It's the gesture that means the most, or should do, like with your gift from the association president. It's that feeling I've being valued that lasts the longest right?
I shared the gift with the operations team as it's them that does the work. The clients see me as the face of the company though and so it's me that gets the gifts, and also those phone calls when they're not happy. Having said that, it's not often gifts of this magnitude happen. It was the least I could do to share it around. I got something out if it too, a couple extra battieres to power my cordless power tools - $150 I'll not need to spend myself. It was a nice gesture and very appreciated.
Yes, the feeling of being appreciated is what gratifies.
Of course, a gift is always pleasing even from a material point of view but that is a pleasure that does not last long, instead feeling appreciated is something that lasts a long time and pushes you to always do better in my opinion.