Strategic Planning Initiative

Dear NCPG Members,

This month marks the beginning of an important chapter for NCPG.

Many of you know that at our July board meeting in Nashville, we officially launched a strategic planning initiative. This effort builds on months of listening, learning, and asking hard questions about how NCPG can create greater impact in a rapidly changing world.

Our work continues, but one message has been consistent: you want greater transparency.

As the NCPG board of directors continues its work, we are committed to sharing what we’re learning, how planning is progressing, and opportunities for you to stay involved.

Building a Clearer Path Forward

August continues our work of listening, learning, and diving deeper into the details.

To date, we have completed the first phase of our strategic planning process, engaging a broad cross-section of NCPG stakeholders better to understand their perspectives, priorities, and needs. This has included initial meetings, focus groups, and surveys with our broader membership, State Affiliates, individuals with lived experience, operators, and individual members. The feedback gathered through these efforts is helping us identify key themes, opportunities, challenges, and areas where greater clarity or strategic focus is needed as we move into the next phase of the planning process.

We have sent a follow-up survey to the State Affiliates to help further shape our future working relationship. In our August newsletter, look for a link for our lived experience community. We want to learn more so we can best incorporate your voices into our advocacy and education efforts. Plans also include scheduling listening sessions with regulators and parents of youth impacted by problem gambling.

One major theme has emerged loud and clear:

NCPG is trying to be too many things to too many audiences. As a result, we aren’t creating the level of impact we all want to achieve.

Another side effect is that each stakeholder group has its own understanding about what NCPG stands for and who we serve. Unfortunately, we will never create traction this way.

For these insights and others that we have gained from you, the NCPG board is prioritizing this discussion and this planning initiative. Our goal is to enter 2027 with greater clarity, stronger value, and more decisive action. Your input so far has been a tremendous help setting the stage.

Timing Matters

The world is changing faster than ever. Technology, new products, and changing consumer behaviors are reshaping how, where, and when gambling occurs. If we want to make a greater difference, we must evolve with urgency.

At the same time, NCPG receives no dedicated federal or state-level funding, nor has there been sufficient political will to establish sustained public investment in this work. Historically, NCPG has received a significant portion of its funding from stakeholders across the gambling ecosystem, including gambling operators, suppliers, and sports leagues. The majority of these funds are restricted to specific mission-driven initiatives, such as the National Problem Gambling HelplineTM (1-800-MY-RESET) Helpline and Agility Grants, with some funding also supporting the organizational capacity and infrastructure necessary to sustain and expand our impact. NCPG independently develops and operates all initiatives, programmatic decisions, and activities.

We have work to do. It starts with greater focus and more strategic choices.

We are a small organization with an ambitious mission. If we don’t make bold decisions now, we’ll fall behind at the very moment our voice is needed most.

The Work Ahead

This planning effort isn’t simply about creating a new strategic plan. It’s NCPG’s own reset.

This effort isn’t about revisiting the successes or misses of the past. It’s about meeting this moment and moving our mission forward.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll need new thinking, creativity, innovation, stronger relationships, courage, and calculated risks to leapfrog ahead. Stay engaged. Participate. Continue listening, sharing, and shaping NCPG’s future with us.

You’ll find updates throughout this process in our monthly membership newsletter.

Thank you for your continued engagement and support.

With kind regards,

Derek Longmeier, President of the National Council on Problem Gambling & the NCPG Board of Directors

Dear NCPG Members,

We hope you are enjoying the final weeks of summer with friends and family.

As you may have read in our last email, NCPG is in the midst of an important strategic planning initiative to position NCPG for greater impact in a rapidly changing world.

As new forms of gambling emerge and opportunities for harm grow, public investment and political will to prevent and mitigate gambling-related harm have not kept pace. NCPG must think creatively about what comes next. We also need to be clear about what we stand for, who we serve, and where we can create the greatest impact now, acknowledging we are a small organization with restricted donor funding.

This aligns with your responses—a call to reposition so we can be more effective and ultimately advance our mission.

Our goal is to enter 2027 with greater clarity, stronger value, and more decisive action, guided by this work. Your help so far has been invaluable!

Below are quick insights into current efforts and next steps, along with an update from the July 2026 Board of Directors meeting.

Thank you for continuing to learn and build with us.

Regards,

Derek Longmeier, President of the National Council on Problem Gambling, on behalf of the NCPG Board of Directors

Follow Along with the Strategic Planning Process

NCPG is committed to keeping members informed and engaged throughout the NCPG 2026 Strategic Planning Initiative, with regular updates in Member Newsletters and a dedicated section on the website where you can follow the process, access deeper insights and context, and find opportunities to participate. Below, you’ll find resources to help you stay informed as this work moves forward.

NCPG’s 2026 Strategic Planning Initiative

Overview of the Strategic Planning Initiative

Emerging Themes from Stakeholder Feedback

What’s Happening Next

The Policy & Funding Landscape

Lived Experience Perspectives – We Want to Hear from You

If you have lived experience with gambling-related harm, your perspective can help shape NCPG’s future and how lived experience informs our work.

We want to better understand:

• What conversations should NCPG be having?
• What perspectives and experiences need to be heard?
• How can NCPG better elevate lived experience in its work?

Take the Survey →

Survey Deadline: August 27, 2026 at 5:00pm ET

NOTE: At the end of the survey, you’ll have the option to provide your name and contact information if you’d like to be considered for future opportunities for your story and lived experience to be included in NCPG’s advocacy and education efforts.

July 2026 Board of Directors Meeting Update

During its July meeting held in Nashville, TN, the Board of Directors acted on several important governance and organizational matters. Motions were approved for the following.

• Confirming the 2026–2027 slate of officers.
• Approving the June meeting minutes and July agenda.
• Setting the Annual Members Meeting for August 28, 2026.
• Approving the May financial statements.
• Establishing an every-other-month cadence for Board business meetings beginning in September.
• Launching the Strategic Planning Process.

Together, these efforts provide a strong foundation for the work ahead.