previously completed two projects for the BCBC
Proposal For The
College of Opticians of
British Columbia
The primary contact for the work would be the President of the firm:
Tom Abbott, B.Comm., CGA, CAE.
The second member of the consulting team would be:
JohnJ. Finlay, CAE.
Company particulars are:
Association Management Consultants Inc.,
218-409 Granville St.
Vancouver BC V6C 1T2
Please note that effective November 1, our Suite number will be 315.
Prepared for COBC by
Tom’s direct line is 1-604-669-5344
or toll free 1-866-668-5344.
Tom Abbott,
B.Comm., CGA, CAE and
Tom’s e-mail address is tom@amcdireectory.com.
John J. Finlay, CAE
Description of the scope of work proposed for the project
Company website: www.amcdirectory.com
We would undertake the project in five separate stages or steps.


We will develop, and after it is approved by the BCBC, implement, a review and
evaluation process of the initial five year program. The review and evaluation
process will include face-to-face meetings with board members and
processors/packers and grower members. This review and evaluation process
will culminate in an evaluation report that will be presented to selected
participants.
Building on the findings of Step 1, we will continue the information gathering
process that will include not less than two member meetings, in addition to
individual member interviews, focus
groups and
task force groups
in order to
Association
Management
Consultants
Page 2 of 5
Summary of Related Experience and Qualifications
1.
Company Profile
Our firm, Association Management Consultants Inc. (AMC), was established in 1987 in order to
meet the special needs of non-governmental organizations and voluntary associations, charities,
foundations and societies. We specialize in assisting organizations in the development and
implementation of exactly the type of project that the College of Opticians of British Columbia
(COBC) is currently considering undertaking. We are confident that we can assist COBC to
successfully complete its own environmental scan and strategic plan in a timely and effective
manner.
AMC’s corporate mission is to improve the quality of management and governance within the
not-for-profit and public sectors – we work only with volunteer not-for-profit (NFP) groups.
Towards that end, we have successfully worked with individual clients on a variety of special
projects such as
Development and implementation of Governance Models
Conducting INPAC1 Organizational Reviews
Design and implement best practice organizational models
Preparing Codes of Conduct for Volunteers and Staff
Design and presentation of board training sessions
Design and production of Board and Staff Manuals
Strategic planning
Succession Planning
Organizational Benchmarking
Association staff recruitment
Membership surveys
Salary reviews and Benchmarking
Over the years we have served over 450 clients in sectors as diverse as health, retail, legal,
construction, real estate, agriculture and the arts. Our clients have included a variety of not-forprofit organizational (NPO) types and structures including volunteer societies serving Special
and Common Interest, Professional, Industry, Charities and Foundations.
The common link between all of our clients is that they have volunteer boards of directors and
work hard to maximize their NPO’s financial resources. For a more detailed list of our clients,
information about our firm and our work, we invite you to visit our web site at
www.amcdirectory.com
2.
Project Outline
The objective of the project would be to conduct a broad-range environmental scan and develop
a Strategic Plan for the College of Opticians of British Columbia. An important element of our
process is to also identify gaps and opportunities – situations where there are activities the
COBC could be doing – butis not. . And ascertaining why the organization is not undertaking
these activities.
Based upon AMC’s discussions with Nick Atkinson, in order to complete the project we would:

1
Provide COBC with a list of materials we need to review in preparation for conducting
the environmental scan and to organize the subsequent strategic planning session that
would be undertaken as the final step in the project
Improvement in Not-for-Profit Practices And Controls
Page 3 of 5














3.
Review past planning reports, surveys and other data relevant to the profession, in
addition to other COBC documents including the bylaws and constitution
Meet with the Registrar, and possibly the Board Chair (or other designated board
member), to review the plan for the work and to confirm the deliverables and timelines
Conduct extensive internet research – provincial, national, international
Develop a confidential questionnaire for the ten board members, to be used in phone or
face-to-face interviews in order to seek their input on a number of questions which we
would prepare in consultation with senior staff
Develop a brief confidential questionnaire for the other relevant sector players including
the four national organizations –which play a fundamental role in opticianry in Canada.
The questionnaire would be used in phone or face-to-face interviews seeking input to a
number of questions which we would prepare in consultation with senior staff
Develop a brief, confidential questionnaire for the relevant teaching institutions in BC,
including Douglas College, COBC’s own distance education program and up to three
teaching institutions in other provinces, if deemed necessary. The questionnaires would
be used in phone or face-to-face interviews and would be prepared in consultation with
senior staff
Develop a brief confidential questionnaire to be used with the relevant BC government
ministries. The questionnaires would be used in phone or face-to-face interviews and
would be prepared in consultation with senior staff
Interview in person, by phone or by email, other relevant stakeholders identified by
COBC
Receive, review and analyze the responses to all the questionnaires and input received
Use the responses to the questionnaires as a resource and complete a SWOT analysis
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) which would be incorporated into
an Environmental Scan Report to be used at a subsequent meeting with the COBC board
and senior staff, preferably off-site, to develop a Strategic Plan for the organization
Plan and facilitate a one or one and a half day meeting to create a Strategic Plan which
would focus on three and five year objectives but would also identify, where possible,
longer term directions for the sector of up to ten years
Prepare and submit the completed report on the Strategic Planning session
including the conclusions reached at the meeting and identifying specific goals,
timelines and where possible individuals to “champion” each initiative
Be available for up to three hours of post-meeting telephone consultation with COBC
Complete the project within an eight to ten week period.
Consultants
The consultants who would work on the COBC project would be Tom Abbott, the Principal of
AMC and John Finlay, Senior Consultant. Between them they have over 50 years of experience
in the not-for-profit sector gained at both the national and provincial level. They have worked in
or with virtually every type of not-for-profit structure and have provided consulting services to
NFPs serving the five major types of volunteer societies. The following is a summary of Tom
and John’s background: full CVs are available on AMC’s web site.
Tom Abbott, B.Comm., CGA, CAE
Prior to 1987, Tom worked for seven years as the Vice-President, Professional Affairs and
Education with the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) where
he was responsible for the delivery of the Association's distance education program to over
25,000 accounting students in Canada, the Caribbean and Asia; and responsible for the delivery
Page 4 of 5
of member programs to certified CGA members. CGA-Canada is a large national association,
headquartered in BC. Tom has also served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Academic
Accounting Association, the Carleton University President’s Advisory Council for BC and the
Parkinson’s Society of BC.
Tom designed the Complementary Governance Model which is widely used within the not-forprofit sector. It was developed to provide an alternative governance model for associations that
were not totally comfortable with Policy Governance. He is also a frequent contributor to the
national magazine of the Canadian Society of Association Executives Association (most recent
article was published in the October/November 2008 issue and entitled Successful Committees
Build Successful Not-for-Profits); author of the book A Practical Guide To Governing Your
Volunteer Organization; and a frequent speaker at conferences and meetings, including the
American Academic Accounting Association and the Canadian Society of Association
Executives. Tom is also the recipient of the CSAE-BC Dalton N. Murphy Award “in recognition
of both outstanding and sustained contributions to the association community.” He is the only
management consultant to be granted that award.
John J. Finlay, CAE
John has over 35 years of experience as a senior manager in a broad range of organizations and
industries. He has served in the not-for-profit sector for over 25 years and managed organizations at
both the national and provincial levels. His experience as a senior manager of not-for-profits was
gained in a wide variety of organizational types and structures in business areas as diverse as retail
and construction to the arts and cultural sectors.
John has experience and expertise as a facilitator and consensus builder working with very diverse
groups on provincial, national and international levels. In the book industry, he facilitated the first
international participation in the Canadian Booksellers national convention. As a member of The
Retail Learning Initiative at the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, at Ryerson
Polytechnic University, John played a major role in the development, design and presentation of a
variety of national training programs. He initiated the formation of the first vertical council for the
hardware industry in Ontario. In 1991 he chaired the Communications Working Group, of the
National Cross Border Shopping Task Force.
He has extensive experience in the development and implementation of strategic plans and
governance models as a senior staff member in a variety of associations and for both the British
Columbia and Toronto Chapters of the Canadian Society of Association Executives; and during
approximately four years as a management consultant serving the for-profit sector and for the last
three years serving AMC’s not-for-profit organization clients.
For more information about our background and qualification, we invite you to visit our web site
www.amcdirectory.com
Fees
AMC would undertake and complete the Environmental Scan and the development of a Strategic
Plan for the College of Opticians of British Columbia (COBC) for the fee of $8,000.00 plus
GST. This contracted amount would be payable as follows:
Page 5 of 5



50% of the total fee when our Letter of Agreement is signed
25% of the total fee on completion and submission of the Environmental Scan
Report
25% of the total fee on completion and submission of the Strategic Plan
The fee covers all aspects of pre-meeting preparation and research, facilitating at the planning
session, preparing the report on the planning session, but excludes hotel and travel costs if the
Strategic Planning meeting is held outside of the City of Vancouver. COBC will arrange for the
venue and organize the Strategic Planning meeting. Our daily charge-out rate for additional work
requested by the client that falls outside of the services or deliverables contracted for is $1,500.
The project could be split into two separate parts consisting of the Environmental Scan and a
separate Strategic Planning initiative. We don’t however, recommend this approach. The Scan
and the Plan are really a part of the same initiative and there is a danger if they are undertaken
separately, by the time the planning session is initiated the scan may no longer accurate,. If the
COBC should decide however, that it wishes to proceed in this manner, the fees would then be as
follows:

Environmental Scan - $5,500.00 plus GST (50% of total fee payable on signing our
Letter of Agreement, 25% four weeks later and 25% after the completion and submission
of the Scan).

Strategic Plan - $4,000.00 plus GST (50% of total fee payable on signing our Letter of
Agreement, 25% at the strategic planning meeting and 25% after the completion and
submission of the completed Strategic Plan).
Contact Information
The contact person for the project will be John Finlay, CAE . He can be reached in Vancouver at
604-608-1477 or toll free at 1-866-688-5344. His e-mail address is john@amcdirectory.com.
We invite you to contact the following individuals with whom we have worked recently, about
the quality of our work:
Ms. Rita Hatina,
Assistant Executive Director,
Community Legal Assistance Society.
Telephone: 604-685-3425
Ms. Carla Terzariol,
Executive Director,
Trial Lawyers Assn. of BC.
Telephone: 604-682-5343
Ms. Brenda Southam,
Executive Officer,
Real Estate Institute of BC.
Telephone: 604-685-3702
We are looking forward to the possibility of working with COBC on this important project.