CFIDS Association president and CEO K. Kimberly McCleary

From the Desk of Kim McCleary
My Promises to You

January 2009

I often think of my “From the Desk of” messages as a conversation with you, our CFIDSLink reader. I like to share news and perspectives about the progress or challenges we’re facing as a community in our work to end CFS. This month I’d like to make a set of pledges to you.

Straight to the point: I am asking for your gift. It will probably never mean more to the CFIDS Association of America than it will right now.

In return, I make these pledges to you:

• I will never ask Congress for a $700 billion bail-out like Henry Paulson did.
• I will never travel by corporate jet to fly to Washington, D.C., to beg for a bail-out package, like the Big-Three automaker CEOs did.
• I will never try to sell something I don’t own to achieve personal wealth and stature, and then once caught, refuse to resign, like Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich did.
• I will never conspire to secure from the Board of Directors a $2.1 million pension plan on top of a $1,000-a-day base salary, like the United Way of Central Carolinas’ CEO Gloria Pace King did.
• I will never engineer a complex Ponzi scheme to bilk individuals and charities out of $50 billion, like Bernard Madoff did.

You already know we don’t operate that way at the CFIDS Association. Our second consecutive 4-star rating from Charity Navigator underscores how carefully we manage funds entrusted to us.

You also know there’s a new urgency for donors like you to continue supporting the causes you believe in. In our case, it’s the exciting new work we’ve just launched on the scientific front.

Since we launched the Accelerate CFS Research Initiative, the economy has unraveled, and along with it many of the Association’s prospects for sustaining programs that serve the people who need us most.

Unlike other industries, for nonprofit organizations like ours there will be no rescue package from Congress to make sure CFS research continues in these tough times. That means it’s up to us, the community of people who care most about CFS patients, to sustain the progress we’ve made so far.

Large or small, your gift matters.

For the past 21 years, the CFIDS Association has been staunchly committed to finding answers and, eventually, cures to CFS. In fact, the Association is unique in the world—a not-for-profit organization with a seasoned professional staff working full-time with one guiding vision: To conquer CFS.

While support from individuals is vital for research progress, more funding from the government is desperately needed. CFS affects more Americans than many other well-known diseases, but receives far less research funding. The CFIDS Association’s public policy advocacy program, which is supported through your unrestricted gifts, is aimed precisely at that issue.

As you make giving decisions in this new year, please consider where your tax-deductible gift can do the most good. Where will it have the biggest impact on CFS patients?

America’s economy will rebound. Until it does, let’s act together to keep the quest for answers to CFS on the fast track! Only with your continued financial support can we keep up the momentum we’ve gained so far. I promise you the CFIDS Association is committed to this cause for the long haul.

On behalf of four million Americans with CFS who look to the Association for hope, please accept my sincere appreciation, and best wishes for happiness and good health in the new year.

Sincerely,
K. Kimberly McCleary
President & CEO
The CFIDS Association of America
January 7, 2009

____________________________________________________________________________

The CFIDS Association of America is dedicated to conquering chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Your donations fund our work.

You can make a difference. Donate now to support CFS research, advocacy and education.