Fall meetings season is coming to an end. Our chapters held 26 meetings starting in August, running through November. Our chapter meetings present an unmatched opportunity for members to gather, share ideas, network, and learn about new products and services from exhibitors. Our chapter exhibitors and sponsors help make our meetings great in many ways at the state level. In return, they are given an opportunity to support the chapter and meet face to face with members that have influence and purchasing power throughout the state and region.

Many of the chapter exhibitors and sponsors are also Corporate Partners. Corporate Partners receive a monthly list of chapter meetings. By providing our Corporate Partners with this information, they can target specific areas or states for possible partnerships as well as help spread the word about your chapter meeting through their network. This can support our National and chapter recruitment efforts and increase engagement as well.

Additionally, chapters benefit from sponsorships, at both the chapter and National level. Whether monetary or in-kind donations, these help to offset the cost of meetings (venues, speakers, F&B, etc.), CE products (webinars, online courses, Edge articles) and programs (benchmarking and salary surveys). Their generous donations also help to keep the cost down on live events such as ACE and the Virtual Leadership Summit. In return, they can reach a wider audience and meet with new prospective buyers to start building those important relationships.

Corporate Partners also help to shape our organization, programs, and initiatives through their volunteer work at the National level on committees and Boards. They can bring a different industry perspective and are often the first to learn about new products or technology and can recognize up and coming trends that help our members to remain up to date and knowledgeable.

Corporate partnerships are win-win for chapters and our membership, and we encourage you to share the benefits of becoming a Corporate Partner with your exhibitors and/or sponsors. More information about becoming an ANFP Corporate Parter can be found here.

In this section you will find a summary of all chapter reminders that are emailed throughout the month. We hope this makes finding information easier for our chapter leaders.

Vote for the Bylaws
To approve the bylaws, we need a quorum (minimum vote) of current Professional and Retired members within each state to vote on these proposed changes. We are asking eligible members to take 5-10 minutes to vote. Your vote is greatly appreciated. ANFP National will be sending out a voting reminder this week to all eligible members. Please encourage your members to vote or we run the risk of losing the chapter’s charter and will no longer be considered an active ANFP chapter. We suggest posting it on your social media accounts and sending out a follow-up email in a couple weeks with the information below, which you can copy and paste into an email.

Please see below for instructions.
Action Needed: Next Steps

• Please take the time to read the full document HERE.
• Contact your Chapter Leaders or National staff (asolazzo@ANFPonline.org) with any questions or concerns.
• TO VOTE: Please click HERE to vote on each proposed amendment.
  • Please enter your state, membership type (Professional or Retired), and email address.
  • For each revision you will see the original language, the proposed revision and an explanation of the changes that are proposed. You will vote ‘Yes, I accept the revision.” or “No, I reject the revision.
    

To read the summary of the amended bylaws, please click HERE.
To view the specific amendments, click HERE.

Join Us! Chapter Best Practices – Wednesday, November 4
Please join us for our next Chapter Best Practices Session: Unlocking Chapter Growth with Member ROI on Wednesday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m. CT. We will discuss how we can calculate and communicate member value and membership ROI for growth and recruitment at the chapter level. To register for the call, please click here. Chapter Leaders that participate in the live session will receive 1.0 GEN CE.

Leadership Happy Hour
Bring all your questions, challenges and fall meeting success stories and join us for our next Leadership Happy Hour call on Tuesday, November 3 at 2:00 p.m. CT. Click here to register for the call.

Permits/Licenses for Raffles
If your chapter holds a raffle of any kind, bingo, or any other game of chance at your meeting(s), chapters are required to inquire with your secretary of state’s office about a license/permit or other requirements, including filing sales tax or other state taxes. If a license/permit is required, proof of the document must be sent to the National office (chapters@ANFPonline.org) no later than 30 days prior to the event. Please see the Volunteer Handbook or contact staff, Abigail Solazzo at asolazzo@ANFPonline.org for more information.

Meeting Agendas/Fliers
As you begin marketing and promoting your spring meetings, please be sure you include contact information on your agenda/fliers or other promotional material, should your attendees have questions. National receives many questions about these events and can use this information to assist our members, and save our chapter leaders time.

Also, please be sure you send National a copy of your agenda/fliers, with contact information included, so we can be sure they are posted on the website.

Crowded Account Handover/Transfers
For those of you that are transferring the account ownership to a new treasurer and/or president, or will need to do so in the future, Crowded is now requesting a third party verify the ownership as part of the authorization process as stated: Enter the email of a third party in your organization who can attest to this ownership transfer. They will also be sent the Meeting Minutes document to sign.

Chapters will need to add the ANFP Finance Team as the third party and can enter the following email address: finance@ANFPonline.org.

The Finance Team checks this inbox throughout the day so they will be able to verify the ownership along with the meeting minutes that have approved the transfer of the account to the new chapter leaders. For the full instructions on how to handover/transfer the account when needed, please click here. This verification requirement is another layer of fraud protection for the chapters and alerts national to any changes of ownership to the account.

Money Orders
It has come to our attention that some chapters have received money orders as a form of payment for registration fees. Unfortunately, Crowded cannot accept this form of payment. Instead, members/attendees should be paying either by credit/debit card via the QR code/registration (collection) link provided by the chapter, which is strongly recommended, or by check or ACH agreement. If attendees are paying with a check, they should be made out to the organization name as stated on the Crowded account. We encourage you to include these instructions in your registration forms or alert members/attendees ahead of time.

Congratulations to the following Chapter Champions:

Learn more about becoming a Chapter Champion HERE.

ANFP is celebrating and recognizing holidays/observances and month-long celebrations throughout the year. To learn more about these observances, please visit our Facebook page, BCC webpage, and check out eNews, which will include links to our toolkits and other resources as well as other significant holidays. This month ANFP proudly recognizes:

November 1-30: National Native American, American Indian, and Alaskan Native Heritage Month
November 26: Thanksgiving

Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week! This week, ANFP once again celebrated, recognized, and honored our volunteers. Our volunteers, no matter the role, keep us moving forward as an organization. They are behind the scenes doing the hard (and sometimes dirty) work and making decisions to benefit all members. Here at ANFP we see first-hand the time and dedication our volunteers give generously, and the determination to do things in the right way to ensure our members have what they need to succeed and improve the industry.

If you’d like to pass along the recognition and appreciation throughout the year to your fellow volunteers or members, here are a few ideas.

• Send a quick thank you to your fellow volunteers or attendees after your fall meeting. You can send (free) virtual cards or a handwritten note with a customized card using Canva.
• Be sure to recognize and thank your volunteers at your next meeting.
• Create a ‘shout out’ wall where members/attendees can post messages of gratitude. (This can be done virtually on your social media accounts as well!)
• Depending on your budget, you may wish to give a small token of appreciation to your volunteers. You can present the token at your membership meeting to inspire others to get involved.
• Recognize and celebrate your volunteers and/or members in your newsletter on a regular basis.
• Consider giving out awards/superlatives: Biggest Heart, The Fixer/Band-Aid/Problem Solver, Hall of Fame (longest serving, number of meetings attended, etc.), Most Enthusiastic, Most Likely to…etc.
  

We hope you enjoyed this week’s activities and celebrations. Know that you are appreciated! Thank you Volunteers!

Mark Your Calendar! Chapter Best Practices – Wednesday, November 4
Please join us for our next Chapter Best Practices Session: Unlocking Chapter Growth with Member ROI on Wednesday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m. CT. We will discuss how we can calculate and communicate member value and membership ROI at the chapter level. To register for the call, please click here. Chapter Leaders that participate in the live session will receive 1.0 hour GEN CE.

What does volunteering mean to you? How has it impacted your life or others? And what would you like others to know about volunteering with ANFP?

Share your volunteer journey and nominate yourself or another volunteer for ANFP Volunteer of the Month. Please contact Abigail Solazzo asolazzo@ANFPonline.org to submit your nomination. (All nominations will remain confidential.)

Congratulations to the following Chapter Champions:

Learn more about becoming a Chapter Champion HERE.

ANFP is celebrating and recognizing holidays/observances and month-long celebrations throughout the year. To learn more about these observances, please visit our Facebook page, BCC webpage, and check out eNews, which will include links to our toolkits and other resources as well as other significant holidays. This month ANFP proudly recognizes:

As we come to the end of summer, it’s a great time to ensure we have all our administrative loose ends wrapped up and we’re ready to hit the ground running with fall meetings that are well under way. If you have not received your rebate, the required documents can still be downloaded via the chapter portal and submitted once completed for the first rebate installment. Perhaps more importantly, chapter bylaws should have been voted on (or in the process) by your chapter board and/or members. Following the board vote, and assuming it was approved, the ballot should have been distributed to your state members (either by National or your board).

While National has provided the ballot for members, chapter leaders should remind their professional and retired members in good standing to vote on the bylaws amendments as soon as possible if they have not done so. As a reminder to chapter leaders and members,

The revisions will:

• modernize the bylaws,
• align state governance with ANFP requirements,
• support electronic governance processes,
• clarify board and election procedures, and
• strengthen oversight of affiliate operations.

The summary of the amended bylaws can be found HERE, and the specific amendments can be found HERE. Members can view the revised bylaws in their entirety HERE.

Once they have read through the documents, they can follow the instructions below to vote.

Action Needed: Next Steps

• Contact your Chapter Leaders or National staff (asolazzo@ANFPonline.org) with any questions or concerns.
• TO VOTE: Please click HERE to vote on each proposed amendment.
• Please enter your state, membership type (Professional or Retired), and e-mail address.
• For each revision, you will see the original language, the proposed revision, and an explanation of the changes that are proposed. You will vote ‘Yes, I accept the revision.” or “No, I reject the revision.”
  

If you have any questions about these proposed amendments, please contact Abigail Solazzo at asolazzo@ANFPonline.org.

This month we are proud to recognize Nicola Burke, CDM, CFPP, and Florida (FL) ANFP Past President. Nicola has a continued commitment to serving ANFP, supporting CDM, CFPPs and foodservice professionals, and helping strengthen the profession.

As an ANFP volunteer and chapter leader, she has made it a priority to create opportunities for education, networking, professional development, and engagement within the FL ANFP membership. She believes that volunteering is more than simply holding a position; it is about being willing to step up, serve others, share knowledge, and help create opportunities for those around you.

Through her involvement with ANFP, including her service during her time as the Florida ANFP Chapter President, she has worked to bring members together, promote continuing education, support professional growth, and increase awareness of the important role CDM, CFPPs play in healthcare foodservice. She has also worked to create meaningful chapter events and experiences that allow members to connect, learn from one another, and feel more engaged with the profession.

Her passion for ANFP comes from more than 30 years of experience in healthcare foodservice. She understands firsthand the challenges and opportunities the profession faces and wants to use her experience to help others succeed. Whether she is mentoring a fellow professional, helping plan an educational event, encouraging someone to become more involved, or simply being available when a member needs support, she believes every opportunity to serve can make a difference.

She is proud to give her time and experience to an organization that has given so much to her professionally. Being able to serve ANFP and advocate for the CDM, CFPP is something she values deeply.

If you would like to nominate yourself or another ANFP volunteer, please contact Abigail Solazzo at asolazzo@ANFPonline.org. (All nominations will remain confidential.)

Congratulations to the following Chapter Champions:

Learn more about becoming a Chapter Champion HERE.

ANFP is celebrating and recognizing holidays/observances and month-long celebrations throughout the year. To learn more about these observances, please visit our Facebook page, BCC webpage, and check out eNews, which will include links to our toolkits and other resources as well as other significant holidays. This month ANFP proudly recognizes:

The Volunteer Handbook is just one of many tools and resources available to our chapter leaders. It contains information, policies, best practices, and anything else you may need to know as a chapter leader. Each year, the handbook is updated to ensure all new and updated information and policies are included (where appropriate). This ensures all chapter leaders and volunteers have the information they need to perform their roles successfully. An updated Volunteer Handbook will be available in early August in ANFPConnect under Volunteer Resources in Volunteer 101. Please see below for the most significant changes that are now included.

New Policy – Chapter Account Review (Page 49)
The National Board of Directors approved two new policies that apply to chapters that do not have leadership in place or if fraud is discovered in their Crowded account. These policies ensure accounts are secure and will help to reduce the possibility of fraud occurring for chapters that are inactive or accounts that may have been compromised. Please see the policies below:

• Account Activity: If suspicious activity/transactions appear on a chapter’s semi-annual bank statement via regular review by ANFP staff, staff will contact the chapter to clarify the transactions and request back-up documentation. Staff will regularly review the account while awaiting documentation and will cease review effective immediately upon receipt of appropriate documentation and reasonableness of the transaction. If documentation and a reasonable explanation cannot be provided, staff will regularly review the chapter’s account for the following 6 months to ensure no additional irregular activity occurs.
• Inactive Chapter Leadership: Should a chapter become inactive, whether through resignation of chapter leaders or communication has ceased by all chapter leaders and no replacements can be found, staff will review the chapter’s account on a monthly basis to ensure no fraudulent or suspicious activity occurs until a time when leadership becomes active once again.
  

New Policy – Multi-Year Venue Contracts (Page 61)
A policy that prohibits chapters from contracting multi-year contracts was approved by the National Board of Directors. This is to ensure that chapters can fulfill their future agreements and the incoming president and chapter leaders are able to determine the best course of action (along with the current president) for future events while in office.

• Policy: Chapters are not permitted to sign contracts that span more than one year from the date of signature or that include more than two events (i.e. Spring and Fall meeting), whether through one single contract or multiple contracts with the same venue for more than two events.
  

Update to Prior Approval
While the prior approval handbook is a separate document, a new policy was developed, which chapter leaders should be aware of. This policy states that the educational content presented at a chapter meeting must align with the scope of practice and endorsement or selling of a product or service as an educational session is prohibited. If necessary, CBDM staff may request additional information, and all presentations must utilize the approved slide deck that is currently available in the Prior Approvals toolkit on ANFPConnect in Volunteer Resources. This ensures the CDBM Prior Approval requirements are met and chapters are presenting educational sessions and not sales pitches or product endorsements.

• Policy: All sessions submitted for CBDM Prior Approval must provide substantive educational content aligned with the CBDM Scope of Practice to qualify for CE hours. Vendor representatives serving as speakers must present in an educational, non-promotional manner and may not market, sell, or endorse specific products or services during the session. All presentations must utilize the approved slide deck template available in the Prior Approval Toolkit & Meeting Resources. CBDM reserves the right, as part of its quality assurance process, to request additional documentation, including full slide decks, to ensure compliance with program standards.
  

If you have any questions about these policies, please contact Abigail Solazzo at asolazzo@ANFPonline.org.

Congratulations to the following Chapter Champions:

Learn more about becoming a Chapter Champion HERE.

Last month ANFP members, exhibitors, sponsors, industry peers, and chapter leaders convened in Orlando for the 2026 Annual Conference & Expo (ACE). Like years before, this was a unique opportunity for all attendees to network with peers, enhance their professional skills and knowledge, learn about new products and services, and recognize and celebrate industry changemakers. Volunteers and chapter leaders were also able to attend exclusive events to earn CE as well as be recognized for their achievements and celebrate their hard work. Read below to learn more about what our attendees experienced at ACE 2026.

Chapter Best Practices – Chapter leaders had an opportunity to meet face-to-face with their peers and discuss success stories and share best practices. Rosemary Aho (MI ANFP), Scott Schuld (WI ANFP), Jean Siegel, (IL ANFP), and Ariel Womack (GA ANFP), along with moderator Jeff Wuolett (MN ANFP), discussed their success stories about increasing member engagement, partnering with vendors for meetings, and what to consider during venue selection to increase attendance. Attendees also had the opportunity to dive into deeper discussions during the roundtable portion of the session and shared their own best practices with the wider audience. Some of the key takeaways that came from the session include:

• Partnering with vendors, exhibitors, manufacturers’ groups, brokage houses, and state healthcare associations can be a mutually beneficial relationship in many ways.
• Meeting elements such as the type of facility your attendees want (i.e. family-friendly), as well as the format of the meeting for individuals that cannot attend in person (virtual options) should be taken into consideration.
  
• Chapters can educate members about product and service decision-making as well as administrators on the value of the credential and investing in their professional development.
  

Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon – Volunteers and chapter leaders were treated to an exclusive luncheon and small tokens of appreciation for their hard work throughout the past year. Chapters were also presented with their annual awards for Communications, Government Affairs, Membership, and State Achievement. Additionally, our Diamond award nominees and finalists were recognized (see below). Congrats to all our award nominees, finalists, and winners, and thank you to all our volunteers for your hard work! (For a full list see our next issue of Edge.)

Diamond Award Nominee
Florida ANFP
Georgia ANFP
Idaho ANFP
Illinois ANFP
Iowa ANFP
Indiana ANFP
Kansas ANFP
MD, DE, DC ANFP
Minnesota ANFP
South Dakota ANFP
Texas ANFP
Wisconsin ANFP
Wyoming ANFP

Diamond Award Finalist
Georgia ANFP
Idaho ANFP
Illinois ANFP
Iowa ANFP
Kansas ANFP
Wisconsin ANFP

Honors Gala: Neon Nights – Attendees were decked out head-to-toe in their best and brightest neon attire for the annual Honors Gala. ACE award winners and the Diamond award-winning chapter (GA ANFP) were celebrated and recognized for their contributions and honored for their hard work and dedication to ANFP and the credential. Congrats to all our winners! Check out their acceptance speeches here. Learn about the accomplishments of our award winners in the next issue of Edge.

Congratulations to the following Chapter Champions:

Learn more about becoming a Chapter Champion HERE.