One of the five pillars of ACEP’s new strategic plan is focused on the thoughtful management of the College’s resources. This part of the plan encompasses many aspects of ACEP’s operations and systems—digital and communications infrastructure, staffing, systems and finances—that enable ACEP to move forward with its mission to support and advocate for emergency physicians.

A key strategy within the Resources & Accountability portion of the plan is to “develop alternative/nontraditional revenue sources” (beyond member dues) that allow ACEP to do more without placing that financial burden on its members. Alternative revenue sources let ACEP do more for its members by offsetting expenses, including staff salaries and benefits, educational and training resources, travel, and IT costs.

One of the ways ACEP earns non-dues revenue is by seeking, winning, and utilizing federal, foundation and corporate grant funding. Did you know ACEP has earned nearly $40 million in grant funding since 2004? Those grants have funded some of ACEP’s most utilized resources, including the COVID-19 Field Guide and many point-of-care tools.

The Execution

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Successfully earning grants starts with seeking and developing relationships with grantor organizations who align with our mission and having strong proposals and procedures. ACEP’s meticulous record-keeping and clean audits has helped the College build a positive reputation as a reliable grantee.

Many grant projects utilize ACEP members as Principal Investigators (PI) and Subject Matter Experts (SME) to help design and lead the projects. ACEP staffers with expertise in a variety of subjects, including EMS, disaster preparedness, data analysis, registries, library science, and education, are also utilized to execute the grant projects.

Ensuring Transparent, Diligent Management of Resources

Each month, ACEP4U will highlight and expand on a specific pillar of ACEP’s new strategic plan. This month, we focus on the third strategic pillar—Resources and Accountability. More than 100 ACEP members were involved in developing ACEP’s new strategic plan to guide the College for the next three to five years.

Alexander Rosenau, DO, FACEP, was part of the planning group that developed the Resources & Accountability pillar of the plan.

“Strategic planning says, I can’t predict the future because there’ll be new inventions, new problems. There’ll be the next pandemic. But it does say that if I understand my foundation and my resources, and if I understand my values and the mission and the winning proposition of the emergency physician as first priority… then we are going to make great strides and be even stronger tomorrow than we are today,” Dr. Rosenau said.