Dallas Academy of Medicine
Our hidden treasure

Most Dallas County Medical Society members reading this page don’t know that DCMS has had an essentially silent partner for the past 20 years—the Dallas Academy of Medicine. It was formed when the former DCMS business office on Noble Avenue was sold to make room for what was to have become the second office tower of the CityPlace complex, which was to have connected across Central Expressway with a bridge to the first, and now only, tower. The Dallas Academy of Medicine was created as a nonprofit entity to receive the funds from that sale. DAM purchased the land and built the building for the current DCMS offices. The Dallas County Medical Society rents the building from the Dallas Academy of Medicine.

Dallas Academy of Medicine funds have allowed us to make charitable donations to The Science Place, the Southwest Transplant Foundation, and the TMA Foundation, and to underwrite various scientific educational activities for our members over the years. These funds have enabled us to cosponsor the Conference of Professions, an annual meeting of physicians, lawyers, clergy, and professors to discuss how we can jointly deal with medical/legal/ethical issues. DAM provides the funds that allow DCMS to host and support various community groups, such as the Indigent Clinic Forum and Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership. For the past 10 years, it has allowed us to distribute educational information on domestic violence.

In the past year, we have used the Dallas Academy of Medicine as the charitable organization through which to funnel a federal grant to help us get Project Access up and running. We deliberately started Project Access at a slow and measured pace to ensure we did not enroll so many participants initially that we would become unable to keep up with their needs. Although we have had the good fortune to have federal grant monies help us start Project Access, it is now up to us to raise money to keep the program going. Several local charitable foundations have expressed interest in helping with this project; however, one of the first questions they ask is, “How much have your own members contributed to this effort?”

When the Dallas County Medical Society sold the office on Noble Avenue and moved to Oak Cliff, the large profit from that series of events was like winning the lottery for the Dallas Academy of Medicine. By careful investments of those funds, we have kept the golden goose alive for 20 years. But if we are to continue and expand our commitments to a wide variety of health activities in the community, we need to raise money to keep the funds stable in the years to come.

After 20 years of being self-sufficient, the Dallas Academy of Medicine now needs your help. Your Board of Directors has approved an annual campaign to raise money for the Academy. You should have received information asking for your generous donation to help keep our hidden treasure in sound financial condition. We’re not asking you to give a “named wing” to a new office building. We’re not asking you to give us your firstborn (although you might want to do so on some occasions)! What we are asking is that you help us continue the community health efforts we have been supporting for two decades without having asked you for money! Ideally, we would prefer that every member show support by contributing something; however, we realize that not everyone is in a position to donate money at any given time. For those who are able to donate, we will have named levels of giving, with perks for each. Please be generous with your support. All of us working together can easily keep the Dallas Academy of Medicine well-funded so it can be the ongoing source of help for all our community projects.

Copyright 1997-2002, Dallas County Medical Society.
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