You may have heard about the Foundation for America’s Blood Centers’ Cornament and Silent Auction taking place at America’s Blood Centers’ Summer Meeting in Seattle on Aug. 5 and wondered what a bean bag toss game – generally reserved for backyard barbeques – or a silent auction – generally found at black tie events – has to do with the ABC Summer Meeting. The answer is not a whole lot. However, what we hope to accomplish through these events is to provide our member and industry supporters with more opportunities to learn about the programs that are funded through the FABC and why we continuously need your support.
All of us here at ABC have been working hard to implement the strategic plan and focus on our Core Values (Innovation, Data & Benchmarking, Education, and Advocacy). Our team is moving full steam ahead designing the new members’ website, as well as the much-anticipated online learning platform, the ABC Professional Institute (API), which will be launched further down the road. Meanwhile, we are continually providing educational and professional development opportunities to member blood center staff in the various roles that constitute a blood center. Some examples of these offerings include: hosting speakers and webinars for communications and donor management professionals, leadership development and training for the next generation of blood center executives, and finding expert speakers to address the membership at ABC’s Annual Meeting through the Dr. Celso Bianco Lecture Series (http://bit.ly/1mbghMw).
These examples only scratch the surface of what ABC is doing to help our members continue to lead the way in an ever-changing blood industry. But, we can’t do it without your support! So, instead of hosting two big events (a joint gala and theLinks for LifeGolf Tournament) that the FABC has traditionally hosted every year, we thought we would try some new fundraising events at a few different venues, allowing us to reach more of the members, staff, and supporters of ABC’s member centers.Â
So after a day full of meetings in Seattle, I hope you will join us for some tasty food, good drinks, great auction items, and a little friendly competition. After all, it is the Summer Meeting, and isn’t that what summer’s all about?
Jodi Zand, Manager, Fundraising & Events; jzand@americasblood.orgÂ