The Fund's History

ICMA established the Fund for Professional Management in 1985 as a way for members to contribute to the essential task of promoting and sustaining the local government management profession.

Increasing Levels of Support

Support for the Fund, while always consistent, has increased significantly over the past several years. Between FY2008 and FY2009, donors increased 16 percent to 802, while donations increased 33 percent to $187,730. To encourage the Fund’s continual growth, ICMA recently launched online giving, automatic bank drafting, and planned giving. These new services, combined with the Fund’s existing resources, make it easier than ever to support the Fund’s mission.

Increasing Levels of Activity

As donations to the Fund have increased, the level of Fund support provided to communities has grown, too. Citizens groups in more than 80 communities have received disbursements from the Fund, ranging from $300 to $30,000. These disbursements demonstrate the Fund’s commitment to supporting professional local government management.

Form-of-Government Campaigns

The Fund has provided financial assistance to citizens’ groups in more than 80 communities since 1994 as they worked to adopt or retain council-manager government and educate citizens about the value of professional management. In 2009 alone, the Fund contributed almost $60,000 to nine communities to address form of government referenda. As part of these campaigns, ICMA Fund monies paid for:

Voter education mailings and yard signs
Newspaper, radio, and television ads explaining the benefits of council-manager government
Participation by ICMA members in public forums

Educating Our Citizens

ICMA is committed to cultivating the next crop of local government leaders. Specifically, the Fund supports civic education campaigns that expose the next generation to the role and value of professional local government. To learn more about ICMA’s work on this topic, visit our civic education site. A sample of the initiatives the Fund has supported include:

North Carolina City and County Management Association (NCCCMA). The ICMA Fund provided a generous contribution toward the NCCCMA's efforts to update their successful K-12 textbook, Local Government in North Carolina. The nelwy revised version is available online, and will eventually be converted into a template that other states and organizations can use to develop their own civic education curriculum.
Michigan Civic League Civics Education Program. The league developed a K-12 curriculum with the goal of improving civic education, developing more knowledgeable citizens, and promoting understanding of the council-manager form of government.
Texas City Management Association (TCMA). The Texas Foundation for Local Government, the education foundation of the Texas City Management Association, sponsored Our Town, Texas, which consists of a teacher’s guide with comprehensive lesson plans on local government topics for grades K-8. The curriculum uses informative, interactive classroom activities to help students master the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies and History.

For more information about the ICMA Fund, contact fund@icma.org.