Development Advocacy Grant

• Applicants must be able to participate in advocacy activities according to their tax status with the IRS and any applicable state regulations.

• The grant must be strictly used for advocacy purposes — to influence legislation and/or regulatory issues or to develop such initiatives.

• AADA will not approve any grant applications for proposals that are not aligned with the AADA’s state policy priorities.

• Applications must be focused on one legislative or regulatory goal and accompanying plan to be funded through this grant. Applications cannot contain a list of potential legislative issues that would be funded by the AADA grant. The state society is encouraged to work on other issues as needed but those activities are not supported by an AADA State Advocacy Grant.

• Each grantee will be required to submit a final written report (PDF) to the AADA outlining the status of its advocacy project and progress made to date. Failure to submit a report could result in denial of future funding requests.

Applicants must be prepared to upload the following documents.

1. Proposed advocacy project: Provide a description of the proposed advocacy project that addresses the following. View a sample application (PDF).

   • Issue – Which issue will be addressed? Please review the AADA’s advocacy priorities. The advocacy initiative that is the subject of the grant must align with the AADA’s advocacy priorities and must focus on one priority.
   • Goal – What is the advocacy goal? For example, “We plan to defeat an upcoming NP independent practice bill.”
   • Description of plan – Please provide an advocacy plan detailing the society’s specific strategies and activities planned to meet the goals.
   • Advocacy program – Describe what the state society is doing to grow its advocacy program and ultimately become fully self-funded?
   • Budget – Provide a projected budget for the advocacy project that specifies how the grant funds will be used (budget for the project, not for the society).

2. State society officers (current officers and upcoming): This information enables AADA staff to contact state society leaders who will have knowledge about this grant during the application process and implementation of project.

3. W-9 form

4. Form 990 (required for tax purposes)

5. Grant report: This requirement only applies to states that received a grant in the immediate previous year. A state society must provide a report once the state legislative session adjourns. The report must explain how the funds were used and the status of the advocacy project (e.g. the bill passed). If the legislative session has not adjourned by the time the application is submitted, a report on the status of the project must be provided by Sept. 30 to the State Policy Committee or as part of a grant application for the next cycle.
   
   Applicants should be prepared to answer yes or no to the following nine questions during the application process. Applicants only need to meet a certain threshold of “yes” to move forward in the process; we expect most applicants to answer “no” to some of these questions. The purpose of this exercise is to gauge a society’s current advocacy infrastructure.

   • Does your state society already have an Executive Director?
   • Has your state society led an advocacy effort?
   • Does your state society currently host an advocacy day involving meetings with state legislators and/or a skin check?
   • Do your members participate in state medical society advocacy days?
   • Have any state society members hosted an office visit with a state legislator?
   • Does your state society already have a contract lobbyist?
   • Does your state society already have a legislative committee?
   • Does your state society have representation in your state medical society?
   • Does your state society have a Political Action Committee?