ASA Announces Friends of ASA

The American Society for Aesthetics announces that the ASA Board of Trustees has approved establishment of the Friends of the American Society for Aesthetics. For 2021, funds raised will be used to support travel grants of $1000 each for persons with papers or panel presentations accepted for the 79th Annual Meeting in Montreal, who do not have institutional support for travel.

To date, $7255 in donations and pledges have been received from ASA members and officers, enough for seven travel grants. A determination of how many $1000 grants are possible with funds raised will be made no later than August 1, 2021. Unused funds will be carried over to 2022, with determination at a later date by the Board of Trustees of how those funds should be used but with priority to be given to supporting travel to present work at annual meetings.

Donors of amounts of at least $100 will be publicly thanked and acknowledged listed in alphabetical order with no public information on amounts donated and with donors given the option of declining to be named publicly.

Donations to the fund can be made on-line with a credit card: https://aesthetics-online.org/donations/ For those making a donation with a charitable roll-over from eligible retirement funds, the check should be made out to the American Society for Aesthetics (Friends of ASA) and mailed to ASA at: 1550 Larimer St #644, Denver, CO 80202-1602. ASA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. All donors will receive a receipt which can be used for U.S. taxes.

The new ASA Friends Travel Grants are in addition to the eight Irene H. Chayes Travel Grants already approved for the Montreal meeting. The guidelines are the same as the ASA Friends Travel Grants, viz., the recipient must have a paper or panel presentation accepted by the program committee and must not have access to travel funds from their home institution.

The Trustees are acutely aware of the current financial stress of many members, with furloughs, pay freezes, lay-offs, and cancellation of travel funds at many institutions. It is their hope that these travel programs for 2021 will enable many to travel to the Montreal meeting to present their work who could not otherwise attend.

(Full-time students with papers or panel presentations accepted for the Montreal meeting will automatically receive a travel grant of $1000 and are not eligible for the new ASA Friends grants nor for the Irene H. Chayes grants.)

For more information on the Montreal meeting: https://aesthetics-online.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1067550&group=

Updated January 24, 2021