AMA Foundation
AMA Foundation’s mission is to advance health care through support of programs in medical education, research and service.Tennessee has led the nation in Alliance contributions to the AMA Foundation consistently for two decades or so. This year, the 2008-09 total was $83,475.00.
How do we do it?
Our primary vehicle for raising the much needed funds is the annual Holiday Sharing Card. This project originated in 1959, the idea of TMAA member Betty Ray. The concept was simple. Medical families would send one collective greeting card to all members of their medical community. The money saved by not buying multiple cards and stamps would go toward a tax-deductible contribution to AMA-ERF (now AMAF). The idea quickly spread across the nation to become the number one fund raising effort for AMAF.How it works
Today’s donors have the opportunity to designate their gifts to one of three different funds:- Fund for Better Health
- Development Fund
- Medical Scholars Fund
Physicians may designate a medical school and/or an endowment to
receive the gift.
Participating Alliances obtain donations each fall. A printed holiday
greeting card bearing the names of AMAF donors is mailed to the entire
medical community as well as local and elected officials. TMA Alliance
provides the cards free of charge to local alliances throughout the
state. The local Alliance has the cards printed with their donor list
and the cards are mailed during the holiday season. The card selected
for the 2007 "First Snow" by the artist Janet Martin is a
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Alliance member who works with watercolor
and acrylics, predominantly painting abstract outdoor scenes. Her
painting features a branch of a local pine tree dusted with the
season's first snow. She also donated the original painting which was
auctioned at the TMA/TMAA Annual Meeting held in April, 2008.
"First Snow"
AMAF: Benefiting people and programs here in Tennessee
Scholars Fund: AMAF grants more than $1,000,000 annually to deserving medical students through tuition assistance, scholarships and educational awards. Read what some of Tennessee’s recipients have to say:
"This scholarship has eased my worries and allows me to concentrate solely on my education instead of the financial aspect associated with it. . . . I am grateful to have been honored with this scholarship."
"It could not have come at a better time, reducing a large source of stress, and freeing me up to focus my energy on becoming a better student and more prepared clinician as I attempt to transition into the medical community."
"As I have been invested in through your gracious gift, please know that I plan to, in turn, invest in the lives of patients under my care for years to come by providing them excellent medical care to the best of my ability.” their medical careers, as your organization has so generously done for me."
Fund for Better Health providing a boost to the Alliance’s health projects
In 2004 the Chattanooga/Hamilton County Medical Society Alliance received a grant for the development of "Food Fight: The Battle for a Better You" an interactive program targeting childhood obesity among middle school students. Co-president Rana Hill remarked,
For more information about the AMA Fund for Better Health click here."With 16% of children ages 6-18 overweight, the CHCMSA created a new health promotion targeting this at risk group. Winning one of the AMAF Fund for Better Health grants not only gave us a financial boost, it gave the project national recognition and validation."