2023 Meeting Magazine - 21

GOVERNANCE &
TRANSPARENCY
For the 15th year in a
row, the Rheumatology
Research Foundation has
received a four-star rating
from Charity Navigator for
transparency and good
governance. Four stars is
the group's highest rating
and less than one percent
of U.S. nonprofits have
earned the rating for as
long as the Foundation.
continue to face limited opportunities for research
career growth and support. The Foundation has
expanded eligibility criteria for research awards to
include individuals who, at the time of the award,
hold a faculty position in a U.S. institution and
reside in the U.S., regardless of their immigration
status at the time of the application.
Continuing with our commitment to support
rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals
in community practice, this year we restructured
the Community Practice Innovation Award and
could not be more thrilled with the first recipient.
One change was making sure community practitioners have more time to submit
their applications; therefore, the next application deadline for the Community
Practice Innovation Award is February 1, 2024.
The Foundation is committed to funding the best science, encouraging innovation,
and increasing collaboration to accelerate discoveries. Leadership was especially
interested in supporting global collaborations and began discussions with
the Foundation for Research in Rheumatology (FOREUM), an independent
fundraising institution for research funding supported by EULAR. We combined
our resources to pilot the FOREUM/RRF Partnership Award, to be led by two
principal investigators, one working in the U.S. and one working in Europe. We
were overwhelmed with the response. After the first request for applications this
summer, we received 59 applications for this award.
Another important aim of our current strategic plan is to galvanize a diverse
representation of professionals choosing to pursue rheumatology as a career by
expanding mentorship opportunities and identifying new ways to recruit people
into the field. Partnering with the ACR Collaborative Initiatives (COIN) team on
Project LEAD allowed us to fulfill our goal of bringing students into the College
through mentoring roundtables and then recruiting them into the Foundation's
pipeline of awards. We are excited to be supporting eight of the students to
attend ACR Convergence through our Choose Rheumatology Scholarship, and two
additional students through their Medical and Graduate Student Preceptorships.
These are just some of the changes that have been made based on
recommendations from the portfolio review panel, and there are even more
changes that will be coming in 2024.
The time I've spent serving the Foundation, and especially the last two years as
president, have given me so much to be thankful for and so many reasons to
be hopeful for the future of our organization. I'm especially proud that 100%
of our Board of Directors have donated to the Foundation and 100% of the
ACR and Foundation staff have consistently donated to the Foundation as well.
If the people who are creating the budget and monitoring the expenses think
we are worthy enough to receive their hard-earned dollars, we must be doing
something right!
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LEADERSHIP
PRINCIPAL
PARTNER
2023 Meeting Magazine

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