Welcome to the IPPS-ER Foundation homepage. I’m assuming that you’ve come to this page for one of several reasons:

• You really meant to click on IRS counseling but got the letters confused
• You’ve been dishing out iced cream for hours and your shivering hands caused you to click on the wrong link
• Or . . . you are actually interested in what the Foundation does and what’s been going on during this wonderfully lucrative fundraising climate.

Either way, you are here so stick around and I’ll give you a quick update and a little insight.

As indicated above, the IPPS-ER Foundation was founded to create an endowment fund to support industry-related research and student scholarships. The need for those is obvious. What may not be so obvious is all the background work that has been done and continues in order to allow us to reach the Foundation’s goal. So far, we’ve raised approximately $112,000 in donations and pledges - a good start to say the least. What you may not know is that the founding board set a threshold of $250,000 as the level we have to reach before we distribute any research or scholarship funds. So we need to get to work to reach that mark in reasonable time.

With the downturn in the economy, we have taken this time to concentrate on setting specific detail goals and efforts to make sure we are making the most progress possible. Of course this has not been the best fundraising climate to say the least. But that doesn’t mean that we have been idle. Most recently, we had a conference call with our account representatives at SunTrust Banks, Inc. to discuss the status of our investments. They have done an excellent job of managing our portfolio during this challenging time in the markets. And to make sure we are getting the best possible return, they have been managing our fund under the umbrella of several other professional organization foundation funds. This allows us to have the fund managed at a much lower fee than would be otherwise possible. Of course our fund is kept entirely separate from any others. This is just a nice way for us to pay a lower management fee.

I will deliver a report on Foundation activities at the upcoming IPPS-ER meeting in Rhode Island. I hope you will join us there to support both IPPS-ER and the Foundation. And until then, I hope you will consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Foundation. Every bit helps us move closer to our goal of providing support to students and researchers who represent the bright future of our industry.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Cappiello, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Yew Dell Gardens
IPPS-Eastern Region Foundation Executive Director