The Nebraska Physician Assistant Foundation (NPAF) is undergoing big changes this year.  Originally established in 1991 as the philanthropic arm of the Nebraska Academy of Physician Assistants (NAPA), the NPAF was created to solicit donations and distribute scholarships and small grants.  To accomplish this, the NPAF joined forces with the Lincoln Community Foundation to maintain our financial assets.  As many of you know who have contributed to the NPAF, we made our checks out to the Lincoln Community Foundation.  Over the years, the Foundation has been very successful at raising monies for scholarships.  A few years ago, the Lincoln Community Foundation changed the focus of our Foundation to the distribution of scholarships only.  Even though the NPAF had intended to also distribute small grants, this had not been accomplished, and so our track record was in only awarding scholarships. 

In recent years, the NAPA Board desired to provide grants to qualified individuals and groups to help assist with community activities.  Since the Foundations status was limited to distributing only scholarships, we did not have a viable process with which to award grants.  In 2008, the NPAF evaluated several options which would allow us to provide grants.  After several meetings with stakeholders, the NPAF has decided to transfer our financial assets from the Lincoln Community Foundation to the Physician Assistant Foundation (PAF), which is the foundation associated with the AAPA.  We believe that this is a win-win for all parties. 

By moving our assets to the PAF, NAPA will expand its philanthropic activities to include grants.  We believe being associated with the national PA foundation provides our constituents with a more direct link to their giving.  In addition, the PAF fee structure is friendlier than anything we could find in the private sector. 

One very important point is that all of the funds currently in the Lincoln Community Foundation designated for scholarships will continue to be used for scholarships when transferred to the PAF.  Any monies being used for small grants will come from other sources.

The entity known as the NPAF will be phased out and control of our financial assets within the PAF will be managed by a new standing committee of NAPA, the Scholarship and Grants committee.  (See the separate article that describes the bylaw language and rationale.)  This committee will be directed to solicit donations, solicit applications for scholarships and grants, and distribute awards to all recipients.  During the transition phase, the current NPAF Board of Trustees will serve as members of the Scholarship and Grants Committee.  This committee will fall under the usual NAPA committee rules and regulations beginning with the approval by the NAPA general membership at the Spring CME meeting. 

If you have any questions or concerns about the transfer of funds or other Foundation issues, please contact Darwin Brown.