The American Academy of Ophthalmology Foundation Advisory Board

A Message From the CEO

YOUR GENEROSITY IS NOT BANKED; IT GOES TO WORK

Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I will not give my time or my financial support to a foundation that simply banks the money and watches it earn interest! Julie and I, like many of you, give to support those organizations that need our gifts and will use them for objectives we share.

What’s the evidence that the Academy’s Foundation uses what we give it? (Like all physicians, I prefer to trust the evidence!)

In the last nine years (those years I’ve been honored to serve as the Academy CEO), the Foundation has received $20.2 million in contributions from members, industry, foundations, and those public citizens who share our mission. During the same period of time, the Foundation has expended $24.8 million on the programs described in the following pages such as the ONE Network and the IRIS Clinical Data Registry. (These figures exclude direct sponsorship dollars that are expended dollar-for-dollar on specific initiatives.) The Academy also transferred millions to the Foundation to help initiate and sustain these same mission-driven programs.

Your generosity is not banked. It goes to work — supporting innovative programs that benefit our society, our patients and our profession. While we’d love a massive foundation, we should all be much prouder that the Foundation leaders are good stewards of the funds — using them where they can have an impact.

Best regards,

— David W. Parke II, MD, CEO