The Municipal Finance Authority of BC (MFA) has a long history of supporting our clients and local government partners through conference and event sponsorship. MFA also provides educational opportunities for both elected officials and local government employees.
This year has been no exception as the MFA continues to be very active with participation and the provision of financial support for conferences and chapter meetings. Part of our mandate is to support financial education for our local government clients, either directly or through our sponsorship of the many high-quality organizations supporting this sector in BC, including UBCM, GFOABC, LGMA, and LGLA.
In addition to directly contributing over $144,000 in 2020 to support local government courses, programs, workshops, and conferences throughout the province, trustees and management contribute their time on behalf of the MFA at various local government events to share their knowledge with our members.
Local Government Training & Education
MFA’s annual educational budget includes training and education for local government elected officials and senior administrators throughout BC aiming to improve the competencies needed to effectively manage and lead BC’s communities. This is accomplished through an annual contribution to The Local Government Leadership Academy. The remaining funding is for the advancement of local government finance officers in pursuing excellence in financial planning, management and fiscal sustainability. Programs which MFA funds have a direct sightline to the MFA’s mandate of contributing to healthy BC local government through prudent investing and debt management on behalf of municipalities.
In 2019, MFA entered into a formal partnership with GFOABC that recognizes, acknowledges, and honours a longstanding and unique relationship shared by our organizations over the past 30 years. This relationship is grounded by a shared local government membership-base and a common mandate to support this base through finance-related education. Learn more about our Strategic Education Alliance with GFOABC.
Our Education Mandate
MFA remains committed to the provision of education focused on finance and business best practices for clients and refer to this as the ‘third pillar’ alongside MFA's lending and investment programs. This practice builds financial and operational strength for clients. This is a keyway the MFA differentiates itself from for-profit competitors and demonstrates its value for BC local governments. Over this past year and as we continue moving forward in 2021, MFA believes it is more important than ever to support these organizations as they adapt and support their own member communities.
Please contact our office for consideration of a sponsorship opportunity. If you have a program or seminar idea you feel would benefit local government finance please submit your proposal by email. Your proposal should outline the course curriculum, potential attendees, how the course or seminar will contribute to the improvement of financial management and fiscal sustainability, the contribution you are requesting and the delivery method. There are no set submission deadlines, but applications will be reviewed by the MFA Executive team in the order received.