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<< back to the 2000 archive listing << Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation My Perspective, September 2000 It's not too late, and it's not too early It's not too late (for the IAFP Foundation Fund) and it's not too early (to start thinking about nominating someone for an IAFP Award). In my first column as President of IAFP I want to urge Members to consider contributing to your Association in one or both of these areas. First, the Foundation Fund. The IAFP Foundation Fund was established in 1986
to help support some of the key activities of the Association. The Foundation
supports the Ivan Parkin Lecture, our keynote speech at the Annual Meeting.
It supports the Developing Scientist Oral and Poster Competition, which has
served as a springboard for many of today's food safety professionals. It pays
for shipment of surplus volumes Where does revenue for the Fund come from? The Foundation Fund is supported primarily by a portion of the Membership dues from Sustaining Members. In addition, the Fund accepts donations from individuals - since last year's meeting over 100 have contributed. (For those US Members who itemize your taxes, the contribution is tax deductible - so your contribution to benefit IAFP can also benefit you.) The Foundation Fund also benefits from the Silent Auction at the Annual Meeting, which brought in over $2,700 in 1999 alone. At the 84th Annual Meeting in Orlando in 1997, the Foundation Fund Committee, under the leadership of Harry Haverland, adopted the slogan "$100,000 in 2000." The plan was to raise the balance of the Foundation Fund from around $70,000 at that time to $100,000 by the year 2000. Only $10 per Member would have gotten us there! In three years we have increased the Fund to over $86,000 - a sizable increase, considering that the Foundation has continued to fund activities at the same or higher levels of funding than in past years, but far short of our goal. In June of 1999 the California Association of Dairy & Milk Sanitarians (CADMS) pledged $1,000 to the Foundation Fund and challenged other Affiliates and organizations to do the same. The challenge was renewed in 2000 when CADMS made its second $1,000 donation. The Wisconsin Association of Milk and Food Sanitarians has risen to the challenge and made a contribution to the Fund. In addition, a number of Affiliates have provided items for the Silent Auction: Alberta, California, Carolinas, Kentucky, Korea, Metropolitan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Ontario, Tennessee, and Texas. I encourage other Affiliates to also make a donation - even if you can't afford to match CADMS. I also encourage more individuals to make a donation. Contributions may be cash or items for the Silent Auction. ANY contribution, no matter how big or how small, will help build the fund and allow the Foundation to carry on its activities and build for the future. It's YOUR Foundation, working to benefit your Association. Won't you help? It's not too late to reach $100,000 in 2000! Second, Awards. It's true, the Annual Meeting has just ended, and if you attended the banquet you saw a lot of deserving people honored for their achievements and service. However, every year as the deadline approaches the Board worries about whether there will be nominees for many of the awards; in some years the award is not presented because no one took the time to send in a nomination. Too many deserving people do not receive recognition, simply because no one took the time. We are all very busy - doing more with less is a way of life. Adding something else to our plate (such as putting together a nomination) does not have much appeal right now. We'll wait until we are less busy. But we're never less busy. Thus my suggestion to start now and take four to five months to complete a nomination. It's much more manageable. And it's not a difficult process. When submitting a nomination, more is not necessarily better. There is no need to document everything the nominee has done in his or her career. Remember, the judges are busy too. They appreciate receiving a concise, well-written summary or bulleted list describing how the nominee qualifies for the specific award. Get support for the nomination from others; this might be letters of support, or a compilation of statements from friends and colleagues of the nominee about why the award is deserved. The letters or statements can be supplemented with a CV, a list of publications, copies of news releases, or other materials as appropriate. A nominee's secretary, boss or co-workers can be invaluable in providing material. IAFP can provide information on the nominee's recent involvement in the Association and on past awards received. One mistake that is often made is providing insufficient information to demonstrate that the nominee meets the requirements for the award. We assume that the candidate is well-known, as are his or her qualifications. Since the judges may come from different disciplines and not know the nominee well, assume you are trying to convince someone who does not know the candidate. Did you see someone at the Annual Meeting who deserves to be recognized by one of our awards? I challenge you to start now and put that nomination together for 2001. It's not too early! |