A Path to Membership–The Story of ASA’s Educational Foundation

By Carol Akers Klug, ASA, with contributions by Susan Golashovsky, FASA

Appraisers may not be aware of what ASA’s Educational Foundation (ASAEF) does to sustain our profession and aspiring appraisers. Below is our vision that education provides a path to membership in the appraisal profession, and hopefully to ASA.

“Believe me when I tell you it’s been a bear to raise funds. Please know how appreciative we are at the ASAEF for your support.” COVID and the general financial climate clearly damaged the ability of people in, and trying to enter, our profession among all disciplines. These events caused an influx of people needing and looking for grants to help them advance, or change careers. “We see this as a window of opportunity to drive (or sustain) membership through the funding of grants. Not a particularly pleasant fact, but necessary for all concerned.”

Initially, the Silent Auction was ASAEF’s only fund raiser, and donations contributed by members were and still are nominal. By June 2021, ASAEF had $260,000 in assets, a nominal sum, given our over 5,000 members. In an effort to increase revenue, ASAEF initiated grants for the development of appraisal education text books which added royalty income from the following:

• BV’s Valuing a Business, 6^th Edition–grant for development of Shannon Pratt’s appraisal primer which is a required text book for BV POV courses.
• PP’s Coming Soon Personal Property Discipline Book, 1^st Edition–grant for development of its first Principles of Valuation (POV) text book, which will replace its white papers;
• ASA’s Coming Soon Shannon Pratt’s Lawyer’s Business Valuation Handbook, 3rd edition–grant for development of an appraisal primer for attorneys, an industry source of referrals of valuations to appraisers in all disciplines;

ASAEF continues to provide needs-based grants to aspiring appraisers which hopefully will lead to new certified appraisers. Here are a few of their stories:

• Grant for PP201 POV course for new chapter member. (ASAEF considered the applicant was unemployed yet committed to join ASA.)
• Grant for BV203 POV OnDemand course for applicant in South America. (ASAEF previously had provided BV201 and BV202 grants to this applicant. ASAEF considered applicant’s country suffers high inflation and foreign currency crisis, and there is an active chapter in said’s city.)
• Grant for GJ201 POV course for applicant in Asia. (ASAEF considered this applicant is working for a national GJ authority, and residing in a country with high inflation and foreign currency crisis.
• Grant for GJ202 POV for applicant in Asia. (ASAEF previously had provided a grant to this applicant for GJ 201. Applicant is working for a metals testing firm, and has taken courses at the GIA.)
• Grant for GJ201 POV courses for applicant in Asia. (ASAEF considered this applicant had completed GJ training courses in London, India, and GJ103 Fundamentals of Jewelry Appraisal. Applicant is also taking GIA courses, and working in a jewelry testing lab in a country that suffers high inflation and foreign currency crisis.)

Please join ASA-EF’s List of Donors by contributing an ITEM to its Online $ilent Auction or CA$H always works – or Bid with Vigor! It’s easy – just click here or e-mail caklug@swbell.net

Carol Akers Klug, ASA, is an accredited senior appraiser specializing in business valuation. She has been an active member and volunteer of ASA for over 30 years, most notably serving as Co-Chair of ASA Houston’s Energy Valuation Conference, ASAEF Board Member, Region 3 Governor, President of ASA’s Houston Chapter and International Virtual Chapter, and on numerous committees on the international level. She currently is a member of the ASAEF board, member of the Business Valuation Resource Panel for The Appraisal Foundation, and Co-Chair of ASA Houston’s Energy Valuation Conference. In 2021, Carol was voted ASA’s Appraiser of the Year.